Rich Polk Getty Images for BET Jemele Hill Isn’t Surprised That ESPN Suspended Her ESPN host Jemele Hill stirred controversy after tweeting what everyone already knows about Donald Trump–that he is a white supremacist unfit to serve in the White House. ESPN gave Hill a 2-week paid suspension and received a lot of support standing with her, inspiring people calling and tweeting the network to let ESPN know we #StandWith Jemele. This weekend, TMZ caught up with Ms. Hill, and she told the publication that she most definitely “deserved” her two-week suspension from the network for violating social media policy. But not so fast, Hill also said she’ll “never take back what I said.” She’s still a real one, after all. Jemele spoke with TMZ at the Los Angeles International Airport, “I deserved a suspension. I violated policy…going forward we’ll be in a good, healthy place.” She also added: “I would tell people, absolutely, after my Donald Trump tweets, I deserved that suspension. I deserved it. Like, absolutely. I violated the policy.” Donald Trump is a white supremacist who has largely surrounded himself w/ other white supremacists. — Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) September 11, 2017 Hill also said she’d only apologize for putting “ESPN in a bad spot,” but you won’t catch her saying sorry for what she said, because she’s still a firm believer in those sentiments. Jemele also expressed the gratitude for all of her supporters during this time and says that her time off was used for reflection. She is returning back to work on Monday.
Source: Marcus Ingram / Getty Meek Mill went to the Philadelphia 76ers home opener this weekend, and the Philly rhymer got lifted with the Sixers’ Dunk Squad behind the scenes. It takes a lot of courage to front flip off of a trampoline in front of a bunch of phone cameras. The Dream Chasers leader looks as surprised as anyone that he was able to stick the landing. RT @MissInfoTV Meek Mill landing a front flip off a trampoline is the best thing you'll see for the rest of 2017. pic.twitter.com/VsZW0oF3Qn — Missinfo (@Missinfo) October 21, 2017
Rain Brown has provided Instagram followers with an update on herself and also on her gravely ill mother. The youngest member of the Alaskan Bush People, Rain has been a consistent social media presence for months. Recently, however, it’s been difficult for her to keep up a happy persona, considering that her mother has tragically been diagnosed with lung cancer. According to a number of reports, Ami Brown is at Stage Four and she may not have very much time left. Earlier this week, Rain tried to keep up an optimistic front, sharing an uplifting text image with her followers that read: “You may not understand today or tomorrow, but eventually God will reveal why you went through everything you did.” She then opened up a lot more about the issues she’s been dealing with of late. “For the past few days I’ve been struggling with some things, such as my depression, life, and some teen girl probs too (ya know a broken nail) and I couldn’t figure out why I was in such bad shape,” Brown wrote, adding: “I stayed in bed for about four days with minor aches and pains and I couldn’t find out a reason, it bothered me so much, I lost any want to be healthy or motivational, I was just a husk.” That’s awful to hear. Sadly, it’s not the first time Rain has mentioned Depression . She wrote the following to her followers last month: I’ve struggled with a lot of depression over the last couple years, I was told it was puberty I was told I was too young to feel any real emotion that I “wasn’t fully developed so my brain couldn’t have actually been depressed” one of the main things I struggle with is my age. This time around, Rain didn’t question her mood too much. As explained below, she sort of just gave in to it: “But just now in the middle of the night it occurred to me, sometimes you don’t have to have a reason sometimes you don’t have to be perfect and somedays you just feel like staying in bed and watching old @simplynailogical videos and that’s OKAY! “In the time of all this happening I told myself that over and over but it also hit me I had to actually believe it and just let it go and stop being bothered by it.” While the Discovery Channel star admitted that she continues to “still feel kinda down and Like being lazy,” she now knows it’s “alright because my body knows what it needs and if that’s rest I won’t be one to refuse.” In conclusion, Amy mentioned her sick mother: “Stay strong my rainbows and listen to your body and soul they know what you need, don’t let your depression or dark feelings try to make you feel bad or people make you feel bad for doing what you know is right for you “Ps my mom gave me some panaway oil and now my aches feel so much better thanks mommy!!!” We really can’t imagine what Rain and her six siblings are going through. On Friday, though, Rain did say that she and her mom spent the morning making peach tea, adding of Ami: “She is now going though her second round of chemo… “Sadly I can’t say how she is doing just yet, but we are all hopeful and faithful, thank you all so much for your support and love in this harsh time.” We wish her the very best. View Slideshow: Alaskan Bush People: 13 Secrets They Don’t Want You to Know
Poor Kim Kardashian … It really, truly seems like, at least when it comes to getting robbed, the girl just can’t catch a break. It’s been a year now since she was robbed at gunpoint in Paris , an ordeal that clearly traumatized her. After that night, Kim made a whole lot of changes is nearly every aspect of her life: she cut back on things she shared on social media, and she also cut back on her material possessions. She’s said that the robbery made her appreciate the things that are important in life, and as strange as it may seem, money and all the things it can buy really just aren’t so important to her anymore. But even though she’s changed so much , she’s obviously still very, very wealthy. And even though her wealth isn’t as big a part of her life as it once was, it still makes her a target for criminals. That’s why, early yesterday morning, a man tried to pull off another robbery at her Bel Air home. Around 4:00 on Friday morning, this guy went through several cars parked at the bottom of Kim’s driveway, and he came away with an iPhone that belonged to someone on her staff. He may have intended to get more of a haul in their actual house, but we’ll never know — armed security guards approached him after he got into the cars, and he ran. An arrest hasn’t been made yet, but police are searching for him, and they know exactly what he looks like, thanks to a clear shot from Kim’s security cameras. All in all, this robbery wasn’t nearly as serious as the one Kim experienced in Paris. There’s a very good chance she wasn’t even aware anything happened until well after the fact. Unfortunately, it sounds like she’s still pretty shaken by what happened. According to a source who spoke with Hollywood Life, “Kim is dealing with pretty severe anxiety right now.” Which, hey, understandable. “This ended well and everyone is safe,” the source explained, “but it’s triggered her PTSD. She’s experiencing the trauma from the Paris attack all over again.” “If this had happened a few years ago it would have been upsetting but it wouldn’t have triggered her this badly.” Poor Kim “already has so much trouble sleeping at night, worrying about someone breaking in and this has just confirmed her worst fears.” “People are circling, trying to get at her and her family.” That seems a little dark, but it easy to imagine why she might feel this way. “Yes, her security can handle this and the guy never actually got in the house,” the insider acknowledges, “but that hasn’t stopped her from imagining the worst; it’s traumatic.” View Slideshow: Kim Kardashian: 19 Reasons Why She Isn’t That Terrible We bet it is. Hopefully the man who did this will be found soon, and hopefully Kim can start feeling more secure even sooner.
Source: Imeh Akpanudosen / Getty The Real host Jeannie Mai is divorcing her husband Freddy Harteis after 10 years of marriage, a rep for the TV host confirmed to People Magazine . An emotional Jeannie addressed speculation around her relationship during a segment on the show where her co-hosts revealed what yes or no question they would ask God. Jeannie opened up about the crossroad she faced when she realized her husband wanted to have children despite her not ever feeling that way. “You know how much I love Freddy, my husband. He’s my life. And before we got married, I was very clear about the fact that I probably would not have kids, just because I’ve never felt that. And now, getting older, he definitely seems like he wants kids, and he actually came out and said that he wants children,” she explained. She added, “So right now we are clinging to each other, and we’re waiting for God to kind of tell us what that means, and it’s kind of weird to go to sleep every single night holding on to that person you love so much, not knowing where it’s gonna go.” Watch the clip below: Ladies, would you divorce your man if he wanted children, but you didn’t? RELATED STORIES: Jeannie Mai Hopes When She Dies She Comes Back As A Gay, Black Man Tamar Comes For Her ‘Real’ Co-Host Jeannie Mai
Source: Rick Kern / Getty Water is wet and Snoop Dogg doesn’t like Donald Trump . Plain and simple. Ever since the current U.S. commander-in-chief got elected, Snoop has raged an all-out campaign against him. Snoop is taking his campaign to a whole new level with his upcoming album Make America Crip Again . Snoop says the album is less about Trump and more about understanding the history of Black gangs. In a statement he said, “A lot of people glorify the gang-banging and violence but forget that in the beginning, the Crip’s main and sole purpose was to be the reflection of the Black Panthers. They looked after kids, provided after-school activities, fed them and stepped in as role models and father figures.” Though we understand where Snoop is coming from and look forward to the album, let’s not downplay all the times he dissed Trump this week leading to the album’s single release. Some highlights are below. 1. In light of Trump condemning athletes who kneel during the national anthem, Snoop brought up a strong point.
(Jason Mitchell, director Dee Rees, Rob Morgan, Carey Mulligan, Mary J. Blige and Garrett Hedlund attend the ‘Mudbound’ Premiere on day 3 of the 2017 Sundance Film Festival at Eccles Center Theatre on January 21, 2017 in Park City, Utah. Source: Nicholas Hunt / Getty) Writer/director Dee Rees has been anything but predictable. She became a household name in 2011 with her first feature-length film Pariah , a gutting coming-of-age narrative about a young woman grappling with her sexuality. Then she turned around and took the small screen by storm with the triumphant story of iconic blues singer Bessie Smith in Bessie —which racked up more than one million viewers in its premiere. She even managed to helm a few documentary films and grace the director’s chair of the hit FOX series Empire in between projects. But even though her projects run the gamut, there is one recognizable theme that connects each of them, something we rarely see from other filmmakers. Rees boldly dismantles our most uncomfortable truths and interrogates why they remain hidden. Her latest drama, Mudbound , is no different. Set along an indistinct American South after World War II, the movie tells the story of a black family and a white family, whose disparate vantage points illuminate a racist society that has affected them both in deeply profound ways. They’re given equal agency and layers, and are written with the same level of compassion that seeps through each of the performances. So much so that the question is no longer about who is oppressed and who is the oppressor. It presents a more complex narrative that explores the effects of war across racial lines—through these two families whose steadfast hope is destroyed once they’re shown how little their world has changed when their loved ones return from battle and are unable to navigate the harsh realities they once could. The story opens with the McAllan family, Laura (Carey Mulligan) and Henry (Jason Clarke), a young couple who have recently arrived from Memphis with dreams of more land and a better life for his growing family. But as soon as they get there, with his spiteful father Pappy (Jonathan Banks) in tow, both husband and wife learn that they haven’t moved any further away from struggle. They have to get the house out of the clutches of the swindler they bought it from; their once promising land is actually infertile; and Laura is stuck in a house with a dutiful yet loveless man and his oppressive father. They can only anticipate that the return of Henry’s brother, Jamie (Garrett Hedlund), and the conclusion of the war, will help them realize a new reality for themselves. Just miles down the road is the Jackson family, headed by Florence and Hap (Mary J. Blige and Rob Morgan). They’re sharecroppers on the McAllan land who become the white family’s natural default for any extra support they need—for the land or otherwise. Florence takes care of the little McAllan kids when they get whopping cough. Hap has to help out with labor on the land. And their young boys are often beckoned for additional sets of hands. But they have their own aspirations to consider, keeping a happy home in the midst of racial hierarchal, buying their own property, and paving the way for their children to have a freer life than they have. Inversely from the McAllans, their struggle is dictated by everything and everyone around them, and their home is filled with joy and the security of love. So when their oldest son Ronsel (Jason Mitchell) goes off to fight in the war, they are comforted by the hope they’ve instilled in his heart, and that he’ll come back to a more possible future for himself. The core of the film is what happens when both men return home to a society that has remained remarkably stagnant, and try to navigate the overwhelming desire to be the face of change in a world that wants anything but. Rees, along with the heartbreaking performances of Hedlund and Mitchell, delivers a searing portrayal of post-traumatic stress in a society that failed (and still fails) to acknowledge. The sleepless nights, the alarming recognition that despite the lives they saw wasted on the battlefield—their own just merely escaping—they are still an N-word and a white drifter; a man who can’t even walk through the front door of an establishment without putting his life at risk and the other who tries to drink the memories of war out of his mind every day. Rarely in the black community do we see images of mental health, and even more rarely do we see it in male characters, who are more often portrayed like Hap—who’d rather walk around on a broken leg than have his wife take his place out in the field. It’s the film’s audacity to portray black male vulnerability especially in a historical context that admonished it which makes Mudbound that much more impactful. That and how director/co-writer Rees refuses to back down on present either family’s narrative as a deficit to the other—despite how easy it would have been to do so. Compelling, heartbreaking, and bold, Mudbound is an absolute must-see. DON’T MISS: ‘The Real’ Host Jeannie Mai Is Divorcing Her Husband Mississippi School To Swap Confederate Leader’s Name For Barack Obama’s Did Wendy Williams Fire Staff Who Leaked Cheating Rumors About Her Husband?
(Jason Mitchell, director Dee Rees, Rob Morgan, Carey Mulligan, Mary J. Blige and Garrett Hedlund attend the ‘Mudbound’ Premiere on day 3 of the 2017 Sundance Film Festival at Eccles Center Theatre on January 21, 2017 in Park City, Utah. Source: Nicholas Hunt / Getty) Writer/director Dee Rees has been anything but predictable. She became a household name in 2011 with her first feature-length film Pariah , a gutting coming-of-age narrative about a young woman grappling with her sexuality. Then she turned around and took the small screen by storm with the triumphant story of iconic blues singer Bessie Smith in Bessie —which racked up more than one million viewers in its premiere. She even managed to helm a few documentary films and grace the director’s chair of the hit FOX series Empire in between projects. But even though her projects run the gamut, there is one recognizable theme that connects each of them, something we rarely see from other filmmakers. Rees boldly dismantles our most uncomfortable truths and interrogates why they remain hidden. Her latest drama, Mudbound , is no different. Set along an indistinct American South after World War II, the movie tells the story of a black family and a white family, whose disparate vantage points illuminate a racist society that has affected them both in deeply profound ways. They’re given equal agency and layers, and are written with the same level of compassion that seeps through each of the performances. So much so that the question is no longer about who is oppressed and who is the oppressor. It presents a more complex narrative that explores the effects of war across racial lines—through these two families whose steadfast hope is destroyed once they’re shown how little their world has changed when their loved ones return from battle and are unable to navigate the harsh realities they once could. The story opens with the McAllan family, Laura (Carey Mulligan) and Henry (Jason Clarke), a young couple who have recently arrived from Memphis with dreams of more land and a better life for his growing family. But as soon as they get there, with his spiteful father Pappy (Jonathan Banks) in tow, both husband and wife learn that they haven’t moved any further away from struggle. They have to get the house out of the clutches of the swindler they bought it from; their once promising land is actually infertile; and Laura is stuck in a house with a dutiful yet loveless man and his oppressive father. They can only anticipate that the return of Henry’s brother, Jamie (Garrett Hedlund), and the conclusion of the war, will help them realize a new reality for themselves. Just miles down the road is the Jackson family, headed by Florence and Hap (Mary J. Blige and Rob Morgan). They’re sharecroppers on the McAllan land who become the white family’s natural default for any extra support they need—for the land or otherwise. Florence takes care of the little McAllan kids when they get whopping cough. Hap has to help out with labor on the land. And their young boys are often beckoned for additional sets of hands. But they have their own aspirations to consider, keeping a happy home in the midst of racial hierarchal, buying their own property, and paving the way for their children to have a freer life than they have. Inversely from the McAllans, their struggle is dictated by everything and everyone around them, and their home is filled with joy and the security of love. So when their oldest son Ronsel (Jason Mitchell) goes off to fight in the war, they are comforted by the hope they’ve instilled in his heart, and that he’ll come back to a more possible future for himself. The core of the film is what happens when both men return home to a society that has remained remarkably stagnant, and try to navigate the overwhelming desire to be the face of change in a world that wants anything but. Rees, along with the heartbreaking performances of Hedlund and Mitchell, delivers a searing portrayal of post-traumatic stress in a society that failed (and still fails) to acknowledge. The sleepless nights, the alarming recognition that despite the lives they saw wasted on the battlefield—their own just merely escaping—they are still an N-word and a white drifter; a man who can’t even walk through the front door of an establishment without putting his life at risk and the other who tries to drink the memories of war out of his mind every day. Rarely in the black community do we see images of mental health, and even more rarely do we see it in male characters, who are more often portrayed like Hap—who’d rather walk around on a broken leg than have his wife take his place out in the field. It’s the film’s audacity to portray black male vulnerability especially in a historical context that admonished it which makes Mudbound that much more impactful. That and how director/co-writer Rees refuses to back down on present either family’s narrative as a deficit to the other—despite how easy it would have been to do so. Compelling, heartbreaking, and bold, Mudbound is an absolute must-see. DON’T MISS: ‘The Real’ Host Jeannie Mai Is Divorcing Her Husband Mississippi School To Swap Confederate Leader’s Name For Barack Obama’s Did Wendy Williams Fire Staff Who Leaked Cheating Rumors About Her Husband?
