Don Cornelius dead from apparent suicide
Don Cornelius dead: ‘Soul Train’ host reportedly commited suicide (theGRIO) Don Cornelius, the legendary host of Soul Train, is reportedly dead this morning from what is rumored to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Cornelius created Soul Train and hosted the influential black music program from its debut in 1971 until 1993. He will forever be remembered for his impact on soul music and his classic sign off, “we wish you love, peace and soul.” He was 75 years old. TMZ reports: Don Cornelius — who famously created “Soul Train” was found dead in his Sherman Oaks, CA home this morning … and law enforcement sources tell us it appears he committed suicide. We’re told cops discovered the body…
WOW! See Blake Griffin’s amazing dunk
Video: Blake Griffin dunk over Kendrick Perkins needs to be seen to be believed LA Clippers beat OKC Thunder 112-100 but Griffin slam is highlight (NYDN) Blake Griffin is pretty athletic. Oklahoma City Thunder center Kendrick Perkins learned that first-hand Monday night. In the Clippers’ 112-100 victory over OKC, Griffin added another highlight dunk to his ever-expanding reel. Taking a Chris Paul pass off a pick and roll, Griffin went up from just outside the paint on the left side. He went to floor 13 and left Perkins at 8. And, by the way, he got the foul. Twitter went crazy after ‘Blake Superior‘ threw the hammer down. Even the King himself, LeBron James tweeted about the slam. And if you remember, James had a…
Simon Cowell cleans house at ‘X Factor’: report
Simon Cowell cleans house at ‘X Factor’: Paula Abdul, Nicole Scherzinger and Steve Jones reportedly won’t return (NYDN) Simon Cowell has cleaned house at “The X Factor” – with a fire hose. Reports in rapid succession Monday night had host Steve Jones, then judges Nicole Scherzinger and Paula Abdul not returning for next fall’s second season of the Cowell-produced Fox show. “I won’t be hosting next seasons X Factor which is a shame but I cant complain as I’ve had a great time,” Jones posted on Twitter. “Good luck to everyone on the show.” A source in Scherzinger’s camp told E! News that the decision to leave the show was the singer’s. The purge seems to answer the question of exactly how…
Viola Davis wins lead actress SAG award
Viola Davis accepts the Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role award for ‘The Help’ onstage during the 18th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on January 29, 2012 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images) LOS ANGELES (AP) – The Deep South drama “The Help” won three prizes Sunday at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, including best actress for Viola Davis and supporting actress for Octavia Spencer. “The Help” also claimed the guild’s ensemble award, the show’s equivalent of a best-picture prize. Davis and Spencer won as black maids going public with uneasy truths about their white employers in 1960s Mississippi. Jean Dujardin won the lead-actor honor…
50 Cent to tweet nude photo if Giants lose Super Bowl
(HuffPost) Rapper 50 Cent is a betting man and he’s about to make this year’s Super Bowl a little more interesting. The 36-year-old rapper, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, reportedly won a $500,000 bet on the New York Giants in the NFC Championship game, but he’s wagering even more on the Giants’ ability to take down the New England Patriots on Feb. 5. The Hollywood Gossip first pointed out that Fiddy recently accepted a bet from Twitter follower@MyBestAssets that will cost him more than cash if the Giants lose: The rapper quickly responded to the bet agreeing that he’ll post a nude photo of himself and@MyBestAssets said she’d post photo of both her “boobs and face” if the Giants win. Will…
Common explains hip-hop feud with Drake
(theGRIO) –PARK CITY, Utah (AP) – The Sundance Film Festival became the unlikely center of hip-hop’s latest feud when actor-turned-rapper Drake and rapper-turned-actor Common came to town. Common was promoting his role in upcoming family drama “LUV,” while Drake was performing at one of the many late-night parties. The two have traded insults recently via their raps, but Common said he didn’t want to say anything else about Drake not in rhyme form. “I feel like I said everything I really needed to say on the record. I just looked at it as like ‘Hey, it’s just a hip-hop battle,’” he explained in an interview this week. “The time to talk is on record as far…
Demi Moore rushed to hospital after 911 call, entering rehab
Demi Moore rushed to hospital for reported substance abuse; Actress to enter rehab months after split from Ashton Kutcher (NYDN) Two months after her split from Ashton Kutcher, a painfully thin Demi Moore was rushed to a hospital late Monday and is entering rehab, sources told the Daily News. “Because of the stresses in her life right now, Demi has chosen to seek professional assistance to treat her exhaustion and improve her overall health,” her publicist Carrie Gordon said in a statement to the Daily News. “She looks forward to getting well and is grateful for the support of her family and friends,” Gordon said. Moore, 49, was taken to an unnamed Los Angeles-area hospital after paramedics spent more than a…
Star Jones making guest appearance on ‘The View’
NEW YORK (AP) – Apparently enough time has passed for Barbara Walters and Star Jones to reunite for a day. “The View” announced on Wednesday that Jones will appear on the daytime talk show on Feb. 22 to promote an awareness campaign about heart disease among women. Walters and Jones had a falling out in 2006 when Jones, one of the five original co-hosts of the daytime chat show, exited “The View.” ABC decided not to renew her contract and Jones took Walters by surprise by announcing on June 27 that she would be leaving the show. That exit came more quickly than expected. Walters wouldn’t allow her back the next day. Walters later said that…
Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer Lead 2012 Oscar Nominations
The Help costars could continue the tradition of making Hollywood history for Black actors. (BET) This morning, the list for the best and brightest in film for Hollywood was finally announced. Viola Daviswas nominated for Best Actress for her role as the stoic, proud maid Aibileen Clark in the 1960s period drama The Help. Davis’ stiffest competition comes from her friend, two-time Academy Award winner and now 18-time nominee Meryl Streep her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady. If Davis wins the Best Actress award, she will become only the second African-American woman in history (after Halle Berry in 2002) to receive that award in the Academy’s 84-year history. The Help costar Octavia Spencer received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her turn as the…
If ‘Red Tails’ flops, are black audiences to blame?
Cuba Gooding, Jr. in ‘Red Tails’. ‘Red Tails’: If George Lucas war film flops, are black audiences to blame? (theGRIO) Red Tails, a biopic about the heroic Tuskegee Airmen fighter pilots, and arguably the most expensive film ever made with a predominately African-American cast, opens this weekend. The film has arrived with enormous hype and has renewed debates about whether ‘black films’ can succeed at the box office. Rightly or wrongly, the financial success, or lack thereof, of Red Tailsmay be seen as a barometer of black audiences’ buying power. Which begs the question: if Red Tails fails to meet expectations will African-American filmgoers be to blame? The film, which was largely financed by legendary Star Wars director and producer George Lucas, boasts…
