While Friday’s New York service will be for family and friends only, a public viewing has been scheduled for Thursday. By Alvin Blanco Heavy D in 1991 Photo: Ron Galella / Getty Images Plans for Heavy D’s funeral services are being made, and his sendoff will be small and intimate with close friends and family only. The beloved rapper, born Dwight Errington Myers, will be laid to rest next Friday, November 18, in the New York area. TMZ reports that Heav’s family will be holding a public viewing the Thursday before the funeral for fans to catch a last glimpse of the “Now That We Found Love” rapper. Heavy’s burial services Friday will be invite-only. The surviving Boyz of Heavy D & the Boyz — DJ Eddie F and dancer G-Wiz — will be in attendance. While calling into MTV News’ “RapFix Live,” Eddie explained the universal appeal of his late friend. “The thing that he did that may be apparent, but maybe a lot of people didn’t pay attention to it, he was the type of rapper like the hardest, hardest, hard rock was a fan of his, and he would move on the street,” Eddie F told MTV News. “But then he was also respectful, and your mother, your grandmother could listen to Heavy D.” Also sure to attend the funeral will be Sean “Diddy” Combs and Mary J. Blige, who both worked with the Overweight Lover while he was at Uptown Records. The Wayans brothers are on the list of select attendees, according to TMZ; Heav famously penned and performed the theme music to the Wayans’ “In Living Color” sketch-comedy show. Heavy D died Tuesday after collapsing near his Beverly Hills condominium. Although it’s been reported that he had pneumonia-like symptoms shortly before his death , the Los Angeles coroner has not announced an official cause of death. Share your memories of Heavy D in the comments below. Related Photos Heavy D: Life, Music And Friends Related Artists Heavy D & The Boyz
Heavy D reportedly passed away this afternoon at a Los Angeles hospital. Via TMZ : We’ve learned a 911 call was placed from Heavy’s Beverly Hills home around 11:25 AM to report an unconscious male on the walkway . When help arrived, we’re told Heavy D was conscious and speaking — and was transported to a nearby hospital. He died a short time later. Cops are investigating the death — and so far, there are no obvious signs of foul play. Heavy D had several massive hits — including “Now That We Found Love.” He also wrote and performed the theme song for “In Living Color” … and appeared as an actor in the movie “Life.” Heavy just performed at the BET Awards in October — and appeared to be fine Update: The International Business Times just released comments from the L.A. coroner, but they still provide very little information about the cause of death: A spokesman for the Los Angeles Coroner’s Office spoke to the International Business Times Tuesday evening about Heavy D’s cause of death saying, “All we know is he was taken from a location in Beverly Hills on the 400 block of North Maple Drive to the emergency room at Cedar Sinai Medical Center and declared [dead] there,” Spokesman Craig Harvey said. He said the L.A. Coroner’s Office is looking into the cause of death, and that an investigation is under way. “It’s in its infancy stage right now. We don’t have a lot of other information,” Harvey said. “Our guess is that the examination could occur as early as tomorrow, and any final cause of death would be deferred pending a toxicology test.” This one is hard one for any 80s/90s Hip-Hop kid. More details as they emerge. More On Bossip! Pay Yo Bills!!: Terrell Owens’ Big Money Baby Momma Breakdown Aww You Mad? Drake Goes Off On Social Media! Maybe It Has Something To Do With #TakeCareComesWith The Most Beautiful Black Girls In The World: Miss World Vs. Miss Universe, Which Contestants Looked More Bangin’? Reunited And It Feels So Good: Couples That Wanted (And Got) That Old Thang Back
‘Brett is a good person, but his comments were unacceptable,’ Academy president says in a statement. By Kara Warner Brett Ratner Photo: Kevin Winter / Getty Images In a move that falls right in line with the old adage “actions speak louder than words,” director Brett Ratner has stepped down as producer of the 2012 Academy Awards . Ratner submitted his resignation to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the organization in charge of the Oscars, on Tuesday (November 8), according to a statement posted on Oscars.org . The “Tower Heist” director has been making headlines over the past few days — first, due to his comments about a sexual relationship with Olivia Munn, then at a screening of “Heist,” where he used a gay slur, claiming that “rehearsal is for f–s.” “He did the right thing for the Academy and for himself,” Academy President Tom Sherak said in the statement. “Words have meaning, and they have consequences. Brett is a good person, but his comments were unacceptable. We all hope this will be an opportunity to raise awareness about the harm that is caused by reckless and insensitive remarks, regardless of the intent.” Ratner explained his resignation in an open letter to the entertainment industry, obtained by Deadline . “Over the last few days, I’ve gotten a well-deserved earful from many of the people I admire most in this industry expressing their outrage and disappointment over the hurtful and stupid things I said in a number of recent media appearances,” he wrote. “To them, and to everyone I’ve hurt and offended, I’d like to apologize publicly and unreservedly. “So many artists and craftspeople in our business are members of the LGBT community, and it pains me deeply that I may have hurt them,” he continued. “I should have known this all along, but at least I know it now: words do matter. Having love in your heart doesn’t count for much if what comes out of your mouth is ugly and bigoted. With this in mind, and to all those who understandably feel that apologies are not enough, please know that I will be taking real action over the coming weeks and months in an effort to do everything I can both professionally and personally to help stamp out the kind of thoughtless bigotry I’ve so foolishly perpetuated. As a first step, I called Tom Sherak this morning and resigned as a producer of the 84th Academy Awards telecast. Being asked to help put on the Oscar show was the proudest moment of my career. But as painful as this may be for me, it would be worse if my association with the show were to be a distraction from the Academy and the high ideals it represents.” Ratner apologized for the gay slur on Monday. “I apologize for any offense my remarks caused. It was a dumb and outdated way of expressing myself,” Ratner said in a statement. “Everyone who knows me knows that I don’t have a prejudiced bone in my body. But as a storyteller I should have been much more thoughtful about the power of language and my choice of words.” The statement was condemned by gay-rights organization GLAAD, which acknowledged the apology but said it did not go far enough. Sherak initially stood behind Ratner as 2012 Oscar producer but warned that the organization would not put up with any more indiscretions. “The bottom line is, this won’t and can’t happen again,” he told Deadline on Monday. “It will not happen again.” No word yet on whether this will affect plans for Ratner-recruited “Heist” star Eddie Murphy to host the show . Related Videos MTV Rough Cut: Tower Heist
We reflect on late hip-hop legend’s career and impact on the next generation. By Kelley L. Carter Heavy D Photo: Ethan Miller/ Getty Images There was this odd but super cool sound that rolled off Heavy D ‘s tongue that we all tried to emulate. It was his melodic calling card; it was the key thing he inserted into Heavy D & the Boyz ‘ “We Got Our Own Thang.” Its significance was cemented in pop culture when he guest-starred in a 1989 episode of one of the era’s hottest sitcoms, “A Different World.” He was set to be a featured performer at a fundraiser on the show, and the pompous, pretentious Whitley wasn’t having it. “I’ll tell you what lacks melody is that diddly diddly diddly diddly diddly dee,” she drawled, displaying her disgust for hip-hop, completely unaware that she was, in fact, bemoaning Heavy D himself. Heav, playing a caricature of himself (and an old junior high friend of Dwayne Wayne), laughed and shrugged it off. We all chuckled with the laugh track as Whitley realized her mistake and Heavy showed her the right way to do the thing that had all of us — in the ‘hood, in the ‘burbs and in the sticks — trying to copy him every time we heard one of his wicked, uptempo tracks. We next see him onstage, doing that infamous Heavy D shake, performing the track “Somebody for Me,” the single that questioned — and longed for — a woman’s affections for the man who dubbed himself the Overweight Lover. Heavy D, born Dwight Arrington Myers, died Tuesday (November 8) at an L.A. hospital. He was a young 44. TMZ is reporting that a 911 call was placed from his Beverly Hills home around 11:25 a.m. PT to report an unconscious male on the walkway. When help arrived, the entertainer was conscious and speaking and was taken to the hospital. He died shortly thereafter. Heav was that kind of touchable performer. We felt comfortable with his Overweight Lover nickname — he was the big guy who could move. His size never stopped him. He moved in ways that intimidated the slimmest dude in the crowd. He was smooth, dapper and celebrated the around-the-way-girl through song; his music helped soundtrack 10th-grade dances near and far, and his colorful, danceable and at times sensitive brand of hip-hop clearly proved to be wildly influential to new-millennium household names like Diddy or Drake. In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who came up after Heavy D that doesn’t cite him as an influence — and if they didn’t say it out loud, their showmanship certainly was a giveaway. He brought professionalism to live hip-hop shows, and because he fancied a variety of music and musical stylings, his shows were thought-out, deliberate and defined all that New Jack Swing embodied. Heavy brought the bounce to hip-hop and his smooth delivery made every woman look at big boys with new eyes. He was sexy — so were his lyrics, and so was his style. He was one of few rappers to collaborate with Michael Jackson (he rapped on “Jam”), and we all applauded when he linked up with Janet Jackson for an “Alright” remix. His death is tragic for a number of reasons. Until last month, we hadn’t seen Heavy perform live onstage in 15 years. When he hit the stage back in October for the BET Hip Hop Awards , he showed the young guys that he could still swing with the new New Jacks. He also showed off an amazing 135-pound weight loss, but his hip-hop moniker was still fitting for a guy who gave so much to a musical genre that continues to shape pop culture. Even past his hit-producing hip-hop prime, Heavy continued to be a force in entertainment . He’d often dabbled in film and television, and most recently. we saw him in an episode of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” and the just-released “Tower Heist.” Some of hip-hop’s biggest luminaries tweeted their affections for the rapper Tuesday. It was undeniable what he brought to the genre. He was one of the biggest who ever did it — and he got there because he did his own thang. Share your memories of Heavy D on Facebook. Related Photos Heavy D: Life, Music And Friends Related Artists Heavy D Heavy D & The Boyz
Legendary recording artist Meatloaf was in Beverly Hills today, and chatted with the paparazzi on his way into a parking garage. Follow Hollywood.TV on Facebook @ facebook.com/hollywoodasithappens
Los Angeles Clippers star Craig Smith talked with us about the NBA lockout today in Beverly Hills. Follow Hollywood.TV on Facebook @ facebook.com/hollywoodasithappens
La Toya Jackson talks about Dr. Conrad Murray and his trial as she left BOA Steakhouse in Beverly Hills. La Toya Jackson sure does have love for her brother Michael Jackson! Follow Hollywood.TV on Facebook @ facebook.com/hollywoodasithappens
Ajay Rochester takes a walk in Beverly Hills and pauses to discuss Kim Kardashian’s failed marriage. Follow Hollywood.TV on Facebook @ facebook.com/hollywoodasithappens
Shorty Rossi was spotted in Beverly Hills with one of his many Pitbulls. Shorty does great work as an advocate for pitbulls. Follow Hollywood.TV on Facebook @ facebook.com/hollywoodasithappens
