Spotted… Pure Heat Community Festival Photos Over the weekend Atlanta’s Piedmont Park housed the 5th annual Pure Heat Community Festival; also known as a free “day of unity.” The annual event that takes place during Black Gay Pride weekend included market and food vendors and educational forums with guests ranging from Tiffany Evans… to Trina and Towanda Braxton… and Jhonni Blaze. K. Michelle also performed a medley of her Billboard chart-toping hits and received the 2016 Humanitarian Award presented by The Vision Community Foundation. Other honorees included long time Atlanta Black Gay Pride supporters Ryan Anderson (“SunTrust Bank”), Pam Stewart (“Coca Cola”) and Earl Fowlkes Jr. (“Center for Black Equity”) and Frederick Anderson (“Freddy O”). Karamo Brown also attended the Festival on behalf of Positively Fearless, a movement from Janssen Therapeutics that celebrates being black, brave, proud, gay even being HIV-positive. What do YOU think about the Pure Heat Community Festival photos??? More photos on the flip.
Knife-Wielding Clown Chases Ohip Teenager From Bus Stop Earlier this week we reported on an incident in South Carolina where a clown was reportedly stalking children from the woods near an apartment building playground. Welp, according to NBCNews , South Carolina isn’t the only place with a killer clown problem… There has been another creepy clown encounter — this time in Columbus, Ohio. A 14-year-old boy heading to a school bus stop Tuesday morning told police he was chased by a black-clad man armed with a knife — and wearing a clown mask, police said. “The victim was able to get away from him by throwing a rock at him,” said police spokeswoman Denise Alex-Bouzounis, who added that police are now canvassing the area in search of the suspect and keeping a close eye on the bus stop in north Columbus near where the incident occurred. “We don’t know whether this was a prank or not, but we are taking it seriously,” she said. The alleged attack on the teenager came as police down in South Carolina were investigating multiple reports of menacing clowns allegedly trying to lure children to an abandoned house in the woods. HELL F**K NAW! CAN YOU IMAGINE?!?! Image via Shutterstock
Florida Woman Surprises Stepfather With Adoption Papers For His Birthday The DailyMail is reporting a story that will have you using up every kleenex in your crib … This is the heartwarming moment a young woman left her stepfather in tears after asking him to legally adopt her as part of a big birthday surprise. Gabriella Guardado, 22, placed adoption papers and a pen inside a gift bag and presented them to her stepdad, David Lynde, earlier this month for his birthday. In video capturing the tear-jerking moment, David is seen opening the bag and pulling out the papers while surrounded by his family in their Florida home. After taking some time to realize what the papers said, the 53-year-old becomes very emotional by Gabriella’s sweet gesture. Gabriella will officially take David’s last name on Friday when the paperwork is finalized at the courthouse, Daily Mail Online has learned. Why are there so many onions in here?!?! Image via YouTube
Sweet parent to be love… Rob Kardashian And Blac Chyna Cover PEOPLE After already covering Paper magazine and ELLE , Blac Chyna brought her mommy to be baaawdy (and her fiance) to the cover of PEOPLE. Rob and Angela Kardashian are currently covering the mag’s September issue and in it, Rob’s declaring his love for his pregnant wife to be. According to Rob, Chy “saved him” from a somber life as a recluse… She got me through my darkest times,” Rob says of his the entrepreneur, model and mom-to-be in PEOPLE. “I wasn’t happy in my own skin. I missed out on so many things.” and he always had an interest in her, presumably even when she was with Tyga. “I’ve been friends with Chyna for a long time,” he says. “She was someone I reached out to for advice. She would cook for me and we’d just talk. She’s surrounded me with a lot of positivity. From the moment we met, I knew I wanted to be more than friends.” Chyna also chimed in and told the publication that she never had aspirations of changing Rob… “I saw Rob was willing to better himself,” she says. “I had never wanted to be tough. I never wanted to change him.” who added that he’s still struggling with his appearance but “happy.” “We just want to live our lives the way we want to,” he says. “There were definitely dark days for me, and I’m still not fully happy looking at myself in the mirror. But I’m working towards that. And I’m happy.” Rob & Chyna premieres Sept. 11 at 9 p.m. ET, both on E! Are YOU here for booed up BlacRob??? Hit the flip for another look at their PEOPLE spread. Ari Michelson/AKM-GSI
Dear Bossip , My closest and longest standing girlfriend of 16 years and I have recently come to an awful fallout. Our relationship was already strained considering I had bumped heads with another one of our mutual friends who did me wrong, and for five years they were cut out of my life. All that changed earlier this year when my mother died suddenly of a brain stroke. Both of my friends attended the funeral and all our beef was immediately squashed given the circumstances. I should have been more cautious, but to be honest I was really happy to have my two besties back in my life. And, at the time, I thought that any petty drama in the future would be avoided as we are mature adults. I was wrong. My initial friend and I have never fallen out before. We may have had some heated moments, but it’s never been a slanging match. Until now. It all started when my girlfriend invited me to her son’s religious confirmation. My other mutual friend is his godmother. But, she was getting married and then having her honeymoon so his event had to be postponed to assure her attendance. The date of the affair was up in the air until further notice. In the meantime, I had managed to locate my biological father. As you can imagine, at 35 years old this was a big thing for me. To celebrate I arranged a night out followed by a party at my house in which my closest friends and existing family could meet my father and new stepmother. On at least 5 separate occasions, I reminded my best friend of the date. I sent her a link to the event that we would be attending and I kept on reminding her that I wanted her and her man to be there. As my other friend was getting married and couldn’t be there, due to being on her honeymoon, to me that was acceptable. When the day arrived my best friend sent a message with my brother saying she couldn’t be there because she had to work. I did not hear from her asking how we got on. This left a bad taste in my mouth, but I did not say anything about it as I was unsure how to approach the situation given our long history of friendship. I was hurt at the fact that she didn’t have the decency to even pick up the phone to call me and let me know herself or even ask me about the DNA results that she knew I was awaiting. The following week our mutual friend returned from her honeymoon. We met up for drinks, as we both live in the same neighborhood, to catch up. Two days later, I’m on Facebook and there is all these photos on my feed of my two friends and her son- celebrating at the son’s event, which I was not told was going to be happening that day. I seriously felt a way as I had just seen the mutual friend for drinks and she did not mention anything about the fact that the event was going to be taking place a matter of days later. Still, I said nothing. The following week was my birthday. While celebrating in Barcelona, both of them messaged me to wish me a happy birthday?! I paid them dust. Fast forward to the present day. After being out of the country for a month and meeting my new family on my father’s side, my brother tells me that my mother’s ashes are to be scattered. Given the situation of how I feel about my best friend – I messaged her and told her that I did not want to see her at the grave site as I was questioning our friendship. I explained to her why I felt the way I did and that whatever condolences she would have potentially wanted to pass along would not be greeted with the best enthusiasm. Instead of righting her wrongs and apologizing- she says that she didn’t know that she was supposed to be meeting my dad and that no friends were invited to her son’s event as it was just ‘Family only.’ I told her that I was disgusted by her behavior and that real friends do not categorize real friends in such a manner. Now, I’m left wondering if I have made the right decision or if I have acted in haste? Thoughts? – A Confused Friend Dear Ms. A Confused Friend , I think you need to clarify with your friend why you have cut her off because I was confused by reading your letter. I wasn’t sure who was who – who was getting married, who was having the religious ceremony for their son. And, when you brought them up again I had to go back to the top of the letter and find out which one was the best friend, and who was the mutual friend, and why you fell out with the mutual friend, but now you all are cool again. I also didn’t follow, and wasn’t clear if you confronted your best friend and told her why you cut her off, or are you expecting her to guess why you are mad at her? Does she, or did she know that she was cut off? And, you want her to right her wrongs and apologize, but for what? Look, you are mad because you were not invited to your best friend’s son’s religious confirmation. However, your mutual friend was invited, and you’re mad because your friend told you that it was “family only.” But, isn’t the mutual friend the “godmother” of the child? So, if the mutual friend is the godmother, then, technically she is “family,” or considered “family.” And, it appears that she is much closer to your best friend than you, considering your best friend asked your mutual friend to be the godmother of her child. So, my question to you is why are you calling her your best friend when it seems that the other woman may be her best friend? (Sips tea) I think you may have given too much credit, and too much credence to your relationship with your so-called best friend. You are not on the same page, and though you may think she is your best friend, she is best friends with your mutual friend. And, before you start dismissing and chopping folks off, I think you need to have a conversation with her as a grown woman and express how you feel, and ask her about your friendship. I’m sure you may realize that you two have different interpretations of your friendship, or what your friendship is about. Now, yes, you have every right to be upset considering she bailed on your reunion and meeting of your father. You did express that you emailed, called, texted, and confirmed with her that you wanted her and her man to be there for the festivities. And, you can confront her about it and ask her what happened. Ask her why she didn’t show up and why failed to show support for an important moment in your life. Again, have a grown woman conversation with her, and find out the reason. I noticed that whenever you have a beef or issue with your friends that you tend to shut down. You don’t say anything, and you don’t confront them about it. You let it fester and then you create this whole scenario of what you think happened, why it happened, and how they did you wrong. You pretend everything is fine and things are all good, yet, you are stewing with being upset, angry, and disappointed. They have no clue that they did something to you, and that you are upset over it. And, then, you just stop speaking, and start pouting and then go to your corner and then when they ask what’s wrong you blow up and make them out to be wrong and bad for something they had no clue over what they did. I am very certain you do this a lot with all of your relationships and with other people in your life. Also, didn’t you say you fell out with both of them at one point, or at least your mutual friend for five years, and it wasn’t until the death of your mother that you and she reconciled, and came back together as friends? So, if this is the case, then if you haven’t spoken to the mutual friend for five years, it may be possible that during that time she and your best friend developed their own friendship and became close. And, your best friend probably didn’t tell you because if there was bad blood, then, I’m sure she was like why mention her if you’re going to bad mouth her when she and her are growing close, and your best friend has a friendship with her independent of you. Ma’am, it’s time to grow up and be an adult, and when someone or something bothers you, then you confront the person gently and lovingly and explain that you are upset by what they did. You talk with them to get clarification over the matter, and see how the miscommunication may have been prevented, and, or, you discuss if something wasn’t clear, or misconstrued. You can avoid a wealth of headaches, anger, upsets, and being mad if you just calm yourself and talk with the other person. I’m sure all disagreements, misunderstandings, and any other concerns can be worked out if you just ask take the time to get very clear and make sure everyone is on the same page. Because, again, you were not at her son’s religious confirmation because you are not family, and if she didn’t express that to you, then, you need to ask her why it wasn’t clear, and if your friendship as her best friend doesn’t constitute you as “family.” You need to be on the same page regarding your friendship and how you interpret best friend, and she interprets best friend, or if you are her best friend. – Terrance Dean ***(Attention all media/news outlets, if you use this story and letter, or any parts of this content for your outlets you must give credit to this site, the columnist, and his advice)** Hey Bossip Fam, what do you think? S hare your opinions and thoughts below! Also, e-mail all your questions Terrance Dean: loveandrelationships@bossip.com Follow Terrance Dean on Twitter: @ terrancedean and “LIKE” Terrance Dean on Facebook, click HERE ! Make sure to order my books Mogul: A Novel (Atria Books – June 2011; $15); Hiding In Hip Hop (Atria Books – June 2008); and Straight From Your Gay Best Friend – The Straight Up Truth About Relationships, Love, And Having A Fabulous Life (Agate/Bolden Books – November 2010; $15). They are available in bookstores everywhere, and on Amazon, click HERE !
Big Freedia Granted Probation In Welfare Fraud Case Big Freedia narrowly missed bouncing to the big house over Section 8 fraud. After months of drug rehab for marijuana and even a stint in a halfway home over probation violation, it wasn’t looking too good for the Queen of Bounce. However, the judge has ruled that the bounce star will only serve three years’ probation and pay a $35,000 fine. Via New Orleans Advocate : Africk placed the entertainer on probation for three years, ordered her to pay a $35,000 fine and warned Big Freedia, 38, to avoid a relapse into substance abuse. “Please do not mistake kindness for weakness,” the judge said. “You have the advantage of not only keeping yourself healthy and unaddicted but also acting as a role model for others.” Big Freedia, whose real name is Freddie Ross Jr., pleaded guilty in March to stealing nearly $35,000 in federal housing voucher money, admitting to fraudulently accepting Section 8 vouchers over a period of several years. In her first bid for Section 8 assistance, in March 2009, she listed a monthly income of between $100 and $1,000 and no additional assets. Even after she had become a star, propelled to fame by her reality TV show, she claimed to have earned just $12,000 in 2014 and to have only $250 in the bank. In fact, federal authorities said, Big Freedia had been earning money from performances and merchandising, in addition to her reality show. Among other accomplishments, she has starred in five seasons of the Fuse digital cable and satellite channel’s show “Big Freedia: Queen of Bounce.” Good for Freedia! She can keep the crowds twerking after all.
Frank Ocean took just over four years to release his follow-up to Channel Orange, his Def Jam debut, over the weekend with the official release of Blonde. Although Ocean’s rabid fanbase is eating up not only the material on Blonde and also the visual album Endless, several people have been left largely unimpressed. Continue
The First Woman To File Suit Against The City Of Flint Shot Dead If Flint’s poison water doesn’t kill you, the violence will… Via NYDailyNews A 19-year-old Michigan mother who was one of the first to file lawsuits on behalf of the thousands of children poisoned by water in Flint was found shot to death this week. The body of Sasha Bell was discovered Tuesday night at Ridgecrest Village Townhouses in Flint, authorities said. The body of a second woman, Sacorya Reed, was also found in the home. Cops have not made any arrests or determined a motive. An infant was found uninjured in the apartment, but it’s not clear if that was Bell’s son. Sasha Bell’s lawsuit alleges that her 16-month-old son suffers from lead poisoning because of “corporate and government misconduct.” “She just wanted what was best for her son,” her New York-based lawyer Corey Stern told the Daily News on Friday. “She loved her son.” Beyond sad. R.I.P. to both women. Thoughts and prayers go out to their families. Hopefully the lawsuit that Sasha help set off will endure and bear fruit for those who have been done wrong by the crooked azz city. Image via GoFundMe
State House Of Representatives Praise Massey Brothers For Their Work To Stop Hearing Loss Around The World Georgia’s state House of Representatives honored kid show faves Kyle and Chris Massey Thursday for being stand up men on and off television. Elected officials read a resolution Feb. 18 lauding the Massey Brothers for their humanitarian and philanthropic work as well as being the first African-American siblings to be nominated for an Emmy in the same category at the same time. “It’s really an honor,” Kyle Massey told BOSSIP. “I don’t really do the things that I do for awards. Changing lives, that’s the award for me.” Chris, 26 and Kyle, 24, were also recognized for their work with the Starkey Hearing Foundation, which works to end hearing loss worldwide. Chris Massey said the brothers’ travel on missions to different far flung places each year to help the nonprofit distribute hearing aids to the deaf. The men also partnered with Dallas Austin to launch their own offshoot initiative, “Listen Carefully,” that teaches kids the dangers of putting the volume up too high on headphones.
She might be the new kid on the block but she is definitely making her mark on the best and brightest of the music biz. Penning Monica’s new single “Just Right For Me” and “Discover” on Chris Brown’s latest album “Royalty”, the Memphis, TN native is taking the scene by storm and just might be the one to pull R&B from the dead. After moving to Miami at such a young age, Jozzy began writing for Timbaland, as well as artists on Kanye’s G.O.O.D. music label. Around this same time Jozzy also learned firsthand how social media can be the Devil… or at least how quickly things can get out of hand. She was recruited to write for none other than the Queen Bey and posted a phone pic to twitter with the caption: “THIS IS WHO I’M LOOKING AT RIGHT NOW! JAY Z AND BEYONCE #BLESSED TO BE HERE”. Needless to say, tons of Beyonce fans swarmed the account and Jozzy was asked to remove the photo; but not before it had a chance to go viral. All of that attention led to a very pivotal moment in her career when Missy Elliot personally reached out in admiration of Jozzy’s silky 90’s style & her tone. “MISSY was the real reason for me wanting to pursue my career as an artist” – Jozzy recalls. Now under the music powerhouse Polow Da Don, Jozzy is prepping her launch as a solo artist and enhancing her career as a songwriter by writing for not only Chris Brown and Monica, but Usher, Pitbull, Ciara & Fergie, to name a few. She sounds like the truth and I don’t know about you guys but I’m excited to get that 90s style R&B back. Hopefully she keeps up with putting out the jams! Follow her now on IG @DopeByAccident .
