Boy band’s sophomore album just crossed over the one million selling mark, ahead of their appearance on ‘X Factor’ on Thursday. By Jocelyn Vena One Direction’s Take Me Home Photo: Sony
Louisiana meteorologist Rhonda Lee defended her short hair after being insulted on Facebook, only to be fired … and receive a groundswell of support online. A viewer took Lee, of Shreveport’s KTBS, to task October 1 for having short hair, rather than for any job-related issues. Lee, 37, responded in the comments. Instead of backing her up or deleting the offensive post, however, the network fired Lee , saying she had violated the company’s unofficial social media policy. Now, her fans are furious. Nearly 1,000 people have signed a petition asking that KTBS rehire Lee, saying she was victimized twice, once by the viewer “and again by KTBS.” “Rhonda Lee deserves to have her job back,” the petition reads. “Her eloquent response to the bigoted and sexist remarks of viewer Emmitt Vascocu were warranted.” “Employers such as KTBS-TV should stand by their employees and on-air talent whenever they are verbally attacked based on their looks, values or merit.” “I would never have dreamed in a million years that I would get all this support,” Lee told the Daily News. “It’s been a tough go at first to not be angry. But mostly I’m just sad. I genuinely loved where I worked. I loved my viewers. I made my home here.” For its part, KTBS says Lee “was not dismissed for her appearance or defending her appearance” but rather for the repeated violation of the company policy. “Unfortunately, television personalities have long been subject to harsh criticism and negative viewer comments about their appearance and performance,” the ABC affiliate said. “If harsh viewer comments are posted, there is a specific procedure to follow.” Rhonda Lee, however, says she never saw the policy in question, and that when she asked for it following her termination, higher-ups told her no. KTBS, on the other hand, says Lee received an email outlining the procedure, which states that it is “best not to respond at all” to viewer complaints. What did Lee write, and in response to what, exactly? “The black lady that does the news is a very nice lady. the onlt [sic] thing is she needs to wear a wig or grow some more hair,” wrote Emmitt Vascocu on October 1. “im not sure if she is a cancer patient. but its not something that i think looks good on tv.” Days later, when KTBS still hadn’t respond to the Facebook post on its page, Lee did. “Hello Emmitt I am the “black lady” to which you are referring. My name is Rhonda Lee. Nice to meet you,” she wrote on October 6, in the comments. “I am sorry you don’t like my ethnic hair. And no I don’t have cancer.” “I am very proud of my African-American ancestry which includes my hair. For your edification: traditionally our hair doesn’t grow downward. It grows upward.” “Many Black women use strong straightening agents in order to achieve a more European grade of hair and that is their choice. However in my case I don’t find it necessary.” “I’m very proud of who I am and the standard of beauty I display. As women we come in all shapes, sizes, nationalities, and levels of beauty.” “Showing little girls that being comfortable in the skin and HAIR God gave me is my contribution to society,” the TV personality concluded. “Little girls (and boys for that matter) growing up in this world need to see that what you look like isn’t a reason to not achieve their goals.”
Now that Megan Fox has had her kid, I was hoping her first time back on the site would be a little more exciting than this, preferably involving some tasteful nudes and fireworks. Instead though, I’ve got these screencaps from her appearance on The Wedding Band , her douche husband’s new TV show. Because apparently it wasn’t enough that Brian Austin Green married and knocked up Megan Fox, now he’s forcing us to watch his dumb show in order to see her again. So what am I supposed to do with all these fireworks I bought? They’re non-refundable. Related Articles: Megan Fox’s Hotness Comes Out Of Hiding Megan Fox Bikini Pictures Megan Fox’s Cleavage Parade Continues Megan Fox Cleans Up Pretty Nicely
Veteran journalist Tom Brokaw, 72, was taken to a North Carolina hospital this morning following an appearance on MSNBC, according to news reports. The former NBC Nightly News host has been working a grueling TV schedule covering both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions. He was feeling light-headed and hospitalized as a precaution. On Thursday morning, he felt faint after appearing on the show Morning Joe , following his appearance Wednesday night on Hannity , on Fox News. An MSNBC spokesman said Brokaw was taken by ambulance out of an “abundance of caution” but that his condition does not appear to be serious. It is unclear when the newsman will be released. Maybe Bill Clinton’s marathon DNC speech on behalf of President Barack Obama just wore him out. Here’s wishing Tom a full and fast recovery!
Veteran journalist Tom Brokaw, 72, was taken to a North Carolina hospital this morning following an appearance on MSNBC, according to news reports. The former NBC Nightly News host has been working a grueling TV schedule covering both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions. He was feeling light-headed and hospitalized as a precaution. On Thursday morning, he felt faint after appearing on the show Morning Joe , following his appearance Wednesday night on Hannity , on Fox News. An MSNBC spokesman said Brokaw was taken by ambulance out of an “abundance of caution” but that his condition does not appear to be serious. It is unclear when the newsman will be released. Maybe Bill Clinton’s marathon DNC speech on behalf of President Barack Obama just wore him out. Here’s wishing Tom a full and fast recovery!
Pop star Britney Spears and Jason Trawick, her agent-turned-fiance, open up about their romance (briefly) in the October issue of Elle magazine. Asked who made the first move, Jason said,
Give Megan Lochte credit: This is certainly a new line of defense. After being slammed for her appearance on a Maryland-based radio this week, during which she repeatedly used the word “Chink” to describe Chinese citizens and lumped them together with the Japanese as “Asian,” or “whatever [Americans] want them to be,” the sister of star swimmer Ryan Lochte has come out and explained: It was all an act!
Scarlett Johansson might have some competition from Lizzy Caplan in the Avengers world. Although the short film Item 47 , which stars Caplan, hasn’t officially debuted yet — it’s one of the many Avengers Blu-ray extras, due out September 25 — the actress had fun riffing on the possibilities if her appearance in the one-shot S.H.I.E.L.D adventure could lead to to her suiting up as a Marvel superheroine. “Well, I can definitely foresee Marvel not only asking me to be the star of one of their action movies from that short, but also [asking me] to cast the other people in the movie,” Caplan coyly replied during an interview for her latest picture, Bachelorette . “So I’ve been thinking about this a lot, and I think we would be…” she trailed off before turning to Bachelorette (and former Party Down ) co-star, Adam Scott, for assistance. “I need to think of some Marvel character…” she whispered with a laugh, before adding enthusiastically, “Adam would be the She-Hulk, and I would just be a regular person!” Her response suggests that in any future Marvel projects she would just be playing her Item 47 character, Claire, a human who (with Jesse Bradford) comes across an extraterrestrial weapon and goes on a crime spree — only battling a superhero instead of holding up banks. However, given her natural quick wit and the image of her toting a Chitauri gun in Item 47 , we could envision her fitting right in with Iron Man & Co. Think about it — how fantastic would it be to see Caplan and Robert Downey Jr. play off of each other? Since Caplan is already (literally) in the door at S.H.I.E.L.D., they could have her suited up and smashing box offices across the country in no time. But until Marvel makes a decision, Caplan is planning to make a grand entrance in Pawnee, Ind. “I think she would be great on [ Parks and Recreation ],” Scott said, Caplan quickly interrupting him: “As She-Hulk!” And, of course, Movieline had to suggest that he would run into the superhero when his character, Ben Wyatt, heads to D.C. for a new job. “I mean, spoiler alert: I know for sure The Hulk is going to be a big part of this upcoming season,” Scott said with a laugh. “She-Hulk, I’m not totally sure about, but we can look into it.” Previously: Lizzy Caplan and Jesse Bradford Talk Item 47 at Comic-Con Alyse Whitney is an editor at Wetpaint Entertainment in New York City. Her work has been featured on TVLine, Movieline, and Bon Appétit, among others. You can find her on Twitter @AlyseWhitney.
My Bieber experience began at 6am. I was running off of 4 hours sleep, as I was at my friend’s birthday the night before. My wonderful mum drove me to the airport without knowing any confirmation about his arrival time and where he was coming from exactly. We waited at the airport until 9 and there was no sign of him. We drove back home, then came back at 11. There were no girls anywhere. I asked all these security guards if they knew anything but they were all saying different things. I didn’t even know if he was in Melbourne or not. I decided to go to the Langham Hotel because of rumors that he would be staying there. There were quite a few girls camping out. I had asked a photographer that was there whether or not he knew if/when Justin would be coming. He said that it would be either here or the Olsen. After waiting for a while, I then decided to head to the Olsen. My mum and I parked the car in a car-park across the road from the hotel. I had spotted Moshe (white Kenny) entering the restaurants cafe. I ran across the road (it was a red light idgaf) and walked into the hotel. I was surprisingly calm as I walked in. Justin wasn’t in the restaurant although his crew were seated at a table eating lunch (Allison, Scrappy, Dan, Alfredo, Kenny, Vanessa). They were all looking at me weirdly except for Alfredo, he smiled . My mum and I then sat down at a table that was opposite of theirs, literally 1 meter away. I was building up the courage to ask one of the crew members for a photo and hopefully if i could see Justin. I asked Dan and I think he said after. Anyway I didn’t want to bother them so I just sat and watched quietly. Then out of no where, I hear a voice say, “Wassup.” It was Justin and Selena also followed along with Moshe. He was so close to me. He sat down at the table opposite me and I was dying, like dying, like DEAD. I didn’t know what to do. I was going to ask for a photo but he had got up. When he walked past me I said, “Hey can I get a ph-” and he said “Hi, how are you?” and he touched my arm. I then followed him outside as he went to take photos with fans . I am so lucky that I got a photo with him as he only took about five. It was very brief. I then followed him back inside as he continue to eat his lunch and I was just in awe, sitting so close being able to hear his voice. He then had to go back to his room. That’s not the end. My mum booked a room for the night. I was staying in the same hotel as JUSTIN BIEBER. I had a plan to bump into him but the hotel security was SO annoying. We bumped into his crew quite a few times except we didn’t see him that way. We also went down to the car park. Hotel security was telling us that we had to go and we weren’t allowed there. We could see Justin’s car right in front of us. We kept stalling hoping we would see him again. Soon enough the lift opened and out walked Justin and Selena. I couldn’t believe it. He looked so hot! Although they had to go to their car, I didn’t really get to talk to him. It was so amazing though and I loved every moment of it. I will never forget this experience. We also went in a lift with Kenny and I got a photo with Moshe. Justin came out again to say hey to his fans and it was great to get another glimpse of him . View post: My Bieber experience began at 6am. I was running off of 4 hours…
Little League fans in Columbus, Ga. had more than a kids’ baseball game to watch when parents of opposing teams got into a fight. Erica Hill reports. youtube CBS