Source: Sacramento Bee / Getty Stephon Clark’s Family Files Federal Lawsuit Stephon Clark was gunned down in his grandmother’s backyard by two Sacramento police officers who failed to identify themselves and failed to seek medical attention for him according to a new federal lawsuit filed by Stephon’s family. According to CNN , the Clarks, like so many Black families across America, are looking for some level of accountability from police officers who wanton kill, dare we say murder, unarmed Black people. The lawsuit not only alleges that the unidentified officers used excessive force when they fired 20 shots without a single warning, but also that Stephon was racially profiled. Of the twenty shots fired, seven of them hit Stephon, three of those in his back according to the Clark family’s forensic pathologist. “When the facts are fully disclosed, we are confident that a jury will deliver justice that reflects how grossly the police land city officials failed Stephon, his family and the people of Sacramento,” Brian Panish an attorney for Clark’s children said in a statement. What does the city have to say about this? “Out of deference to the judicial process and because this is a matter of active litigation, we must respectfully decline to comment,” City Attorney Susana Alcala Wood said in a statement. Of course. SMH. We hope the Clark family can get some form of justice out of this murderous abuse of power.
Source: Phillip Gandy / EyeEm / Getty Step Up: Highwater Cast Tested On Atlanta Slang Our home of Atlanta has been the birthplace of some of the biggest artists in the world over the past 30 years. Those artists have steam-pressed the local slang and accent into the fabric of Black American colloquialism dozens of times since. That said, there are still people who have no idea what some of the most common words in popular rap music means. People like the cast of Step Up: Highwater The YouTube show was filmed right in the heart of ATL and when the cast was tested on their knowledge of ATL slanguage, well, you’ll see when you press play below. Yikes. Lol.
Source: Splash News / Splash News He Could Be The First Of Multiple Guest Hosts Wendy Williams has been causing quite a scare for her millions of co-hosts that tune into her show everyday. After initial reports of a fractured shoulder and complications from Graves’ Disease , sources starting saying Wendy is also suffering physical abuse from her husband Kevin Hunter. Regardless of the reasons, her weeks of not returning to the show definitely has people concerned. In the meantime, the “Hot Topics” and celebrity interviews must go on, and the show has finally chosen its temporary host… Nick Cannon. Yes, the Wildin’ Out aficionado will be hosting on February 4 – 6 and will continue Wendy’s signature “Hot Topics” segment. Nick will probably be the first in a variety of guest hosts for the show. Distributor and producer Debmar-Mercury previously announced that the show would rotate hosts starting the week of January 28. In the meantime, the crew for the show are still remaining optimistic about Wendy’s return. A source told Page Six , “Staff at [Williams’] show are eager to get back to work. We are all hoping she is well. The mood at the set is good … We just want Wendy to get better.” What do you think? Are you ready for Nick Cannon to kick celebrity news back into gear? Let us know!
Source: Bill Clark / Getty A 29-year old former D.C. officer had plead guilty to two counts of sex trafficking of a minor. Chukwuemeka Ekwonna admitted that engaged in sexual conduct with two girls, who were 14 and 15 years old, in exchange for money between October 2016 and February 2017. CBS News reports : According to the plea agreement, beginning about January 24, 2016, Ekwonna worked as a police officer with MPD in D.C. Since 2010, Ekwonna has used an account on Tagged, a social media and dating platform that lets users search for others based on location and real-time chat online. Between December 19, 2016 and April 5, 2017, Ekwonna exchanged around 200 text and Tagged messaged with a 14-year-old girl. Ekwonna offered to pay the 14-year-old girl to engage in sex acts with him on several occasions. They met and engaged in sex acts on at least five occasions, between October 18, 2016 and February 15, 2017. Chukwuemeka faces a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 20 years in prison and will also be required to register as a sex offender. He is scheduled to be sentenced on May 10, 2019.
Source: Bauer-Griffin / Splash News Blac Chyna’s New Romance Turns Violent Amidst Rob Kardashians Concerns About Dream Just when you thought Blac Chyna news couldn’t get any messier, TMZ is reporting that the reality star’s Hawaiian vacation with new bae Kid Buu turned violent. According to TMZ reports: We’re told at around 5 AM, Chyna and Kid Buu were in their hotel room at the Ritz-Carlton in Honolulu when they got in a heated argument. We’re told Chyna accused Kid Buu of cheating, and just before 7 AM it turned violent. We’re told Chyna scratched Kid Buu, and our sources say he then slammed her against the wall several times and choked her. Kid Buu left the hotel and posted in Spanish … translation — “Don’t f**k with me, I’m a grown man.” He followed it up with a homophobic slur. SMH… How do you go to the Ritz-Carlton in HAWAII and still act a damn fool? PEOPLE confirmed that officers and paramedics did respond to the Ritz-Carlton Residences in Honolulu, Hawaii, on Monday morning after police were called following a fight between Chyna, 30, and artist Kid Buu in a hotel suite. “Someone from their group called 911. Hotel security escorted police officers and paramedics to a suite, where Blac Chyna was with a group of people,” the source says. “It was more of a ‘he said, she said’ situation. They both had complaints to the police, but in the end no one was arrested or taken to the hospital,” the source shares. According to the source, Chyna and Kid Buu, 30, “were both intoxicated.” “Again, this is not a typical incident at the hotel,” says the source. “In fact, this behavior is 100% unacceptable.” The Honolulu Police Department confirmed that an incident is currently under investigation. “Shortly before 9 a.m. today, a female visitor staying in Waikiki reported being assaulted by a male acquaintance. The victim reported that she and the suspect had been involved in an argument several hours earlier, and the argument had escalated to a physical confrontation,” a media liaison officer said in a statement to PEOPLE. “The male left the area after the confrontation and has not been located.” “This incident has been classified as abuse of a household member,” the statement continued. “The investigation is continuing, and no further information is being released at this time.” In a statement to PEOPLE, the Ritz-Carlton Residences’ director of public relations said, “As a matter of privacy, we are unable to comment.” Just mess on top of mess. Well thankfully no one had to go to the hospital but this is really crazy. We know mommies need love too but Chyna has been linked to a whole lot of “interesting characters” in the time since she and Rob split. Speaking of which, Rob wasn’t too happy about Chyna jetting off to Honolulu during time that she was supposed to have Dream in her custody. TMZ reports : Sources tell us Rob was preparing to drop Dream off Saturday for her scheduled time with Mom but quickly realized Chyna was off the radar … as he couldn’t get a hold of her or her nanny. Remember, nannies handle their baby exchanges these days because Rob and Chyna don’t get along. We’re told Rob reached out to the nanny, Chyna’s team and even Chyna herself through a texting app they only use for emergencies. Bupkis. Because Chyna and Kid Buu were posting on social media, her whereabouts weren’t a mystery for long. TMZ sources say Rob was not given any type of warning Chyna would be unavailable to care for Dream, and he was pissed … not because he had to care for their kid longer, but because she was missing crucial Mommy time. There’s more though — in addition to the custody complaints AND the volatile relationship issues Chyna and her friends got serious side-eyes from fellow vacation-goers at the Ritz: According to PEOPLE: “Blac Chyna spent Sunday with a group of friends. They hung out by the pool, partied and were loud. They are not the typical hotel guests,” the source said. “They were definitely being inappropriate in several ways. The girls were showing nipples, they were twerking and just being obnoxious. Hotel management had complaints, because there were families with kids that didn’t like the way they behaved,” said the source. “You would never think Chyna is a mom by the way she behaved.” Sighs… We don’t agree with the mommy shaming BUT Chyna has got to get it together. This is too much mess for one weekend. Hit the flip for Chyna and Buu’s social posts from the weekend
Source: E! Entertainment / Getty Cannon’s Class: Do Black Men “Love” White Women More Than Black Women? Nick Cannon is tackling the question of whether Black men love on white women more than Black women, and things get rather…obnoxious. Sucks to hear, but Nick and his guest Rizza Islam break down why the most oppressed, most neglected demographic, Black women, are overlooked by their own men. Nick says Black men look at white women as “success”. Do you agree with some of these points?
Source: Albert L. Ortega / Getty Tracy Morgan Gives All The Details About His Insanely Big House Why does Tracy Morgan have an enormous aquarium with sharks in his own house? Well, the only way to answer that is…because he’s Tracy Morgan. The comedian stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live to talk about turning 50 and also ended up chatting with a 97-year-old woman in the audience. Check out the interview below to see how the star celebrated his birthday and why he has sharks in his home.
Source: Apega/WENN / WENN Kiki Layne Was Spotted Rubbing Michael B. Jordan’s Head While He Whispered In Her Ear Kiki Layne and Michael B. Jordan’s Sundance Film Festival flirtation caught the attention of more than one onlooker apparently… Sources told Page Six the stars of ‘If Beale Street Could Talk’ and ‘Black Panther’ arrived to Tao’s Park City pop-up separately but “within 10 minutes of each other,” and wasted no time spending the entire time together! A source said: “They were put at separate VIP tables, but Kiki quickly made her way over to Michael’s table. And they seriously never left each other’s side. Canoodling to the max.” The source added, “She would have her hand on the back of his head rubbing it as he whispered in her ear and [he] kept kissing her cheek.” Even though “it was clear to everyone in the room that they were together,” the source surmised, we hear that the stars’ entourages were “protective about them not taking a photo together.” Jordan and Layne also left the event at the same time. Rubbing the back of his head, eh? Y’all know what that means… Chocolatey smithereens!
Source: JRP/WENN / WENN Marvel Announces Free Screenings For Dates In February Time to dust off your dashiki, kufi, or Dora Milaje cosplay. Black Panther is returning to theaters…for free! The Oscar nominated movie will be hitting up participating AMC theaters February 1-7 in celebration of Black History Month. According to ABC 7 , Marvel made the announcement on Monday and Disney CEO Bob Iger tweeted that tickets will be free for everyone. He also announced that Disney will donate $1.5 million to the United Negro College Fund, one of the nations largest Black education organizations, in order “to make the dream of higher education a reality for more students.” Today we are excited to announce #BlackPanther will return to the big screen to celebrate #BlackHistoryMonth from Feb 1-7 at participating AMC theaters. Tickets are free! We will also donate $1.5M to @UNCF to make the dream of higher education a reality for more students. — Robert Iger (@RobertIger) January 28, 2019 The big announcement comes right off of Black Panther’ s big win at the Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday. BP won the top honor of Outstanding Performance By A Cast In A Motion Picture. The King of Wakanda, a.k.a. Chadwick Boseman, gave a moving speech, saying, “To be young, gifted & Black, we all know what it’s like to be told there’s not a screen for you to be featured on, there’s not a stage for you to be featured on.” He continued, “And that is what we went to work with every day because we knew, not that we would be around during awards season and that it would make a billion dollars, but we knew we had something special that we wanted to give the world.” Now, Black Panther is headed to the Oscars with seven nominations, including Best Picture, Best Original Music Score, Best Costume Design, Best Sound Mixing, Best Production Design, Best Sound Editing and Best Original Song for “All the Stars.” You can find out if BP will take home the gold on Sunday, February 24 at 8 p.m. eastern. Until then, you can go to Wakanda for free by seeing Black Panther at the AMC theaters listed here.
JEEZY AND JEANNIE MAI???? pic.twitter.com/2EFfyezhZU — lil ear’d shawty (@loyaltee__) January 25, 2019 Jeezy & Jeannie Stir Up Hilariously Petty Chatter It only took ONE pic of “The Real” co-host Jeannie Mai & Jeezy canoodled up in the club to blow up the internet, stir up delicious speculation that they’re “dating” (or, yanno, doing things ) and queue up hilariously petty reactions across the whole entire internet. Jeannie dating young Jeezy????? pic.twitter.com/3B80DBBwbr — BeyIVLife (@soforreal29) January 25, 2019 Peep the pettiest reactions To Jeezy possibly snow-plowing Jeannie Mai’s syndicated cakes on the flip.
