Source: Patrick Smith / Getty Marshawn Lynch appears to be hanging up the cleats if developing reports are true. According to league sources, the Oakland Raiders running back isn’t planning to return to the field this coming season. ESPN reports : With the three-day NFL draft kicking off Thursday night in Nashville, Tennessee, the Raiders have one more potential need to address: running back. Minus Lynch, the Raiders’ backfield now will be left with backs such as Isaiah Crowell, Jalen Richard, DeAndre Washington and Chris Warren. Lynch, who turned 33 on Monday, plans to move on to the next phase of his life. Lynch’s stint with the Raiders had highs and lows, but “Beast Mode” continued to be entertaining and productive. Last season, he was tied for fifth in the AFC with 331 rushing yards through Week 5 when he suffered what eventually became a season-ending groin injury against the Seattle Seahawks, his former team, in London. Hopefully, we’ll see more of Beast Mode from the sidelines and in commercials for years to come. — Photo: Getty
Source: Dana Scruggs / Essence Magazine Diddy and his children Quincy, Justin, Christian, Chance, D’Lila and Jessie cover Essence’s 49th anniversary issue in a stunning and beautiful Black spread. dream hampton interviewed the patriarch for the “Family Over Everything” cover story. “Before this, I was a part-time father, you know?” he explained. “My family was always first, but there are countless times when I chose work over everything else. But every day I can hear her telling me to go and spend some time with the kids and make sure everybody’s all right, like she would do. I’m just a lot more present, and, most important, now my kids come before anything else in my life…” View this post on Instagram Through highs and lows, valleys and streams—the Combs family remains tighter than ever. We could all learn a thing or two from the Combs Dynasty. Tap the in bio for more from our May issue. #RIPKimPorter ( : @danascruggs) A post shared by ESSENCE (@essence) on Apr 23, 2019 at 1:10pm PDT The heartfelt conversation hits newsstands Friday. RELATED STORIES: Diddy Still Regrets Not Marrying Kim Porter, Tells Fans ‘Don’t Be Like Me’ Slay! Issa Rae Is Absolutely Glowing On The April Cover Of Essence All The Melanin Magic At Essence’s Black Women In Hollywood
E arlier in the month, a video went viral of Alexander McNab being harassed by six campus cops at Barnard College , an all-women’s school affiliated with Columbia University in New York City. But while the video caused outrage from staff and faculty, one student went out of her way to claim that McNab appearing to be racially profiled had nothing to do with his brown skin. SEE ALSO: Students Suspended For Brawl While Cop In Video Who Assaulted One Of Them Goes Unpunished The student, who described herself as a “(very) light-skinned Jewish woman” named Morgan Raum, defended campus security in a piece she recently authored for the Columbia Beacon, an alternative campus publication. “I would much prefer Barnard Public Safety officers prioritize safety rather than political correctness,” Raum wrote . “The fact of the matter is an adult male entered a closed women’s college campus after 11 p.m. and repeatedly refused to show his identification to Public Safety officers, despite admitting that he knew about the rule. To be honest, I’m upset he was allowed to get as far as Milstein before the officers took action.” Raum went on to say McNab was stopped simply because of his gender, an excuse that rings hollow since there are always male students from Columbia on Barnard’s campus. “For context: Columbia students have access to Barnard libraries. After 11 p.m., students are supposed to show their IDs to public safety before entering campus. But this rule is loosely enforced and hardly followed. I have always just nodded to the officer. Nothing like this,” Andrew Wang , who identified himself as a Columbia student, wrote in his tweet below that includes a video of the incident. This happened yesterday at Barnard College. A black Columbia University student was entering the library when he was racially profiled by public safety officers. They took his ID. They pinned him down. : Caroline Cutlip pic.twitter.com/7CeUDQSuIH — Andrew Wang (@andrwwang) April 12, 2019 “I can’t help but feel that while Alexander McNab may have been ‘profiled,’ in all likelihood it was due to his being a male student on a women’s college campus after 11PM who repeatedly refused to show his identification,” she wrote. In case you missed it, McNab refused to show his ID to security officers who the same demands for identification from students of color. Officers eventually physically assaulted McNab inside a campus building even after he handed them his identification, another fact the “very light-skinned” Raum failed to acknowledge. “I didn’t violate anybody. Get your hands off of me,” McNab says to the security officers. After looking at McNab’s ID card, one of the officers responded, “Let’s walk outside.” McNab said he feared going outside with the officers and wanted to stay inside the building where there were witnesses. Instead of examining his ID and allowing him to go, the officers confiscated McNab’s card, saying they needed to verify that he was an “active” Columbia student. As of Tuesday morning, the security officers were reportedly still on leave and Barnard was hiring an independent investigator. SEE ALSO: Campus Racism Thrives Under Trump As Black Students Are Increasingly Targeted Security Guard’s Reason For Killing HBCU Student Leaves More Questions Than Answers [ione_media_gallery src=”https://newsone.com” id=”3839016″ overlay=”true”]
Photo: @stretchd_34 Cleveland rapper Qamar Akee Williams, known as Q Money, turned himself into authorities last Thursday following accusations of shooting and killing fellow musician and Ohio native 24-year-old Calvin Alexander Chappell April 15 at Chappell’s cousin’s home in Dacatur, GA. SEE ALSO: Watch Q Money Take The Stage At Z1079’s White Out Concert [VIDEO] SEE ALSO: Q Money Ft. YFN Lucci – “Whole Ticket” [VIDEO] Q Money’s family released a statement offering their condolences to the Chappell family and went on to say Q was simply acting in self-defense and therefore not guilty of first-degree murder. “As the facts and evidence continue to become available, we are sure that they will show that Qamar acted in self-defense from feeling as though his life was at risk and being threatened.” Read the full statement below. First, we would like to send out our deepest condolences to the Chappell Family at this unfortunate time of loss. We were very familiar with Calvin Alexander Chappell in his younger years with our son. He was a kind young man with a bright future as a singing recording artist. Our son Qamar was focused on bringing positive energy through his music. He started his career from the ground up and does not promote violence or portray the use of guns in any of his visuals that he releases. His rapid rise to stardom fueled his ambitions to continue to work hard to get his career to the next level until he had reached the goals that he had set for himself. Qamar loves his son, his family and his craft. He has shown perseverance to eventually have become the next biggest artists ever. At the recent tragic loss of Nipsey Hustle, all artist are finding themselves thinking about what would they do if placed in a predicament that they would have to protect their lives if it were being threatened due to being a celebrity. We feel Qamar was a victim in this situation as well due to his life being completely being altered behind this event. Qamar is an energetic, enthusiastic young man and has no malice in his heart for anyone. As the facts and evidence continue to become available, we are sure that they will show that Qamar acted in self-defense from feeling as though his life was at risk and being threatened. We are deeply saddened by the way the information that has been released portrays the night in question. We are here 100% to support our Son Qamar. On April 18th, 2019 Qamar turned himself into the Atlanta Dekaulb County Police for further review of this case. We are praying for the Chappell family and we ask that you keep our family in your prayers as well. We look forward to a positive outcome for our son Qamar “QMoneyyyyy” Williams. Thank You From the Family of Qamar Akee Williams Williams is currently being held on a felony murder charge. [ione_media_gallery src=”https://zhiphopcleveland.com” id=”4757206″ overlay=”true”] [ione_media_gallery src=”https://zhiphopcleveland.com” id=”4692675″ overlay=”true”]
Source: Hal Bergmann Photography / Getty Nigel Shelby Commits Suicide Over Bullying Another teen has unfortunately taken their own life over bullying. 15-year-old Nigel Shelby of Huntsville Alabama’s Huntsville High School died by suicide April 18 after he was reportedly bullied for being gay. The news was first spread on Facebook by Rocket City Pride, a local LGBTQ+ Pride group. “We are heartbroken over the death of Nigel Shelby, a 15-year-old freshman at Huntsville High School,” said Rocket City Pride in a statement. “Nigel took his life because he was bullied for being gay. There are no words that can be said to make sense of this devastating news.” Rockey City Pride’s GoFundMe for Nigel’s mother had a goal of $10,000. As of now, the donations are over $15,000. Huntsville City Schools Superintendent Christie Finley also addressed Nigel’s suicide at a school board meeting and implored people to be kind and use the “Golden Rule” when dealing with each other . “I want to take a brief moment to speak about the recent loss of a Huntsville high school student, Nigel Shelby,” she said. “I spent most of the weekend really processing this loss and I’m sure many of you have as well. And we will for a while to come. It’s clear to me that the simple word of the golden rule has really become more difficult for many to understand and to practice and it is time as a society to value, respect and uplift one another.” Nigel’s suicide comes after 9-year-old McKenzie Adams of Alabama killed herself after racist bulliyng and after 10-year-old Seven Bridges committed suicide because he was bullied over his colostomy bag. We are praying for the families of these children who cut their own lives far too short.
An Akron, Ohio, mom claims that her two daughters were kicked out of their private Christian school, some 30 days before summer break, all because she is unmarried. According to WKYC , Summer Grant’s daughters Summara and Summaia, who were fourth and second graders, had gone to Chapel Hill Christian School for years until last Friday. Apparently, an administrator banned her children because he believes she is “living in sin.” “He said it was many reasons and the main one was because I was not married and my children had different fathers,” Grant said. That, and Grant has receipts—she recorded the conversation. “There’s 10 commandments and committing adultery is not part of that,” Pastor Wilson can be heard saying on tape. “It’s not that they should not go to the school it’s that they can’t go to the school.” Grant also told WKYC that her daughters are model students, winning multiple awards and having good grades. And despite an incident on the bus last week, where one her daughters didn’t sit up front when the driver told her to, the children have no real history of disciplinary issues. She claims the Pastor even told her his decision to expel her daughters had nothing to do with that particular incident. “It’s not right. It’s not right,” Grant stressed, adding, “As Christian you are not supposed to judge. You shouldn’t have affected these kids education over that.” This isn’t the first time Pastor Wilson has confronted Grant about her personal life. She claims over the summer he asked why she had three children with three different men. He also had the audacity to give her a list of eight things she needs to do to improve her life. “It wasn’t about whether they had their scholarship in place,” Grant tearfully told the Akron Beacon Journal . “It was more or less about me just not living right. … It was an uncomfortable conversation, but I sat through it because I really wanted my children to go to the school.” Pastor Wilson declined to go on camera with WKYC, but in a statement, he explained that parents were required to sign a written agreement to reflect a commitment to Christ and the Grant family acted in a manner “inconsistent” with the agreement. In his eyes, the “dismissal was necessary in order to protect the safety of our school children and their families.” In the meantime, Grant says her girls have no school to finish the year out right now. “They don’t have a school,” she said. They don’t have anywhere to go to school right now. I don’t know what to do.” When it comes to next year, she’s not sure if its worth fighting to have her kids back to Chapel Hill Christian School next fall where, “they’re honestly not welcome in.” Last week on Facebook, Grant thanked everyone who had sent her kind words and tried to help her find a new school for her girls. In the end, she just doesn’t want anyone to judge her daughters for her own life decisions. “I really want to thank everyone for any kind words shares messages calls or referrals! This situation has really put me in a bind mentally!!! I can say I’ve done some “not so ok things” in my life,” the mother wrote. Adding, Done some things I probably shouldn’t have but I don’t want to be judged as a bad person! N I especially don’t want my kids to be judged for my actions.” RELATED NEWS: Prosecutors Say South Carolina 5th Grader Died Of Natural Causes, Not From Fight Christian School Apologizes After Teacher Wore Blackface During African History Lesson [WATCH] Empowering Video Of Mother Singing Song To Bullied Son Goes Viral [ione_media_gallery src=”https://hellobeautiful.com” id=”2848104″ overlay=”true”]
Sunday night’s episode of Game of Thrones gave viewers plenty to talk about. Brienne became a knight; Dany learned that she’s been banging her nephew (or neph-boo, if you prefer), and Tormund filled everyone in on the magical properties of giant boobs. (Those are boobs found on mythical giantesses, not merely large breasts … though we suppose those are magical in their own right.) But there was one scene that the internet just can’t seem to agree on — and it seems some folks found it off-putting for reasons that they struggled to articulate. As you may have guessed we’re talking about Maisie Williams’ sex scene. Yes, Arya Stark relinquished her V-card to handy hottie Gendry, and many viewers didn’t know what to think. While it’s unclear what Arya’s exact age is supposed to be at this stage in the story, Maisie Williams is 22, and is thus free to get as freaky on camera as she desires. And her sex scene was far more modest than some of the softcore action we’ve seen on Thrones over the years. The season premiere, for example, featured the character of Bronn being mounted by three nude prostitutes as they gleefully discussed the gory fate of Ed Sheeran’s much-maligned soldier . And of course, no one had a problem with that because this is Game of Thrones , a show where sex and violence are so intertwined that there are multiple central characters who have had their dongs lopped off. And yet, Williams’ consensual sex scene, complete with pre-coital discussion of previous experiences has generated controversy in some corners of Twitter. Yes, because the internet is a hotbed of Freudian hangups that the world’s most skilled psychologists could never hope to make sense of, some reported that they were upset by the scene. It seems these weirdos felt as though they were watching a sex scene involving not the actress Maisie Williams, but the character Arya Stark — and they reacted as though they’d just learned a beloved younger relative was gettin’ it in with the local blacksmith. Thankfully, these people were in the minority (and some, like the ones we’ve chosen to feature here, were merely engaging in some lighthearted ribbing). For the most part, fans were happy to see the long-suffering Arya enjoy a pleasurable experience and enter a new stage in her life — and they were quick to point out that it was all very well-deserved. “Had this discussion at lunch,” one person tweeted. “Co-worker said she still thought of her as a young girl. I said I had not thought of her that way since she single-handedly massacred all of House Frey. Which they deserved.” Both Arya and Maisie also enjoyed a great deal of support across the internet. The always-brilliant folks at Bossip sounded off on the matter, as did Missandei actress Nathalie Emmanuel “@Maisie_Williams and Arya having agency over her own sexuality like all women should literally gave me liiiifeee,” Emmanuel tweeted. But the best reaction of the night likely belongs to Sophie Turner, who’s spent the better part of the past decade portraying Maisie’s onscreen sister, Sansa Stark. Sophie Turner on Maisie Williams Sex Scene “In honor of Easter, I guess Game Of Thrones wanted the storyline to have a little Easter bunny hop, hop, hopping into that p–sy,” Sansa told the camera. We love it. A girl has no V-card, and we’re sure Maisie is deeply proud of her empowering scene. Of course, according to horror movie rules, Arya is now that much more likely to get iced in the battle with the White Walkers, but that’s a conversation for next week. View Slideshow: Game of Thrones: Who’s About to Die!? [Unofficial Rankings By Unofficial Odds]
Source: AM/ SplashNews / Splash News Amber Rose Reveals Her Friends Have Stopped Checking On Her This should be the happiest time of her life. Amber Rose is pregnant and in love so you think she’d be feeling all the fuzzies but instead over the weekend Amber posted a six part letter on her Instagram stories calling out her fake friends for not checking on her during her pregnancy… Peep her messages below: Funny how my phone blows up when I’m having pool parties and sh*t is lit. But as soon as a bi**h is sick and pregnant it’s crickets No “Just checking on you” text or nothing sh*ts wild. But when I pop out this BEAUTIFUL Strong baby boy don’t try to be my friend again. Dead a** Toxic a** fake friends byeeeeeeeeee Poor baby… You’d think after all these years in Hollyweird she’d have learned better discernment when it comes to friends but apparently not. Can anybody relate to Amber? Anybody else’s friends go M.I.A. once that morning sickness hit? Hopefully Amber will feel better soon and her real friends will show up for her.
Source: Orlando Sentinel / Getty George Zimmerman Got Booted Off Tinder After He Was Caught Using A Fake Profile According to ABC News , George Zimmerman can add another place where he’s not welcome to the list; Tinder. An emailed statement from Tinder cited users’ safety as a reason for removing George Zimmerman’s profile from the dating app platform after he used a fake name on the dating app. “At Tinder, we take our users’ safety very seriously, and our team has removed this profile from our platform. We utilize a network of industry-leading automated and manual moderation and review tools, systems, and processes — and spend millions of dollars annually — to prevent, monitor and remove bad actors who have violated our Community Guidelines and Terms of Use from our app.” Zimmerman was also previously banned from Bumble. The murderer used a fake name; “Carter” on his Tinder profile. George Zimmerman is using Tinder under a fake name after he was banned from Bumble https://t.co/KQwhvssfLd — Daily Mail US (@DailyMail) April 18, 2019 Zimmerman was acquitted in the shooting of Trayvon Martin on the grounds of self-defense but he has had several run-ins with the law, including a 2015 arrest after he was accused of throwing a wine bottle at his girlfriend.
Source: Kevin Mazur / Getty Legendary Rapper Eminem Shares His Journey Of Sobriety Eminem took to Twitter to share a huge milestone with fans. The Detroit MC posted a photo of his sobriety chip on Twitter and Instagram with a commemorative caption, “11 years – still not afraid.” 11 years – still not afraid. pic.twitter.com/A8TV0LsLfn — Marshall Mathers (@Eminem) April 20, 2019 Em has been candid about his addiction over the years and has spoken about his 2007 overdose that nearly ended his life. “I overdosed on pills, and I went into the hospital,” Eminem told Men’s Journal during a 2015 profile. “I was close to 230 pounds. I’m not sure how I got so big, but I have ideas. The coating on the Vicodin and the Valium I’d been taking for years leaves a hole in your stomach, so to avoid a stomachache, I was constantly eating—and eating badly.” Major salute to Em on the huge achievement.
