NEW YORK (AP) — Rep. Ayanna Pressley, whose hair twists have been an inspiration to young girls and part of her personal identity and political brand, said Thursday that she has gone bald due to the auto immune condition alopecia. The freshman Massachusetts Democrat made a touching video for The Root, the African American-focused website, […]
NEW YORK (AP) — The Rev. Al Sharpton is working on a book that will address what he calls an urgent moment in American history. The longtime civil rights activist’s “Rise Up: Confronting a Country at the Crossroads” is coming out Sept. 15, less than two months before the 2020 election, Hanover Square Press announced […]
Some soundtracks are as important to their movies as the actors delivering lines on-screen. But the “Bad Boys for Life” soundtrack is less of an unseen character, and more of a mood. And that mood is decidedly “fast-life Miami” — a perfectly adequate sonic backdrop for Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) […]
NEW YORK (AP) — It’s one sweet day for Mariah Carey: the pop diva, who has co-written 18 of her 19 No. 1 hit songs, will be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Joining Carey for the 2020 class are the Neptunes (the duo of Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo), former Eurythmics members Annie […]
Rocky “Soulman” Johnson, a WWE Hall of Fame wrestler who became better known as the father of actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, has died. He was 75. WWE issued a statement on Johnson’s death Wednesday night. Johnson and Tony Atlas became the first black world tag team champions in WWE history when they defeated The […]
PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — Issa Rae’s quick comment after five men were announced as Oscar nominees for best director was spur of the moment, but for many captured the lack of diversity among this year’s nominees. “We were told to banter for five seconds as the teleprompter loaded, so that was my banter,” Rae told […]
NEW YORK (AP) — Sixty years after her death, the story of Zora Neale Hurston is still not fully told. The fiction writer-anthropologist-folklorist died in a segregated Florida hospital in January 1960, so forgotten and impoverished that her work was out of print and her grave left unmarked. Starting in the 1970s, when Alice Walker […]
PARIS (AP) — American director Spike Lee will lead the jury of this year’s Cannes Film Festival, the first black person to hold the post in the event’s 73-year history. Festival organizers hope Lee will “shake things up” among the world’s cinema elite at the festival which runs May 12-23. And anti-racism campaigners hope Lee’s […]
PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — Dwayne Johnson will revisit his younger years in a new NBC series, “The Rock,” which is the retired pro wrestler’s nickname. The network said Saturday that it’s ordered 11 episodes of the comedy inspired by Johnson, who will appear in each episode and also serve as an executive producer. He […]
NEW YORK (AP) — John Legend, Foo Fighters, Alicia Keys, Chris Martin, H.E.R. and Earth, Wind & Fire are set to perform at a Prince tribute concert this month. The Recording Academy announced Thursday that “Let’s Go Crazy: The GRAMMY Salute to Prince” will tape at the Los Angeles Convention Center on Jan. 28, two […]