It's been a bad week for Jenelle Evans. Well, a bad week, a bad year, a bad lifetime … But you know what we're getting at here. On April 29th, David Eason killed her dog, Nugget, by beating it then shooting it with a shotgun. And after that, everything pretty much fell apart. It's probably safe to say that if Jenelle lost her job on Teen Mom 2, things would somehow get even worse for her. But, well, here we are. 1. What a Week It’s been almost a week now since David killed Jenelle’s dog, so let’s go ahead and do a quick little timeline, OK? 2. So Wrong On Monday, we know that David shot Jenelle’s French bulldog puppy, Nugget, and he claimed he did it because it bit Ensley. 3. Oh No Jenelle herself admitted that “hit” the dog before chasing it into the woods and shooting it with a shotgun, but reliable sources have alleged that he beat the dog so badly that when he came back in the house, he was “covered in blood.” 4. Understandable Jenelle has been devastated about losing her dog, and she left home to go stay with her longtime friend Jamie Wilshire in Kentucky. 5. Yes Please She’s been so upset that she’s made several statements about how divorce is a possibility. 6. Sick Unfortunately, it seems like she’s already back home with David, just like nothing ever happened. View Slideshow
T he mother of Philando Castile —a 32-year-old Black man who tragically lost his life at the hands of a police officer in Falcon Heights, Minnesota three years ago—is honoring her son’s legacy by turning her pain into something positive. According to CBS Minnesota , Valerie Castile has paid off the lunch debt for students at Robbinsdale Cooper High School. Philando Castile’s Mom Presents $8,000 Donation To Help Clear Student Lunch Debts https://t.co/3BcZ2BMIPs pic.twitter.com/enh7OEzJog — WCCO – CBS Minnesota (@WCCO) April 26, 2019 Castile donated $8,000 to the school through the Philando Castile Relief Foundation. The funds will go towards clearing the lunch debt bill for high school seniors who are graduating. Within the district, students who have outstanding lunch debts are barred from receiving their diplomas. Castile said she wanted to make the donation because Philando—who worked at a school cafeteria—was adamant about helping students pay off their lunch debt. “This is something that Philando held near and dear to his heart,” she told the news outlet in a statement. “He’d pay for children’s lunch meals out of his own pocket instead of letting a child go hungry that day he would pay for it himself.” Last year a charity created in Philando’s honor raised $130,000 to pay off the lunch debt for students who attended school in St. Paul. Outstanding lunch debt has become a growing issue within the school district. According to Carlton Jenkins who serves as the superintendent of Robbinsdale Area Schools, the amount of debt has skyrocketed to $300,000. Many of the students who have debt are living in poverty, making it extremely hard for them to pay for lunch. Donations like the one made by the Philando Castile Relief Foundation are needed. The Minnesota school district isn’t the only one facing lunch debt issues. USA Today reported that 75 percent of school districts across the country had unpaid student meal debt during the 2016-2017 academic year. SEE ALSO: Philando Castile Honored With Two-Day Proclamation In Falcon Heights Minnesota Deputy Under Fire For Racist Tweet About Philando Castile’s Girlfriend [ione_media_gallery src=”https://newsone.com” id=”3440564″ overlay=”true”]
Source: JOSHUA LOTT / Getty R. Kelly’s Alleged Stash Of Sex Tapes Wanted By Feds R. Kelly’s life is in a state of…transition. Between the criminal sex abuse charges and his inability to pay child support or bills, we think it’s pretty obvious that R. Kelly’s freedom will soon be penniless and imprisoned. Lord willin’. Just look at how hard the feds are going to make sure they nail Robert to the wall this time. According to TMZ , the badges are pressing the line of several people who are close to the singer in order to find out where his rumored stash of VHS tapes showing him having sex with young girls. The talk of these tapes first surfaced back when Robert was on trial back in 2008, but authorities were unable to locate them at the time. They hope to change that very, very soon. In addition, authorities are looking at other crimes that Robert may have committed. We’re told feds in Illinois are investigating Kelly on 3 different fronts: sex trafficking, tax evasion and obstruction of justice. If the sex abuse stuff doesn’t stick, maybe there’s a chance that these other charges will. Feds believe Kelly may have pressured and, or paid off witnesses during his 2008 trial. Long as he goes to prison for a long time we don’t really care about the legal semantics. Just get it done.
Source: Aaron Rapoport / Getty T he timing of life’s peaks and valleys are unique depending on the individual in Black America, but the experiences themselves are synonymous. We all deal with the task of navigating through terrain specifically designed for us, yet not designed in our favor. The socioeconomic makeup of the cities we come from teaches us to be communal and operate in self-interest at the same time. The dynamic of our relationships includes a protective instinct as we care for each other in nuanced ways while playing tug of war over a certain type of respect from our significant others. We treat our close friends like siblings while keeping each other at a metaphorical arm’s length for fear of exposing our weaknesses, thereby giving too much power to anyone. Stepping into our individuality is a fight in and of itself as we reluctantly turn away from the mindsets and habits molded by our predecessors, in favor of new ideologies that fit our perspectives of the world we eventually encounter on our own accord. There’s a powerful duality that we inherit with our brown skin, and John Singleton was a master of explaining it through is directorial lens. The Duality of Black Men At 24, John Singleton put Hollywood on notice and South Central LA on display with Boyz n the Hood —a masterpiece that showcased the spectrum of young Black men versus the generalization of us, pumped through the propaganda machine known as American news. In the film, a gifted young boy named Tre hits the time limit on the safety of his mother’s nurturing embrace, and is transitioned into lessons on manhood through the guidance of his father. It’s a distinct adventure each Black man has to face. Those of us who were unfortunately raised without fathers received our lessons in manhood from the uncles, cousins, coaches, and various other “father figures” within arms reach. Regardless of the teacher, the lesson remains the same. The world doesn’t love you like your mother does, and it never will. When you jump off the porch and into society, you’re public enemy number one, and you’d better learn to be productive despite the burden. You’d better grasp that being a Black man is a job and it’s on you to find a way to carry its responsibilities, even if you get so frustrated that you end up punching the air. For every Tre there’s a Doughboy, a kind heart hardened by his surroundings. The good in him occupies an equal amount of bad. The good is what he wishes consumed him, and the bad is what he depends on for survival. How can you judge him for being balanced? Is it because he doesn’t look inviting? Is it because his charm comes with a hint of mystery? You can’t quite tell what he’ll do if you bring him the wrong energy, can you? Good, we make you feel like you should be on your toes around us because we live like that everyday. Those are instincts we need so we don’t end up like Ricky: robbed of our potential because we got caught slipping. The robbery of our potential doesn’t always end in gunfire. Sometimes it ends in losing that scholarship, or that promotion we had a shot at. If we’re not on point at all times, we’ll end up taking two steps back from the forward step we just took. Worst case scenario, we end up dead, never taking a forward step again. Exchange of Power As Love Language Just two years after releasing Boyz n the Hood , John Singleton gave us Poetic Justice , this time painting a picture of the complex relationship between young Black men and women. The film’s main character Justice lost her boyfriend unexpectedly to violence, leaving her skeptical of opening up again. Lucky, her love interest played by the late Tupac Shakur, had good morals, but didn’t understand how to engage a woman that required more than sweet talking and humorous wit. I can’t speak for women, but as a man I know what it’s like to give love and decide I didn’t want to anymore. Most men are guilty of that. Until a certain age, we don’t think much about how deeply some of our gestures resonate, and how traumatic it must be to impact someone emotionally, to just move on without thinking twice. I’m not sure if we do that because we’re afraid of being vulnerable, or because we’re as emotionally unintelligent as people say. Maybe it’s both, but either way, we’re a bit entitled with how we handle love. As we grow older, we encounter women who have developed a force field around their hearts, weary of repeating the same let downs that come from our fear of vulnerability. That’s where we butt heads. As men, we may have good intentions with the women we forge relationships with, but good intentions aren’t enough. It’s about consistent action, and creating a safe space for a woman to let her guard down. “I’m a Black woman, and I deserve respect.” – Justice, Poetic Justice Lucky and Justice challenged each other in that sense. On one hand, it’s perfectly natural to be protective of your feelings. It’s equally as natural to expect to be taken as you are, even if there’s potential to be better. Black men and women are everything to each other, even when we’re too stubborn to see it. We go through exchanges of power, until deciding to meet in the middle and understand the reasoning behind each other’s flaws. We saw the experience played out just as much in Baby Boy . The story of Jody, a 20-something Black man struggling to take ownership of his transition out of boyhood. He has two children by two different women, one of which he loves, and both of which he expects access to when he feels like it. Yvette, the woman who has his heart, displays the type of patience he doesn’t deserve. She provides for herself, maintains a roof over their son’s head, and still welcomes him with open arms although his presence is inconsistent. He’s quick to name the small things he does for her: buying groceries here and there, installing cable, and putting rims on her car—small gestures that to him say “I’m making sure you’re comfortable”, but they pale in comparison to what Yvette really wants. She wants to know they’re a family, that she can depend on him. Her frustration manifests in locking him out of the apartment. He hits back by refusing to fix her car. Small incidents, both of which are attempts to gain some sort of leverage. In the end they come together the minute Jody realizes that he can’t fight his woman until she bends to his will. He’s got to give as much as he’s hoping to receive, maybe even a little more. That’s the essence of being a provider. “If I’m insecure it’s because you made me this way, all you do is think about yourself.” – Yvette, Baby Boy The Black woman demands that we realize the power in our potential. She knows that her love for us doesn’t require her to settle for half of us. She welcomes being led, as long as we’ve actually got a direction in mind. The irony in that is it takes time to find direction, and maybe we’d like her to know that not having direction yet doesn’t mean we’re not in search of it. Optimism Versus Realism In Higher Learning , Remy and Malik show the juxtaposition of the mindstate most young Black men deal with at educational institutions. Malik is there on scholarship, while Remy is a senior on his way out. Remy is militant, and almost exhausted at the racism he sees daily. Malik is hopeful, a wide-eyed freshman aware that the institution he’s operating within has its own cultural barriers he’s got to work around. In a back and forth with his Black professor, Malik seems to expect a break because they share the same skin color. That is a distinct experience we have as Black people, so artfully showcased by Singleton through character dialogue. At times, we mistake support for a free pass. Racism is a great hindrance to our progress in this country, it’s an indisputable fact. Be that as it may, we still get in our own way at times by believing that when we see each other in spaces where there are few of us, that we shouldn’t hold each other to high standards. We sell each other short looking for the hook-up when it’s more productive to help each other earn what’s for the taking. “ I will continue to give you a difficult time, until you have proven that you deserve otherwise. Those are the rules of the game. Young man you have to rid yourself of the attitude that the world owes you something. You must strip yourself of that attitude, it breeds laziness.” Professor Phipps, Higher Learning Meanwhile, Remy appears almost jaded at having a higher education, because the struggle doesn’t change. What good is a degree, certificate, or any other credential if at the end of the day, it’s our skin that determines how our trajectory? He’s not entirely wrong to carry these thoughts, but it’s dangerous to accept that reality. If we keep a bleak outlook on our potential then we’ll never move forward. We must embrace hope just as we embrace the survival mentality. Both are necessary, but neither is beneficial in excess. There are countless other movies and an iconic music video I can choose from and dissect, but the message is clear: John Singleton knew the value in helping us see ourselves, never shying from the stereotypes others may have run from. Instead, he revealed the beauty in our madness, and the genius in our ignorance. Black people aren’t perfect, nor do we come perfectly packaged. It’s our various dimensions that make us a galaxy worth learning and understanding, for the benefit of our own higher learning.
Source: FOX / Getty Jess Hilarious And Kountry Wayne Call It Quits Jess Hilarious and her stand-up comedy bae of just a few months have apparently split. Jess posted up a tribute to her son, calling him the “REALEST love” she knows, alarming folks in her comments on Instagram. She then confirmed in the comments of her post that she and her ex-bf are now “best friends” when a fan joked that her caption sounded like a single mom who just broke up with her boyfriend. View this post on Instagram REALEST love I’ve ever known….he’s away for the weekend & I miss his ass ALREADY, he posted this and I’m stealing love you AshMan A post shared by Jess Moore (@jesshilarious_official) on Apr 26, 2019 at 4:19pm PDT Jess and Wayne have been super public about their courtship from the beginning and now intimate photos of them are missing from her page. The lovers posted up sweet Valentine’s Day messages to each other before briefly splitting in February . Apparently, one of the mother’s of Kountry Wayne’s children threw a monkey wrench into their lovefest after she posted up photos of her baby daddy at her house on V-day. View this post on Instagram When bae keep wanting to take a picture over and over again! @jesshilarious_official #jesus #driptour #money #kountrywayne A post shared by Wayne Colley (@kountrywayne) on Feb 27, 2019 at 3:40pm PST In her most recent post, a commenter wrote “Wayne don’t know what he lost”, to which Jess responded: Oh he know, believe me…he know. They ALL know. Do you think this is REALLY over? Jess has been looking rather snackable on IG despite the breakup. Hit the flip to see.
Well, one of the biggest weekends on the 2019 pop cultural calendar is officially behind us, and all over America, fanboys and haters alike are hashing out their differences. Both Avengers: Endgame and Game of Thrones ‘ Battle of Winterfell saw the deaths of some beloved characters, but GoT being GoT, it’s not surprising that some viewers expected even more carnage. Obviously, the remainder of this article is dark and full of spoilers (We miss you already, Melisandre.), so proceed no further if you have yet to watch Game of Thrones Season 8 Episode 3 . (Which was surprisingly not titled “The Battle of Winterfell,” but is instead officially known as “The Long Night.”) The stakes and the expectations for the episode could not have been much higher. It was the most expensive Game of Thrones to date with a whopping 85-minute runtime. Marketing materials promised the longest continuous battle sequence in film or television history. From a narrative standpoint, the episode would conclude the Night King/White Walker storyline that was set into motion in the show’s very first scene. Fans hoped the installment would also deliver some big-time emotional payoff and set the stage for the series’ final three episodes. On some of those promises, the show inarguably delivered (that was certainly one very lengthy battle), but others … maybe not so much. On Twitter, complaints were plentiful — granted, that’s always the case with Twitter, but the response to “The Long Night” seemed even more mixed than usual. One of the primary beefs was the fact that the episode very much lived up to its name. It was long, and it was very, very dark. Literally. Many viewers complained that they had difficulty following the action due to the low lighting. Others complained of jump cuts and the visual anonymity of the combatants. Yes, it made sense that the dueling armies were all attired so similarly, but combined with shadowy motif, this often made it difficult to tell who was swinging the sword and who was being cut down. Speaking of violent death, some fans felt there just wasn’t enough of it. Or more accurately, they felt more top-tier characters should have met their demise. Sure we lost Jorah Mormont, Theon Greyjoy, Lyanna Mormont, Melisandre, and the Night King, but this is a show that’s never been shy about offing major players, and with just three episodes remaining, fans understandably expected the Battle of Winterfell to reduce them to sobbing shells of their former selves. That might sound like an unpleasant experience, but it’s part of what’s kept us coming back to Westeros for the past eight years, and for many viewers, “The Long Night” lacked the emotional gut punch they had been simultaneously dreading and hoping for. But the most serious concerns might have to do with the direction of the series from here. As thrilling as it was to see Arya reduce the Night King and his army to a pile of shards, it was an ending that raised more questions than it answered. Presumably, the remaining episodes will focus on the battle for the Iron Throne, but as a villain, is Cersei any match for an undead king with an army of zombies? Is there any way to rescue the remaining episodes from feeling an anti-climactic afterthought? Game of Thrones has always been a series that trafficked in surprises, but the biggest surprise of all might be showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss pulling off a conclusion that will leave the majority of the show’s viewership feeling satisfied. Of course, with the emotional sadism these two have demonstrated over the years, that may not be the ultimate goal. View Slideshow: Game of Thrones Photos: Bring It On, White Walkers!
Source: Chicago Tribune / Getty R. Kelly’s Lawyers Claim He Missed His Civil Court Case Because He Doesn’t Know How To Read According to TMZ , R. Kelly’s legal team is fighting a default judgment granted to one of his alleged victims because the R&B legend can’t really read. Earlier this week, Kelly lost a civil lawsuit in which he was accused of sexually abusing an underage girl in the late 1990s . The 52-year-old singer failed to respond to appear in court & respond to the lawsuit, which led a Cook County judge to issue a default judgment for the plaintiff. Zaid Abdallah and Raed Shalabi, are now claiming the singer’s “learning disability” prevented him from reading the court documents and taking proper action. “[Kelly] suffers from a learning disability that adversely affects his ability to read,” legal documents state, “… in essence he cannot.” A damages hearing for the case will take place on May 8. Kelly’s attorneys are asking that the default judgment be set aside so that they can fight the plaintiff’s claims.
Hey, was last week’s episode of Game of Thrones a little too slow for you? Maybe you could’ve done with a little less reminiscing and goblet-sipping, and a little more of the sex and swordplay the show is famous for. Well if that’s the case, you’re in luck. Sunday night’s episode is certain to traumatize viewers for life with the deaths of several key characters. We’ve already discussed the various theories and who will die, and the consensus seems to be that some of GoT’s most badass warriors will be struck down at the Battle of Winterfell. (That’s also rumored to the episode title, although HBO is keeping that information under wraps again this week.) It’s not looking good for Brienne of Tarth, who basically competed her character arc by becoming a knight of the Seven Kingdoms. Similarly, Grey Worm fantasized about taking a relaxing vacation with Missandei, which is basically the Westeros equivalent of a cop fanstasizing about his upcoming retirement in an ’80s action movie. Even Arya’s not safe, as her sex scene with Gendry puts her at an increased risk for joining the Night’s Army. (Anyone who’s ever seen a horror movie knows that teens who lose their virginity are that much more likely to be dispatched in gory fashion shortly thereafter.) Of course, if Game of Thrones is anything, it’s unpredictable. The show has trafficked in shocking twists ever since the day Ned Stark lost his head playing politics in King’s Landing. So attempting to predict how the final four episodes will play out is a bit like trying to guess the subject of Trump’s next all-caps tweet tirade. Even the Three-Eyed Raven doesn’t know what goes in on inside that skull. So perhaps all of the brave warriors who fans have marked for death will still be standing at the end of the battle. And maybe the Night King will target a more vulnerable group. As you probably recall, Bran, Tyrion, Sam, and others who have been deemed unfit for battle will be hiding in the crypts below Winterfell. It’s a bad sign that multiple characters felt the need to proclaim how safe the crypts are in what might turn out to be a bit of heavy-handed foreshadowing. It’s an even worse sign that Yes, if you spend much time in the GoT-obsessed corners of the internet, then by now, you’ve probably heard multiple theories about the Night King making a beeline for Bran and the rest of the crypt keepers. The most obvious hypothesis is that meme-able mic dropper will raise the dead and use them to help wage war against the defenseless. But there are other possibilities as well. Some believe NK was a Stark in life and that he’ll be drawn to the crypts for different reasons. Perhaps to retrieve Rhaegar Targaryen’s legendary harp, which might confer some sort of magical properties to the carrier, or might somehow be used to confrim Jon Snow’s true identity. Others believe the Night King is Rhaegar — though that seems unlikely given what we’ve already seen of his origin story. (Though it’s worth noting that while the show suggests the Children of the Forest created the White Walkers centuries before the main action of GoT, this may not be the case.) In any event, GoT S8E3 is sure to feature some epic warfare. In fact, it’s rumored that we’ll be seeing the longest battle sequence in the history of film or television. But it also promises much more than that — plot twists and character deaths that will set the stage for the final three episodes and the conclusion of the series. Aegon Targaryen himself, Kit Harington, has gone on record as saying that no one he’s spoken to yet has correctly predicted the ending. So we’ll hold off on even trying. Instead we’ll be here imagining how wild it would be if the the Walkers somehow emerged victorious. Would be cool to see, but the remaining episodes would probably get pretty boring with no dialogue. View Slideshow: Game of Thrones: Who’s About to Die!? [Unofficial Rankings By Unofficial Odds]
Source: Nuccio DiNuzzo / Getty R. Kelly lost a judgment in a civil lawsuit case after failing to appear in court in Chicago this week. The woman who brought the lawsuit claims that the troubled R&B singer engaged in sexual activity with her when she was 16 years of age. The Guardian reports : The woman, who accused Kelly of repeatedly having sex with her when she was 16, filed the case in Chicago in February, a day before Kelly was arrested on 10 charges of sexual abuse. She is one of four accusers – three of whom were under age at the time of the alleged crimes – at the center of the criminal case against Kelly, according to her lawyer, Jeffrey Deutschman. She is identified as “HW” in criminal court filings. A Chicago judge on Tuesday entered a default ruling against Kelly, according to court records, after he did not respond to the lawsuit and missed the hearing. The judge, Moira Johnson, will hear from the woman at a hearing next month before determining how much Kelly should pay in damages. Kelly’s criminal defense attorney, Steve Greenberg, said he was not involved in the civil litigation and declined to comment. According to the report, Kelly and the unnamed woman engaged in sex for over the course of a year. — Photo:
Source: Chicago Tribune / Getty So it looks like R-uh ain’t out the woods just yet. We all know and have heard about his tribulations since the Docuseries on Lifetime came out a few months ago. Well, here’s the latest on what has been a pretty rough stretch of time for the American singer. VIA | HipHopDX CHICAGO, IL – R. Kelly was expected at Cook County Circuit Court this week but failed to show up. As a result, the embattled R&B singer lost the civil lawsuit by default, according to The Chicago Tribune. He was expected to address the allegations he’d sexually abused an underage girl in the late ’90s. The now-36-year-old woman filed the suit in February, alleging Kelly had participated in sexual acts with her multiple times in June 1998 when she was only 16. Judge Moira Johnson granted the attorneys’ request to enter a judgment against Kelly on Tuesday (April 23), which could still be reversed if Kelly hires an attorney to handle the suit. READ MORE
