Ebonee Davis is on the rise for being just who she is. In this TED Talk from the University of Nevada, Ebonee explains the psychological warfare waged against black children dealing with the “good hair” prejudice in the black community.

TED:

After Alton Sterling was murdered by police last summer, Ebonee Davis wrote a letter to the fashion industry highlighting the duty fashion media has to help change the perception of black people. In her impassioned talk, she further explores this idea as she recalls her experiences as a black model in the industry. She emphasizes that the fashion industry does not only reflect and beauty standards, its a reflection of the current state of our democracy. As creators of media, the industry must work to reinstate the humanity of the systematically dehumanized and create a society where everyone can take pride in who they are and where they come from.

After being discovered at the age of 18, Ebonee Davis left Seattle for New York City to pursue her modeling dream. Throughout her fast-track career, she’s graced the pages of some of the most coveted publications in fashion, from Teen Vogue to Sports Illustrated. Davis was one of six finalists in the Sports Illustrated Model Search and she appeared in two of Calvin Klein’s new campaigns.

Dominican DJ Luis Manuel Medina and his producer Leo Martinez were shot and killed while on Facebook Live during a live broadcast. Their secretery, Dayaba Garcia, was also injured and shot. You can hear Garcia in the video before it goes off saying “shots, shots, shots!”

Medina is survived by a beautiful wife and daughter. We have all of his facebook pictures on the next page. Looks like he had a beautiful marriage and was involved in charity work in his neighborhood.

Hilarious #HurtBae Memes

Twitter is in a TIZZY over this not-sure-if-real-or-fake viral video starring a gorgeous dirty dog victim (#HurtBae) who interviews her dirty dog ex in an awkward yet intriguing scenario currently fueling widespread debate, rehashed hurt and hilarious memes everywhere.

Hit the flip for the funniest (and pettiest) #HurtBae memes.

Cheating Video Blows Up Internet

Well this sure brightened up a dull night and gave people something to talk about. Out of the blue, the folks at Scene, decided to put out a video of a woman talking to her ex. But not just any ex, an ex that cheated on her so many times that he lost count. Damn! Just watch.

Ouch. That hurt. Not only did it hurt, but it set the internet totally en fuego. Everyone went crazy talking about it and the reactions were insane.

This is what the kids call “triggering.” Take a look at all the reactions to this disaster.

Black Ink Crew was hit with a break baby rumor. Ceaser and Dutches are confronted about Ceas having a baby on the side. Also, O’S**t tats up a transgender trying to hide scars from the surgery. Turn the pages and peep the highlights…

Deputy Jailer Joe Funk was arrested and charged with menacing, resisting arrest and assault. Joe Funk is a deputy jailer at the Elizabethtown, Kentucky detention center. Funk confronted Sheriff Deputy Clennon Smith about disrespecting in front of the inmates and a brawl popped off between the two.

Khloé Kardashian Gushes Over Relationship With Tristan Thompson

Khloé seems to be on a world tour to kill the rumors that she’s jealous of Tristan Thompson’s ex and relationship with his newborn son. Khloé visited “The Talk” this week where she gushed about how happy she is with her Cleveland Cavaliers beau.

“I’m in a really good place. I feel really happy and secure and I’m just in a really positive healthy relationship…”

She even says she loves it when it snows there.

“I actually love Cleveland. Everyone is so nice there. I love the four seasons. I love that it snows. I spent Christmas there and it was — snow. I’m not used to that. I’m born and raised in California, so everyone thinks I’m crazy for loving the snow. I’m like, ‘It’s snowing! This is so fun!’ And he’s like, ‘No, you’re going to get over it in one year.’ But I love it,” Kardashian said.

The one comment we’re not sure Kris Jenner or Jordan Craig will care too much for is Khloé’s sentiment that life with Thompson has given her a “family thing” she’s been craving:

It’s a normal routine life. I love to cook, so I get to cook dinner every day. It’s this home, family thing that I’ve been craving that I get to have in Cleveland.”

Hmmmm… Do you think she’s purposely pushing buttons? Or is it possible that she really is insanely happy and enjoying the domesticity of being boo’ed up with Tristan?

Peep her Valentine’s Day post below:

Roses from Tristan?

D.L. Hughley spoke on the allegations Donald Trump’s team was in direct contact with Russian spies.

For the stans…

Kelly Rowland, Beyoncé And Jay Z Attend Solange’s Post-Grammy’s Party

After a disappointing AOTY loss at the Grammys, Beyoncé partied it up with her little sis. Solange threw a classy post-Grammys bash in Hollywood

Solange threw a classy post-Grammys bash in Hollywood that her brother-in-law Jay Z…

and sisters Kelly and Bey attended.

Other celebs on hand included Tracee Ellis Ross and Rashida Jones.

The pictures come courtesy of Bey who also updated her Beyonce.com website with more Grammys photos including shots of her Peter Dundas designed gown.

Gorgeous!

More Beyoncé and Solange on the flip.

Beyonce.com

Man Teaches Atlanta Teen How To Tie His Tie At Train Station

An Atlanta teen was having some trouble tying his tie when a kind elderly gentleman decided to give him a hand. The young man was seated outside of a Lindbergh Center MARTA Station when a woman dressed in a red coat noticed him struggling to put on his tie.

The elderly woman turned to him and asked, “Do you know how to tie it properly?”

“No ma’am,” the teen responded. The woman then tapped her husband on the shoulder, “Come to this side and teach this young man how to tie his tie.”

Check out the Facebook post documenting the beautiful act:

Reminder: There’s still a whole lot of good in this world.

Facebook

Celebrities attend VH1 Big In 2015 With Entertainment Weekly Awards at Pacific Design Center.
Featuring: Yandy Smith Harris, Mendeecees Harris

Yandy Said She’s Ready To Make An Honest Man Out Of Mendeecees

“Love & Hip Hop New York’s” Yandy Smith said she’s backtracking on her original decision to only spiritually marry her partner Mendeecees.

Yandy told BOSSIP she was now in the process of legally marrying her incarcerated husband because she felt that now was the right time. The couple had a televised wedding, but Yandy later revealed that she never went though with the legal part.

“We have definitely decided to go ahead and do the paperwork and all that stuff, not that I was so concerned or cared about that stuff, but it meant a lot to him,” Yandy told BOSSIP. “So it was only right.”

The reality star said the process of legally marrying Mendeecees – who is serving eight years for drug trafficking – is much more difficult because of his incarceration.

“With him being away, we have to re-register, get things notarized and all that stuff,” Yandy said, adding that they still wouldn’t get conjugal visits because he’s in federal prison.

Yandy also said she had no doubt that Mendeecees’ bid for a shorter sentence would be a success. Mendeecees recently asked the court to lower his prison sentence because he said the judge put him away under expired sentencing guidelines and would be a force for good on the streets by encouraging young people to stay out of the street life.

“You will absolutely see Mendeecees sooner than you think,” she said. “They put in a motion, so we’ll see what happens.”

She also addressed her beef with Mendeecees other baby mamas, Samantha and Erika. She said she’s sorry for trying to fight Samantha, but said she went into mama bear mode when the women went after her husband and kids.

“They went for my family,” Yandy explained. “I don’t play when it comes to my children. I don’t play when it comes to my man. I apologized and apologized for my behavior – but you don’t play with somebody’s family. You don’t play with somebody’s man….That’s when I saw red and I just went berserk. I’m not proud of how this season went, but it’s a lesson. Don’t mess with my family.

In the meantime, Yandy said she’s wrapping up a book with fellow reality star Kandi Burress, as well as her own line of children’s books and a skincare line while she waits for Mendeecees to come home.

“He plays a huge role in the lives of our children,” Yandy said. “He’s the dad that picks the kids up from school, he takes the kids to school in the morning. I get to sleep late with the baby…He’s super-duper involved. He’s also the dad when you come home, the dishes are done. He does his thing in the studio at night, so during the day, I come home, sometimes dinner is cooked, the dishes are washed. He’s that type of dad.”

Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ Highest Selling Album Ever At 33 Million Copies

Add another accolade to the late great Michael Jackson’s esteemed resume. The King of Pop is the creator of the highest selling album of all time, ‘Thriller’.

According to Billboard, Jackson’s LP has been certified 33 times platinum by the RIAA!

That means Thriller — released in 1982 — has earned 33 million equivalent album units in the U.S. That sum blends traditional album sales (one album sale equals one unit), tracks sold from an album (10 tracks sold equals one unit) and on-demand audio and/or video streams (1,500 streams equals one unit).

An album that has “Billie Jean”, “Thriller”, AND “Beat It” is likely to NEVER be topped. The folks over at Sony and MJ’s estate say the album has sold 105 million copies worldwide.

But by all means, tell us more about how hot your Soundcloud mixtape is.

Image via Sony

Teri Williams of OneUnited Bank spoke out about the buying and saving power of the black community if utilized correctly. Williams says only 2% of the black dollar is spent in the black community. Folks have been trying to tell us this for years!

“The Hollywood Reporter” Releases Mahershala Ali Cover Story Week Of Baby’s Expected Arrival

He’ll be a dad any day now! Bossip can exclusively confirm that Mahershala Ali’s baby with wife Amatus-Sami Karim-Ali was due Monday of this week — but the couple has yet to announce a delivery. But Mahershala did tell The Hollywood Reporter of his newest role, “I’m even excited about being tired.” Ali is the cover star of this week’s edition of the magazine, which was released Wednesday and inside he opens up about his family life, growing up depressed over his parent’s divorce, having a mother and grandmother who are both ordained ministers and how he met his wife just as he was discovering Islam.

Check out a few of our favorite excerpts from the story via THR:

On His Father’s Role In His Life:

My parents were in high school when I was born. My mom was 16, my dad was 17. They were kids, at the very beginning of coming into their own and finding themselves.

My father, Phillip Gilmore, was very talented. He was getting seriously into dancing. He was on Soul Train and won $2,500… He went off to New York and got into the Dance Theatre of Harlem and immediately started working and traveling with the companies of the larger shows. They split when I was 3. I remember clearly my mom’s reaction, one of the first things that felt traumatic in my life. She was leaning on the dresser, crying, and I said, “Mommy?” I asked her what was wrong. She told me that my dad had left, and I started crying. Just seeing her, I understood the weight of what was happening. She said, “He’s gone. Your father’s gone.”

After that, my uncle has told me, and even my grandmother, I went into a depression. I was borderline depressed for years. There was a sadness over me, a melancholy. That’s always been a part of me — those are some of the things that lead you to the arts. It’s something I still think about, not that it brings me sadness at this point; it’s a void or fracture that happened so early that now I have to address it in the healthiest way. We’re affected by things, but 20 or 30 years later we can choose to feel different about them. I understand: My mom and dad were kids. And I know that they loved me and did the best they could do.

I started traveling by myself as early as 5 to see my dad. I’d go to Toronto or Los Angeles, depending on what show he was doing, but most often New York, and we would hang out, and he’d take me to museums and Broadway plays. The ones that had the biggest impact on me were the George C. Wolfe productions. I saw Smokey Joe’s Cafe, Angels in America, Spunk. But I never thought I could do that. If anything, it made me feel like I couldn’t, because they were so great.

My dad was in Dreamgirls, and I was just so happy to be in his presence, I was ready to jump in, whether in the summer or Christmas break. He did much more for me by leaving than he would have done by staying. He gave me so many more tools because he chose to go on the adventure he went on.

Wow… This is just a tiny sliver, but as you can tell Mahershala’s life is one full of colorful characters and many adventures. Hit the flip for the lessons he learned from his grandmother and how he met his wife.

Instagram/Mahershala Ali/The Hollywood Reporter

Future’s “Rent Money” Sends Shady Shot At Scottie Pippen Over Larsa Affair

Leave it to Nayvadius to disturb a happy home after the woman has moved on (or back).

Future’s new self-titled album is set to drop later tonight (early Friday morning), but we’ve gotten a preview of a few tracks and the very first song on the album is one that may have Scottie Pippen seeing red. No Chicago Bulls pun intended.

“Rent Money” is a typical trunk-rattling banger for Future, but the shots he appears to take at Scottie Pippen over his perceived affair with then-estranged wife Larsa is sure to stir up some ugly s#!t.

“I made the blogs with ya b**ch, cause I’m ruthless, I made the blogs with ya b**ch, cause I’m ruthless”

Yeaaaah. Dirty Sprite. Dirtier game.

Take a listen to the track for yourself below. Future gets unruly at about 2:57.

Just couldn’t let poor ol’ Scottie live huh? SMH.

Image via Twitter/WENN/Instagram

Woman From Video Revealed

Remember that epic cheating video from this morning? Well the poor lady in the video has a name: she’s Kourtney Jorge. And she’s fine as hayle. Which means that man was even dumber for cheating on her.

This woman is getting sympathy and lots of DM love probably and she deserves it. Just don’t be a loser. Take a look at more pics of the bombshell.

Jurnee Smollett-Bell Says She Was Never A Child Star And “Underground” Isn’t A Slavery Show

Jurnee Smollett-Bell never disappoints, whether we’re talking about her beauty in an editorial fashion spread or her intellect in a magazine interview. It’s no wonder she was chose to grace the cover of Ebony Magazine’s March issue. Inside the issue the 30-year-old actress is outspoken as she addresses a variety of topics, including the reality of bias toward lighter skinned women in Hollywood (and the world at large).

“There are obstacles and challenges that my dark-skinned sisters face that I will never know,” Smollett-Bell tells EBONY. “How they are perceived when they walk in a room of strangers is something I will never truly know. I would be ignorant to say colorism doesn’t exist, it’s gross and disgusting.”

Amen to that Sis! Good to see she is not one of those who would bypass an issue because it hasn’t negatively impacted them.

Many of us met Jurnee when she was just a kid, in her role as Eve in the film “Eve’s Bayou,” but Smollett Bell shuns labels like “child star.”

“I wouldn’t even call myself a former child star. I was a child actor; there’s a difference,” she explains. “People look at you and they think they know you. They think they can place you in a certain category by what they think they know about you. But there’s so much more to all of us than what we know and what we see at face value.”

We see this so often with actors and celebs in general — nobody likes being put in boxes. Would you agree with what Smollett says though?

One of the other issues Smollett addressed is the success of her show “Underground” which is entering its second season despite what some would call “slavery fatigue” among viewers resistant to seeing more portrayals of the painful period.

“I think we had seen the occupation so much, we wanted to see the revolution and that is what Underground is,” says the actress who plays Rosalee.

“It was the story of the uprising. It was the story of those of us who fought back, who attempted to fight for their freedom,” she explains. “That was a side of the story we were hungry to see in order to understand our whole history.”

Do you agree? Have you been watching “Underground?”

Hit the flip for more photos from Smollett’s Ebony spread.

Whoopi Goldberg Slams Designers Who Didn’t Want To Sit Near Tiffany Trump

Whoopi Goldberg needs to sit her azz down somewhere. The Trump name is TOXIC and no one in their right mind, ESPECIALLY a business owner, wants to be associated with it. F**k how “mean” it is.

Listen to this s#!t she tried to kick on ‘The View’ this morning.

Awwww, poor blonde Becky. Life is SO hard. *wipes thug tears*

Image via WENN

FBI Arrests A South Carolina Man Who Planned A Dylann Roof Style Shooting

Dylann Roof was recently sentenced to death for the murder of 9 people inside a Charleston, South Carolina church.

Yesterday, the FBI arrested a man who wanted to be just like him according to USAToday.

Benjamin Thomas Samuel McDowell, 29, was arrested at a motel in Myrtle Beach, S.C., after buying a .40-caliber Glock, FBI agent Grant Lowe wrote in an affidavit.

McDowell, a convicted felon, caught the attention of authorities after a December Facebook post about a synagogue in Myrtle Beach. Horry County Police had kept track of McDowell since his release from prison on felony burglary charges a few years ago because he made connections with white supremacists while behind bars, according to the affidavit.

According to a criminal complaint filed in federal court, McDowell, of Conway, S.C., referenced Dylann Roof, the man convicted of the racially motivated killing of nine African Americans at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C., in 2015. Roof was sentenced to 18 death sentences and 15 life sentences, the statutory maximum for each of the 33 federal counts lodged against him in January.

We’re certainly thankful for the FBI and the Horry County Police Dept. for keeping tabs and apprehending this azzhole. That said, we hope that law enforcement agencies continue to keep an eye on these racist douchebags who talk crazy on social media.

What happened at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church can never, ever, ever happen again.

Image via AP/Horry County