Trevor Noah Buys Tomi Lahren Cupcakes Trevor Noah has been under fire for being so damn nice to racist Tomi Lahren. Not only did he have her on his show and take her for drinks, he followed that all up with cupcakes. Now it’s possible the cupcakes are standard for Daily Show guests. Or maybe it’s not. Whatever the case, people are outraged. Y'all are killing it with Trevor Noah cupcake tweets. Keep 'em coming, girls! Keep 'em coming! LMAO pic.twitter.com/rfky5tUfD8 — Shelly Ellis (@ellisromance) December 7, 2016 Rightfully so? What do you think?
Common Talks 13th , Social Activism Common is really living up to his original rap name “Common Sense” these days. The rapper’s activism anthem “Letter to the Free” is the end-title track on 13th and has already been nominated for a 2016 Critics’ Choice Documentary Award for “Best Song in a Documentary.” The song’s lyrics tackle America’s racial divide and reflect the film’s focus on the prison system as a new form of slavery in America. It’s also featured on Common’s own latest album, “Black America Again.” Take a listen: We caught up with Common to chat about the single, his invovlement with the project, and how his affiliation with Ava Duvernay movies have shaped his musical direction and activism… What made you want to become involved with 13th in the way that you have? 13th hit me in a way…it was like I know some of this, I didn’t know about this ALEC stuff, I didn’t even know the 13th amendment said that — I’ll be honest — I didn’t even realize that the 13th amendment said that if you’re a “criminal,” you can [legally] be a slave. So all that information, I’m still continuing to learn. It’s been an awakening for the country. This is part of American history and the same way we teach our kids about the people who came to revolutionize this country, we need to teach them about slavery too. We need to teach them about slavery and how that ties into where we are now. If they can see that, they would be able to put two and two together and start functioning differently. Your name has become more and more synonymous with “wokeness” in a sense since your involvement in Selma a few years back. How do you feel that movie experience prepared you for projects like 13th and even placing some of the messages you have in your latest album? Well, Selma was definitely one of the moments that changed my life forever. One of the greatest experiences of my life. One of the reasons is being introduced to the Civil Rights Movement in another way. It’s more than just researching and reading it in textbooks. You’re talking to people. Ambassador Andrew Young came and had a talk the first day of our rehearsal and said “What are you willing to die for? Live for that.” He said that was the whole mentality of the people of the Civil Rights movement. “We’re willing to die for freedom, so we’re going to live for freedom. We’re dedicating each day toward that.” One of the practical things I was able to connect with was the fact that each and every person that was a part of that movement, each day they contributed something towards fighting for that freedom. They dedicated their lives to saying “okay, some part of my day will be dedicated towards that.” I felt like, I have been doing things and putting my spirit and energy into wanting to see change, but I had to do more. I had to contribute my days into being more active and more present — not only in the music. So then, aside from the music, what ways did you begin pursuing to be more active? That made me think about things, and question how can I use my creativity not only towards the art that I’m doing that is socio-political work, but how can I use my mind towards these communities. So that made me start going into communities and start to listen and made me more political than I had ever been. Before I would think — “Okay, I need to vote for the president.” And “I’ll vote for this person I know about.” But now, I need to know. If I have a problem with police injustice and police killing Black people, I need to know what things I can do policy-wise to help change things. Who is the person that selects the police chief? Who is the person that sets up the training for the policemen in this state and that state? Not that I’m going to know everything, but even if it’s connecting with groups that do know, so that I can get that information and see how I can contribute my name, celebrity, whatever access I have, and creativity towards that change. What action has 13th pushed you to take? With this movie, I’ll put it this way: If I’m going to talk it and rap it, I’ll have to be it. So I will be at somebody’s prison — just building with brothers and sisters about getting out and what life will be like getting out and trying to provide help in that way. I even realized this morning from Kim Fox, the State’s Attorney of Chicago — she comes from Cabrini-Green in Chicago so she’s for the people, she comes from it — she says one of the biggest issues is, they don’t assist people when they’re about to get out of jail, so when they come out, they’re shocked. And it’s hard to get jobs, hard to get housing, you can’t vote in certain places, so then you feel second-class, and then you end up going back to that same cycle. So, if someone has been convicted of a crime, when they’re about to get out, when do we start training them to work on that? I want to help with figuring that out. Nice! Great to see a celeb taking his influence and really focusing on making a positive impact with it, right? Have YOU taken a listen to “Black America Again?” What did you think? Splash
Kylie Jenner Reveals Photos From Upcoming Calendar Kylie Jenner is still flaunting that faux fatty in skimpy numbers Lil Kylizzle shared some shots of her upcoming 2017 calendar for her fans on Snap and IG. Shot by famed photog (and known perv) Terry Richardson, the littlest Jenner isn’t wearing much more than enthusiasm and a suggestive smirk in most of these snaps… We’re betting that 21 Savage will have a couple copies of this one hanging up in his household… Hit the flip for more from Kylie Cakes… Instagram
Charlamagne Challenges “Woke” Black Women To Be More Like Tomi Lahren Even after being called a soft-shoeing Sambo and Satan incarnate , Charlamagne is still defending his budding acquaintanceship with racist republican ranter Tomi Lahren tooth and nail against Black twitter. Charlamagne went to Twitter to continue to sing the talking head’s praises, and even suggested that Black women who consider themselves “woke” and fighting for the community could look to The Blaze personality for cues on how to better get their message across: SMH. Honestly, we see what he’s trying to say, but this delivery is just NOT the business… acting like Tomi Lahren somehow changed the game by hopping on TV every five minutes to spout some ignorance that severely (and alt-) right folks just LOVE to hear…especially about Black people. We’re starting to think this guy just wants people to hate him. Black folks with an ounce of racial pride and loyalty anyway. We wonder if Tomi is over at her network fighting to get him some exposure on her platform as hard as he’s going to bat for her… Twitter/Instagram
Zendaya Leads Charge To Speak Out Against Ignorance In Aftermath Of Election Zendaya continues to make us proud! In the following video from Zendaya: The App , Zendaya weighs in on the aftermath of the election and discusses with friends of hers (Entrepreneur/Activist Michael Skolnik and Film Director Paola Mendoza) what people can do to counter the growing negativity towards minority groups. Were you paying attention. Some of our favorite quotes are below: “Being someone who puts themselves in the public eye and uses their voice often especially when it comes to social justice issues and activism in this world, I felt like I couldn’t just sit here and not know what to do.” “We can all collectively come together and say that bullying is wrong, that hurting other people is wrong, that we know for a fact no matter walk of life you come from that that is wrong.” “Whether you agree with the presidency or you agree with who was chosen or not you can agree on right and wrong and agree that no kid should have to go to school afraid because they see a swastika on their baseball dugout. Nobody should have to go to school afraid of wearing a hijab. That’s just ridiculous. That’s not what America is. America is built off of immigrants. American is built off a billion people who were not born here.” How many of y’all don’t have Zendaya’s app but are subscribing to one of them Jenner-Dashians? SMH. Let’s support our girl!
Charlamagne Explains His Sit Down With Tomi Lahren After she cancelled her appearance on his morning show , Charlamagne went out of his way to have a sit-down meeting with Republican isht-talker Tomi Lahren earlier this week — photo opps and all. Peter Rosenberg called Charlamagne “the devil,” while Ebro said he is so hellbent on gaining acceptance from white America that he “sambos” and seeks out friendships with blatant racists like Tomi Lahren. But Charlamagne says there’s a method to his madness. Peep his explanation on The Breakfast Club this morning: Charlamagne basically says that calling him and Tomi “friends” is a stretch, but at the end of the day he truly doesn’t believe that she is racist. Rather, he believes that she’s “misinformed,” and instead of just talking sideways about her and her aggressively clueless statements, he “chose to inform her.” “I don’t know if she’s going to change or not, I just know I did my due diligence and had that conversation with her.” What do YOU think of Charlamagne’s outlook? YouTube/Instagram
Hot 97’s Hot For The Holidays New York’s HOT 97 radio station held their annual Holiday Jam on Saturday night, with an appearance from Usher : Usher took the stage and performed classics and new hits, even debuting a new song for the crowd. With guest appearances from Teyana Taylor and A$AP Ferg, he — of course — pulled out his smoothest dance moves. Turn the page for more from Travis $cott, Young Thug, French Montana, Kehlani, Jidenna and more… Joe Chea
Reggie Bush gets pretty vocal about Joe McKnight being killed during a road rage incident last week. Talking about the incident, Reggie talks about Will Smith being killed in a similar situation in the same city!
