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Madonna was photographed returning to JFK Airport with five of her six kids, after celebrating turning 59 in Italy. She marked the occasion with a photo of her multi-cultural crew.
In case you forgot, Madonna’s kids are Lourdes, Rocco, David, Mercy and adopted twins Estere and Stelle.
The chickens came home to roost pretty quickly on Mystikal’s latest sexual assault allegations.
Just a day after news broke that Louisiana law enforcement was on the hunt for the rapper in connection with a 2016 incident that allegedly took place alongside another woman, 26-year-old Averweone Holman, at a casino at which Mystikal was performing. There apparently aren’t many more details on the accusations at this time.
TMZ reports that Mystikal turned himself over to the Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Department on Monday, where he was officially arrested and charged with first-degree rape.
Mystikal maintains that these accusations are false and he plans to plead not guilty and take his chances in court. He’s being held on $2 million bond in the meantime.
WENN
Donald Trump isn’t exactly one for common sense or following sound advice, so it should come as no surprise that he bucked the warnings about looking directly at the sun during the solar eclipse. Even though his own daughter Ivanka shot an entire PSA about eye safety during the astrological event, Donald still went for the squint method when he came out onto the White House lawn to lead the presidential “watch party” earlier today:
And of course, he had to take a look once again for good measure:
SMH. Hey, that’s y’all’s president.
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By now, it’s clearly no secret that R. Kelly likes his women VERY young, and in many cases, well under the legal age of consent.
A woman who previously supported R. Kelly at his 2008 trail as a 15-year-old self-proclaimed “super fan” of the singer has now come forward with her own account of a traumatizing sexual relationship with the singer, detailing how he was able to twist her young mind and secure her silence with legal scare tactics, blackmail, and cash payouts over the course of 7 months when she was just 16 years old.
Buzzfeed caught up with Jerhonda Pace, now a 24-year-old married mother of three, who provided extensive documentation proving the validity of her story, including multiple signed non-disclosure agreements and receipts from settlement payouts, and even sat for a polygraph test.
She says she is coming forward with her story in the interest of helping the multiple young women currently living in R. Kelly’s abusive “sex cult,” including a friend of hers who she brought into the circle when they were still just in high school, whom sources claim still lives with the singer.
Jerhonda claims that she first met Kelly while skipping school to attend his very public child pornography trial back in 2008. After getting his autograph at the courthouse, she claims one of his assistants reached out to her on MySpace and invited her to the singer’s home for a party. She lied to her parents and attended. It was there that Kelly exchanged numbers with her, and later invited him back to his home, alone, at a later date.
Of course, the star struck teen accepted his invitation. Unsurprisingly, she reports that Kelly almost instantly made creepy sexual demands and advances, before essentially blackmailing her into silence by making her sign false documents.
On June 5, 2009, Pace says Kelly invited her to come back to his mansion and sent an employee to pick her up in a black SUV. “He told me that he wanted me to undress for him [and] walk back and forth like I was modeling,” she says. The two then had oral sex and, Pace said in interviews with BuzzFeed News and her 2010 polygraph interview, Kelly made his first attempt to ensure that she did not talk about their sexual relationship by having her write out and sign letters stating that she had stolen jewelry and cash from him and that her parents had set her up to blackmail him. Pace says she did as instructed, but none of the charges were true.
Hit the flip for more…
Kevin’s “side-turned-main” new wife Eniko and his ex-wife Torrei butted heads a bit on social media yesterday after Eniko clarified a few things about her relationship with Kevin.
After a day of dragging and accusations of homewrecky behavior ensued, Kevin finally stepped in — once again — to call out folks who have something to say about him, his new rib, and how he lives his life.
Kevin says nobody on the streets knows his life enough to give him a whole lecture on it…and after his standups and now a book on the shelves that go into his first marriage, his infidelities, his divorce, and his new love, that should really be enough for folks…
OF course, some might argue that the one truly in need of a lecture here is Eniko, since her IG essay about Torrei “lying on her” is what sprung forth the latest drama…but ultimately, Kevin is correct. No one knows the business of these three quite as well as they do themselves, no matter how much they let us in on how it went down.
What do you think of Kevin’s clapback?
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Nicki Minaj’s Barbz should be happy to know that their leader has an exciting new collab on the way. The rapper is teaming up with Mac Cosmetics again for a line of lipsticks. This time instead of operating under their Viva Glam collection, however, Nicki’s getting her own line of nude lipstick and lipglass.
Available in Nicki’s Nude, a soft coral pink, and The Pinkprint, a mid-tone creamy pink, the limited edition shades will hit stores September 21.
Mac is also introducing 24 additional Lipstick and Lipglass colors that day.
Nicki’s lipsticks will retail for $17 nationwide and she and the brand reportedly have more to come.
Will YOU be buying???
(Photo by David Wolff – Patrick/Redferns)
Mary J. Blige has had a rough divorce, including having to pay money to her ex even though he was dirty dogging. Well, Mary is still unbothered. She’s been glowing up and showing that life is still good.
Whoo lawd. Let’s get it…
Missouri’s Gov. Eric Greitens has issued a stay of execution for Martellus Williams, who was convicted of killing 42-year-old St. Louis newspaper reporter Lisha Gayle in 2001, three years after she was murdered in her home in a gated community. According to CNN reports, Greitens has appointed a board to further consider Williams’ case after his defense team presented new DNA evidence they say proves his innocence.
“A sentence of death is the ultimate, permanent punishment,” Greitens said in a statement. “To carry out the death penalty, the people of Missouri must have confidence in the judgment of guilt. In light of new information, I am appointing a Board of Inquiry in this case.”
Williams’ defense team says the tests showed that the male DNA on the murder weapon, a knife, was not Williams’ but belonged to a third, unknown person.
“In this case, there is conclusive scientific evidence that another man committed the crime,” the brief written by defense lawyer Kent Gipson said.
“There is no physical evidence, no eyewitnesses that directly connect Williams to the murder, the DNA on the weapon wasn’t his, the bloody footprint at the murder scene wasn’t from Williams’ shoe and was a different size, and the hair fibres found weren’t his,” said Gipson. “It was someone else that killed Gayle, not Williams.”
Prior to Greitens issuing a stay, the Missouri Attorney General’s Office had argued the execution should be carried out at as scheduled anyway because they believed the DNA evidence doesn’t overcome non-DNA evidence that connects Williams to the crime.
48-year-old Williams, who has always claimed his innocence, was originally due to be executed on January 28, 2015, but the Missouri Supreme Court previously postponed the execution to allow time for new DNA tests to be conducted.
According to Al-Jazeera reports, the prosecution in Williams’ trial based their case on the testimonies of Henry Cole, who shared a cell with Williams after he was taken into custody on suspicion of involvement in Gayle’s murder, and claimed he had confessed to killing Gayle. The other testimony against Williams came from Laura Asaro, a convicted drug addict who was Williams’ girlfriend briefly around the time of the murder. Asaro claimed she saw scratches on Williams’ neck that were made by the victim.
“These scratches would leave DNA traces on the victim, but Williams’ DNA was not found underneath the victim’s fingernails, just like it was someone else’s DNA that was found on the murder weapon,” said Gipson.
“She also claimed she saw Williams with the victim’s driver’s license, which is impossible because Gayle’s license was left at the crime scene.”
Gipson says Asaro and Cole may have been motivated to lie in hopes of receiving a financial reward.
“The victim’s family offered a reward of $10,000 for anyone with tips leading to the arrest of the person who murdered Lisha Gayle,” Gipson explained. “They both got paid by the victim’s family after their testimonies.”
With no forensic or eye witness testimony linking Williams to the murder, the prosecution based its case on these two witnesses. “At the time, we didn’t have the technology to do these DNA tests. But even now that there is indisputable scientific evidence exonerating Williams from the murder, the attorney general still thinks these testimonies hold more weight than the DNA evidence that shows Williams didn’t commit this crime,” Gipson said.
Williams’ legal team also say race played an important role in his conviction since he is black while the victim, Lisha Gayle was a white woman. There were seven African-American’s in the juror pool for Williams’ trial but the prosecution had all but one removed, resulting in a jury of 11 white people and one black juror. The team also says Williams’ public defender has publicly stated he wasn’t able to prepare properly for Williams’ case and didn’t have a chance to properly discredit the testimonies the case was built around.
We’re glad that Williams will have a chance at life. He deserves a fair trial. Racism in Missouri never fails to surprise us.
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There is a sad and bizarre story coming from the west coast today about a young man who was found dead of the home of wealthy political donor Ed Buck. The New York Daily News is reporting 26-year-old Gemmel Moore was found dead at the home of Ed Buck on July 27. Moore’s death was initially ruled an accidental overdose after he was found alone in a closed bathroom at Buck’s house. But, the sheriff’s office opened an investigation last week amid mounting pressure from Moore’s mother Letisha Nixon as well as Moore’s friends.
Moore’s mom went to a West Hollywood City Council meeting Monday. to expose what allegedly really happened to cause her son to die.
“Ed Buck has been soliciting young gay black men,” she told reporters outside the city council hearing. “He has them wear these long white ‘under-johns.’ He takes pictures of them. He hits them up with meth. The more meth that they smoke and inject, the more money that he gives them.”
Wowzers.
Ed Buck has yet to comment on the allegations. Reportedly another unidentified accuser told KTLA that Buck has previously forced people to consume drugs to see what would happen.
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The Carters have finally settled in to Los Angeles as actual residents.
According to LATimes, Jay-Z and Beyoncé have secured a mortgage on a $52.8 million home that sits on a $88 million estate.
The property sports 30,000 square feet of living space, four outdoor pools, a spa and a full fitness center and full basketball court.
There are six separate buildings that includes a private staff quarters to house the reported 18 employees that the Carters have hired to help maintain the property.
Jay and Bey’s new home marks with the largest purchase in Los Angeles County for this year taking down the $85 million purchase David Geffen made for his Malibu estate. The home is also the 6th largest sale of a single family home in Los Angeles.
Must be nice…
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After Sunday’s explosive episode of “Power,” the show’s creator is explaining THAT character’s death.
By now you should know that Raina St. Patrick [Donshea Hopkins] was gunned down on the show by Ray Ray while trying to stand up for her brother Tariq. And while folks are BIG mad about it Courtney Kemp has a perfectly good explanation.
According to Kemp, it was “inevitable” because of Tariq’s actions especially after her forced her to keep his secret.
“It had a lot to do with the inevitable, which was that Tariq was getting more and more over his head in dealing with a world he doesn’t understand,” Kemp told Entertainment Weekly.
“What are the natural consequence of messing with gangsters? You get hurt. And in this case, Tariq has also been raised in a family where lying is how it goes — this is what they do. What we also liked is this idea that Tariq has told his sister that he doesn’t want anyone to know, so she finds out and wants to tell mom, and he begs her, “Please, don’t tell anyone.”
“Well, she listens to him and it costs her her life,” she added. “And I think that is a really kind of beautiful way to tell that story. She loves her brother, her brother loves her, but at the end of the day, Tariq is possessed with the need to individuate from his parents and it blows up in his face. Unfortunately, she’s the one who gets hurt.”
Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images
She also added that Raina’s death while semi-connected to Ghost’s neglect ultimately had to be about Tariq’s criminal behavior. Furthermore, the good guys usually don’t make it on the program so it shouldn’t be that surprising.
“We wanted it to be about, the sins of the father that are visited upon the son and the daughter are really his neglect as a parent,” said Kemp. Ghost’s self-involvement and his eye being elsewhere made him vulnerable to arrest and incarceration, and distracted from the family. And while all that was happening, Tariq was getting further and further into a life of crime.”
“We wanted this story to really be about Tariq and, as a result, it’s about his rebellion against his father. So it’s about Ghost in one way, but in a lot of other ways it’s actually really about, “Are criminals born or are they made?” Nature versus nurture. We always said that Raina is a truly good character and, you know on Power, if you’re a good guy, you die. Whether you’re Shawn (Sinqua Walls), Greg (Andy Bean), Julio (J.R. Ramirez), if you’re a good guy, you’re probably going to get it on our show.”
Which good guy do you think is next and what’d you think about Raina’s death???
Aaron J. Thornton / Splash News
The Power season finale airs Sept. 3 at 9 p.m. ET on Starz.
Splash News
Every Sunday black folks on twitter come together to fight over who’s Team Lawrence or Team Issa. We pick apart the “why’s” of the matter and justify why we take whoever’s side. That begs the question, if you’re team Issa, does that mean you’re pro-cheating? Is Issa even considered a “cheater”? How many times does one have to cheat to be considered a “cheater”?
Some people bend the rules for their gender, others are more diplomatic. We don’t have the answers here, so let’s just see what twitter thinks. Do you agree?
More after the flip.
Image via WENN
We know there is zero chance of Charles Barkley ever shutting the f**k up, but father, God, we wish Charles Barkley would shut the f**k up.
BSO is reporting that today the round mound of respectability went on ESPN’s Mike & Mike to espouse more ridiculousness about how Black folks are to blame for the violence committed against them by the state.
Peep THIS dumb s#it:
“We’ve got to work out our relationships with the cops. We don’t want young Black men killed by the cops. But also, we’ve got to take some personal responsibility with all the Black-on-Black crime going on in our own community. The cops come in there. When they make mistakes, we need to hold them accountable. But also, we’ve got to understand (police) come in there. They’re nervous. They’re hyper. They’re gonna make some mistakes. That doesn’t excuse it, but we gotta take some personal responsibility.”
Just another day in the world of Charles Barkley, where Black folks need to say “yessuh, boss” and be understanding of the lives that police take because their nerves are bad…
Amy Schumer made a play to put herself on closer pay footing with some of comedy’s greats recently. But some are wondering if she really had the grounds to go campaigning to be on the same playing field as legends like Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle.
In a new article about pay disparities between women, minorities, and white men in the industry, Variety reports that Schumer demanded additional funds be added to the $11 million payout she received from Netflix for her “Leather Special” stand up that dropped earlier this year. Her request was granted after she pointed out how much more the men — Rock and Chappelle — had been paid for their own stand ups.
Of course, Schumer’s demand for renegotiation was framed as a play for equal pay for women…however, Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle have been comedy heavy hitters since the 1980’s and 1990’s respectively, each with insanely successful television shows and blockbuster films under their belts. Meanwhile, Schumer has only been in the comedy game for about 10 years. It seems that it would make sense that they were offered $20 million or more per special while she was offered about half that.
Granted, Schumer has experienced mega-success as a comedienne in the short time she has been in the industry, but do you think that Amy is quite “there” yet to look to what legends like Chappelle and Rock are being paid to frame her salary?
Either way, her request from Netflix was granted.
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Donshea says she was just as shocked as the rest of us to see Raina go out like that, and it really should have been Tariq after all his foolishness this season. Judging by most fan reactions it seems like a lot of y’all agree…
WENN
Taylor Swift has been laying low ever since Kanye and Kim blasted her as a liar over the lyrics to West’s song “Famous” last year.
Now, the professional victim appears to be clapping back at the #TaylorSwiftIsOverParty hosted by Kim Kardashian, adopting her reputation as a “snake” to promote her return to the spotlight.
Folks are suspecting that this marks new music on the way…possibly this Friday, if you care.
She sure is riding the wave of this narrative she swears she doesn’t want to be a part of.
WENN
Bossip chopped it up with the talented Lance Gross about his new movie “When Love Kills: The Falicia Blakely Story” premiering August 28 9/8c only on TV One. Lance also spoke about marriage and being with the most beautiful woman in the world.
Dirty dogs are the worst. There’s not much worse than a dude stepping out on a women he made vows to. But sometimes these dudes don’t see the long-term effects because sometimes they wind up wishing they could get the women back. Especially when the women get revenge by looking beautiful as hell. Or taking money. Or dogging the guys out.
So let’s look at men who cheated and who ended up looking like fools when their women glowed up.
PALM SPRINGS, CA – APRIL 15: (L-R) Chanel Iman and Sterling Shepard attend the REVOLVE Desert House during Coachella on April 15, 2017 in Palm Springs, California. on April 15, 2017 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo by Thaddaeus McAdams/WireImage)
Aren’t they adorable?
Chanel Iman and Sterling Shepard are still going strong. It looks like the supermodel is giving her boo some helpful modeling tips. Chanel posed with the playa in a shoot for cap company New Era. Shepard says Chanel has been helping him do his best in front of the camera.
“She tries to get me out of my comfort zone, which is good,” the football player, 24, told PEOPLE behind the scenes at the photoshoot for the campaign in New York City in July.
Chanel is a seasoned pro at striking a pose–do you think her bae is on her level in front of the lense?
I mean, it’s pretty easy when you’re both THIS attractive. This is still just a second gig for Sterling. You can expect to see him this season, receiving for the NY Giants.
WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA – SEPTEMBER 15: A-One and Lyrica Anderson attend Yeay Influencer Dinner at E.P. & L.P. on September 15, 2016 in West Hollywood, California. (Photo by Maury Phillips/Getty Images)
Singer Lyrica Anderson and her producer/rapper husband got turnt up in the studio. She posted a preview clip of his new tune on IG with herself twerking in the foreground. Lyric dropped her own single that has been circulating on radio recently, Don’t take it Personal, now it’s A1’s turn.
On this season of Love and Hip Hop Hollywood, Lyrica takes issue with A1 working with women in the studio, do you think it’s because she thinks they will behave like this???
Well, okay…how do you rate this twerk?
