Florida authorities have announced charges against 13 people in the hazing death of Florida A&M University drum major and Southwest DeKalb High School graduate Robert…
State Of Florida Charges 13 In Hazing Death Of FAMU Drum Major These “kids” could do up to six years behind bars for taking part in the hazing of Robert Champion . Florida prosecutors on Wednesday charged 13 individuals in connection with the hazing death of a Florida A&M University drum major last November, in a case that has heightened scrutiny of violent rituals on college campuses across the country. Lawson Lamar, the state attorney for Orange County, said at a news conference in Orlando that 11 of the people face felony hazing charges, which carry a maximum sentence of six years in prison. The remainder face misdemeanor hazing charges. Mr. Lawson said he would not release the names of those charged, since most of them have not yet been arrested. The death of the drum major, 26-year-old Robert Champion, was “nothing short of an American tragedy,” he said. “We know that Robert Champion died as a result of being beaten” and “his death is not linked to one sole strike but is attributed to multiple blows.” Mr. Champion collapsed aboard a bus in Orlando after a hazing incident following a football game against rival Bethune-Cookman University. The medical examiner’s office in Orlando ruled the death a homicide, caused by internal bleeding resulting from blunt-force trauma. Mr. Champion, who was previously healthy, died within an hour of the hazing incident, according to the medical examiner’s report. An autopsy found “extensive contusions of his chest, arms, shoulder and back,” the report said. In a statement released after the charges, Solomon Badger, chairman of the Florida A&M board of trustees, and university president James Ammons said, “We are vigorously working to eradicate hazing from FAMU and doing everything within our power to ensure an incident like this never happens again. Our hearts and our prayers are with the Champion family and the extended FAMU family as we all continue to deal with this tragedy.” What a terrible tragedy. These charges were vital in order for colleges to take these situations seriously. Robert Champion should not have died. May he rest in peace. Source More On Bossip! Yeah, We Said It: 10 Reasons Evelyn’s “Slap Happy Lackey” Nia Is The Epitome Of A Bum Beyotch All Natural, No Additives Pt. 1: The Most Beautiful Women That Haven’t Gotten Any Plastic Surgery On Anything! Baller Cribs: Take A Peek Inside Cam Newton’s $1.6M Condo In Charlotte [Photos] Poor Thang: Serena “Bangin Bawdy” Williams Says She’s Given Up On Dating…”It Just Hasn’t Worked Out Well For Me”
*wipes tears* Newlywed Woman Loses Husband To Cancer After Only 6 Weeks A woman married the man of her dreams and her best friend since college, only to have him die just six weeks after she walked down the aisle. Bethany Schmidt met future husband, Ryan Smith, when they were both students at the University of Oregon in 2005, and after graduation they moved into a small one-bedroom apartment in Eugene, where she got a job in graphic design and he worked in finance. The smitten girlfriend said Ryan “knew he had it in the bag” from the beginning, and the young couple decided they would get married two years down the road. Sadly time was not on their side, and “in January 2011, Ryan was diagnosed with a very rare form of cancer & began treatment immediately. We stuck together,” Bethany, now 25, wrote on the website that she made as a tribute to her lost love BethanyRyanSmith.com. Smith was suffering from a rare and aggressive form of testicular cancer that was unaffected by chemotherapy and had developed a large tumor in his colon. Despite the devastating blow, the couple was determined not to put their dreams on hold and on July 1 while on a weekend trip to visit Bethany’s parents in Bend, Ryan dropped down to one knee and asked her to marry him. “I dropped to both knees and said yes,” she said. That’s when isht got real, REAL fast… In November, Ryan’s doctors decided enough was enough. “After three different intensive chemotherapies, a major surgery at USC in LA, lots of doctors, and too many nights in the hospital, Ryan’s treatment was discontinued. We were told there wasn’t anything else we could do and his prognosis was about six months,” she said. The only thing left to do was to tie the knot and make their relationship official, so they set their wedding date for two months away, but when the groom’s health took a turn for the worse and his organs began shutting down, they were forced to speed up the process. “With three days notice and the incredible help of friends, family, and some dear angels we were able to do the thing we wanted to most: We got married. We held a small ceremony on December 11th in Bend, Oregon,” wrote Bethany. Tragically, the end was not far away, and on January 18 Ryan, 24, was admitted to the hospital with symptoms they could not control at home. “I stayed next him in his hospital bed until he passed in the early hours of January 24th,” revealed his grieving widow, who calls her late husband: “the most wonderful person I have ever known.” Condolences to Bethany and the family and friends of Ryan Smith. Images via BethanyRyanSmith via RadarOnline More On Bossip! Cheese So Hard… That Isht Cray! We’ve Never Seen Yeezy Look So Happy In His Life Bad Girls Club Season 8 Reunion First Clips: First Time Audience Member Scrap At Reunion [Video] The OMG Girls Speak To Bossip Exclusively About Their Career Family And Boys Peace, My Brother: A List Of The 10 LEAST Violent States In America
Martin Scorsese has long proven his mastery of filmmaking, passion for storytelling and an infectious worship of the medium in which he’s produced nearly five decades of singular, sometimes legendary work. Perhaps it should come as no surprise, then, that man of such fervency and skill would take so well to one of the rapidly developing hallmarks of contemporary cinema culture: Trolling. Scorsese joined fellow Oscar-winner Ang Lee on a panel Wednesday at CinemaCon , where the filmmakers told the industry crowd how sincerely they believed in the 3-D renaissance. I mean, sure, Hugo turned out OK ( critically , anyway; commercially, oof ), and Lee’s forthcoming 3-D epic The Life of Pi has plenty worth anticipating with or without the stereoscopic extras. But this … I mean, I just can’t: Martin Scorsese has become so enamored with 3-D filmmaking that he expects to use the technology in all his future projects. The Academy Award-winning director of The Departed told a crowd of theater owners at the CinemaCon convention in Las Vegas on Wednesday that he wishes his landmark films Raging Bull and Taxi Driver had been three-dimensional. Scorsese is so convinced of the power of 3-D, he said he only saw Hugo, his first 3-D movie released to critical acclaim last year, once in 2-D. “There is something that 3-D gives to the picture that takes you into another land and you stay there and it’s a good place to be,” he said. Yes! That land is called Migrainetown, and it is a good place to be if you are director with back-end points and/or an exhibitor selling the eye-cramping privilege for $16 a pop, both shuttered away in the local bank reinvesting the community’s money in more 3-D “infrastructure.” (“Keep them open,” Lee implored, for example, on behalf of Migrainetown’s independent movie houses. “Especially with 3-D, this is a new era coming. We have to keep up with it.”) And then there was… this , which apparently is the stock defense for anyone advocating new technology that completely takes viewers out of the movie : Scorsese compared 3-D to the rise of color movies. He said as a film student at New York University in the early 1960s, he was shocked when he heard predictions that all future movies would be filmed in color. He said anyone harboring doubts about the rising influence of 3-D technology should consider how color movies have taken over the industry. The 3-D craze allows filmmakers to accomplish the original goals of cinema, Scorsese said. “The minute it started people wanted three things: color, sound and depth,” Scorsese said. “You want to recreate life.” Wrong, wrong, wrong — they wanted color, sound and texting . Get it straight, Marty! Also: Come back to us! Also : If what happens in Vegas truly stays in Vegas, then why do I keep smelling sulfur? [ AP via Awards Daily ] Follow S.T. VanAirsdale on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Noah Wyle has spoken out on his arrest. The Falling Skies star was handcuffed and taken into custody on Monday after joining a group of about 100 ADAPT members who were protesting in D.C., urging Congress to not cut any Medicaid benefits. “I think they’re really proud of the old man right now,” Wyle told the Associated Press, referring to his estranged wife and two children, while waiting to be processed. Adding that the experience was “slightly surreal,” Wyle joked about how both he and former ER co-star George Clooney have now been arrested in the last month. I’ll “let George focus on the international; I’ll deal with the small domestic issues,” Wyle said. Clooney has been active over the past year or so in expressing the need to rescue Sudanese citizens from an oppressive regime.
President Barack Obama appeared on NBC’s Late Night with Jimmy Fallon early this morning, taking part in the show’s running bit called “slow jamming the news.” If you haven’t seen it, the segment’s name speaks for itself. In front of a live college audience at the University of North Carolina, Obama talked about student loans while Fallon’s house band the Roots jammed on a slow, sensual R&B beat, making the topic seem sexier than you ever thought possible: Obama on Jimmy Fallon With the rhythmic tunes accompanying him, Obama said, “What we said is simple: Now is not the time to make school more expensive for our young people.” Fallon then added (in his best Barry White voice), “Awww, yeah. You should listen to the president. Or as I like to call him, the Preezy of the United Steezy.” “Things are heating up inside Congress’ chambers behind those closed doors.” We don’t even know what that means, but the “POTUS with the most-est” needs to bring the Roots with him and deliver campaign speeches this way more often. Mitt Romney wouldn’t stand a chance.
Following a record-setting 38-year career as the head coach of the University of Tennessee Lady Volunteers, Pat Summitt resigned from her legendary post yesterday. The announcement came less than a year after Summitt’s diagnosis of early onset dementia-Alzheimer’s type. “I’ve loved being the head coach at Tennessee for 38 years, but I recognize that the time has come to move into the future and to step into a new role,” Summitt said in a statement, adding: “I want to help ensure the stability of the program going forward. I would like to emphasize that I fully intend to continue working as head coach emeritus, mentoring and teaching life skills to our players, and I will continue my active role as a spokesperson in the fight against Alzheimer’s through the Pat Summitt Foundation Fund.” Summitt – who was named Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year in 2011 along with Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski – will take on the job/title of “head coach emeritus,” be permitted to sit behind the bench during games and serve as a supervisor to the program she helped build. Veteran assistant coach Holly Warlick has been promoted to the lead job.
Trayvon Martin’s Brother Jahvaris Fulton Speaks On His Behalf With all of George Zimmerman’s well connected defenders clamoring to his defense, it’s good to hear Trayvon Martin’s big brother Jahvaris speaking up on his behalf! A lot of conflicting statements have been made about the night Trayvon Martin was shot to death by volunteer neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman. Martin’s big brother doesn’t want any of them to cloud the memory of the bright, positive teen he’d been close to. In an interview with CNN’s “A360,” 21-year-old Jahvaris Fulton said Zimmerman’s description of the fatal night –and his claim that he acted in self defense– doesn’t match the Trayvon he knew. “Based on what I heard, with the 911 tapes and all the evidence, he tried to get away from the situation,” ” the soft-spoken college student told the network on Friday. “He wasn’t violent. So for him to actually jump on someone he doesn’t even know, to me that’s not him. He’s smarter than that.” Fulton’s comments echo what he told local media in late March, shortly after the shooter’s father and brother took to national television to bolster Zimmerman’s self defense claims. “I was listening to Zimmerman’s father speak yesterday, and he said something like, my brother was on top of his son and said ‘You’re going to die tonight,’” Fulton told Miami’s CBS 4. “That doesn’t sound like my brother at all.” In his interview with CNN, Fulton said that Martin was an honor student who couldn’t wait to go to college after visiting his brother at Florida International University during spring break. “I would like to remember him as… someone who’s positive, happy, bright future ahead of him,” Fulton said.”He was probably going to be somebody.” We’re glad Jahvaris is helping to keep his brother’s memory alive. R.I.P. Trayvon! Source CNN More On Bossip! Sorry Ye’: 10 Reasons Kim Kardashian Isn’t Even In Beyonce’s League You Can’t Be Serious: Kenya Bell Is Still Talkin’ Yang “I Didn’t Want To Hurt Evelyn On National Television” Freak Out! NFL Baller Jabar Gaffney Goes In On Ex-Wife, Rival Player He Wants To Beat Up And Taking YOUR Chick! What A Banger Looks Like?: Meet Cuban Triple Jumper “Yargelis Savigne” [Video]
Trayvon Martin’s Brother Jahvaris Fulton Speaks On His Behalf With all of George Zimmerman’s well connected defenders clamoring to his defense, it’s good to hear Trayvon Martin’s big brother Jahvaris speaking up on his behalf! A lot of conflicting statements have been made about the night Trayvon Martin was shot to death by volunteer neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman. Martin’s big brother doesn’t want any of them to cloud the memory of the bright, positive teen he’d been close to. In an interview with CNN’s “A360,” 21-year-old Jahvaris Fulton said Zimmerman’s description of the fatal night –and his claim that he acted in self defense– doesn’t match the Trayvon he knew. “Based on what I heard, with the 911 tapes and all the evidence, he tried to get away from the situation,” ” the soft-spoken college student told the network on Friday. “He wasn’t violent. So for him to actually jump on someone he doesn’t even know, to me that’s not him. He’s smarter than that.” Fulton’s comments echo what he told local media in late March, shortly after the shooter’s father and brother took to national television to bolster Zimmerman’s self defense claims. “I was listening to Zimmerman’s father speak yesterday, and he said something like, my brother was on top of his son and said ‘You’re going to die tonight,’” Fulton told Miami’s CBS 4. “That doesn’t sound like my brother at all.” In his interview with CNN, Fulton said that Martin was an honor student who couldn’t wait to go to college after visiting his brother at Florida International University during spring break. “I would like to remember him as… someone who’s positive, happy, bright future ahead of him,” Fulton said.”He was probably going to be somebody.” We’re glad Jahvaris is helping to keep his brother’s memory alive. R.I.P. Trayvon! Source CNN More On Bossip! Sorry Ye’: 10 Reasons Kim Kardashian Isn’t Even In Beyonce’s League You Can’t Be Serious: Kenya Bell Is Still Talkin’ Yang “I Didn’t Want To Hurt Evelyn On National Television” Freak Out! NFL Baller Jabar Gaffney Goes In On Ex-Wife, Rival Player He Wants To Beat Up And Taking YOUR Chick! What A Banger Looks Like?: Meet Cuban Triple Jumper “Yargelis Savigne” [Video]
Following comments by Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen – who criticized Ann Romney for “never [working] a day in her life” and, therefore, lacking the knowledge to speak on economic issues – the wife of Mitt Romney finds herself supported by an unlikely ally: Barack Obama. Speaking to Columbus, Ohio television station WCMH yesterday, the President defended the work of stay-at-home moms everywhere, while also emphasizing that family members ought to be off limits in an election. “First of all there is no tougher job than being a mom,” Obama said. “I think this was an ill-advised statement by somebody on television. It’s not something that I subscribe to, and moreover my general rule is you don’t talk about the spouses of elected officials because they’ve got a really tough job. They’re out there supporting their husband or wife who have chosen to serve in public eye. “Sometimes that spouse isn’t volunteering for that job, but they’re doing the best they can supporting somebody they love and they care about. And I think they’re off limits, so on both counts it was the wrong thing to say and I haven’t met Ms. Romney but she seems like a wonderful woman and I know that she’s devoted her life to her family.” Ann Romney also shot back at Rosen this week, telling Fox News women should respect the career choices made by other women and that mothers are perfectly capable of speaking out on the “legacy of debt” she believes Obama is leaving the next generation. [Photos: WENN.com]
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