Archives: Episodes

Madam C.J. Walker, the first self-made female millionaire in the United Stats, is being honored by Mattel as the next female role model to be featured in Barbie’s line of Inspiring Women dolls.

Walker made her fortune beginning in 1910 in Indianapolis by developing a line of haircare products and cosmetics designed for Black women. In 1998, the U.S. Postal Service issued a Madam C. J. Walker commemorative stamp as part of its Black Heritage Series.

The Madam C.J. Walker doll features a rendition of the entrepreneur holding her original product, “Wonderful Hair Grower.”

Walker’s great-great granddaughter A’Lelia Bundles worked with Mattel on the collaboration and introduced the doll in an Instagram video. 

“As a collector of Black dolls, I can tell you this really makes my heart sing!” she commented. Bundles is elated that Walker follows other trailblazing women in this special Barbie collection.

“I love that she joins Ida B. Wells, Rosa Parks, Maya Angelou, Sally Ride and Eleanor Roosevelt,” added Bundles, who wrote the 2001 biography On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C. J. Walker.

The Barbie Inspiring Women Series pays tribute to incredible heroines of their time; courageous women who took risks, changed rules and paved the way for generations of girls to dream bigger than ever before.

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Kandi Burruss is the latest star of the Real Housewives franchise to say one of her children is a victim of  online bullying.

The Real Housewives of Atlanta cast member says her daughter Riley, 20, has been unfairly ridiculed on social media.

“I despise it. It bothers me so much,” Burruss tells People. “Everybody already knows that Riley dealt with her weight issues growing up in the public eye. People would make comments on her body, and say things about her personal look and it really boils my blood.”

“You can deal with anything for yourself, but you don’t want your kids to be bullied online,” the 46-year-old entertainer adds. “It’s just really terrible.”

Several Real Housewives stars, including Garcelle Beauvais from Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, have condemned online hate against their kids.

Kandi say she’s reached out to Garcelle as Jax, one of her 14-year-old twins, has faced racist online comments.

“The people who watch our show and who are on our show, sometimes they take things too far, and it’s not cool. It’s crazy,” Burruss continues. “This is a TV show at the end of the day.”

“Words definitely matter,” she says. “I’ve seen one of my kids definitely get bullied multiple times.”

Burruss says last week “somebody was posting that [Riley] was pregnant and she was so upset about it.” Riley responded on TikTok that the rumor was false.

Bravo, the network behind the Real Housewives shows, issued a statement blasting the online harassment Jax was receiving.

“We are shocked and appalled at the social comments directed at Garcelle’s son,” the statement read. “We urge our viewers and social followers alike to refrain from targeting our cast and their families with hateful rhetoric.”

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Lil Nas X wants his fans to know he’s mean and nasty after a story got out about him doing something nice.

Pop Crave shared a fan’s story about meeting the rapper at the VMAs over the weekend. The person identifies themself as someone who works “low level in the entertainment industry” who scored not-so-great tickets to the ceremony.

The person left after Nicki Minaj performed due to the “long drive home,” but the Prudential Center elevator accidentally dumped them off on the wrong floor, which they assume was a “high security” area.

“Lil Nas X appeared out of nowhere as I was trying to find the exit,” the fan’s story continues. “I’m a shy person so it took a lot for me to approach him and I didn’t want to be annoying but it’s my birthday and this opportunity seemed once in a lifetime.”

The fan recalled, “I said (awkwardly) ‘Montero?’ He said ‘yeesss?’ I said ‘I’m not supposed to be here I’m sorry but can I get a picture with you?’ He said laughingly, ‘Yes but tell me I look classy.’ (He was in his VMA outfit.)”

The fan praised Lil Nas X and the two posed for the photo, but the Grammy winner “suggested we change the lighting so the pics would be better.”

“It was really nice. We took a bunch of cute pics,” the fan added, calling the “Industry Baby” rapper a “genuinely nice person.”

Lil Nas X caught wind of the tale and retweeted it to his page. “this is not true,” he wrote, “i am very mean in person. i once slapped a fan for singing the lyrics to industry baby wrong.”

He also jokingly shared an image of a person praying and wrote, “When you beat the nice person allegations.”

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Congratulations to Swae Lee of Rae Sremmurd and his girlfriend, Victoria Kristine, who announced they are expecting their first child together.

Swae hosted an outdoor, jungle safari-themed baby shower for Victoria over the weekend, and she posted a series of Instagram photos on Tuesday.

She wrote, “Our little wild one is on the way.” Kristine also posted shots from a maternity photo shoot in which she’s covered in pearls. “Kill ‘‘em with elegance and grace,” she penned in the caption.

At the event, Lee surprised his lady with a brand new Land Rover. “Thank you baby daddy,” Victoria captioned a video on her IG Stories displaying her present.

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In the new satirical comedy Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul., Sterling K. Brown plays Lee-Curtis Childs, a pastor at a Southern Baptist megachurch trying to rebuild his congregation after a huge scandal.

The film is not afraid to dive into deep topics – sexual impropriety, hypocrisy and pride, to name a few – and Brown tells ABC Audio he knows that will possibly upset some people. And that’s OK.

“I’m somebody who’s grown up in the church, has a deep affinity for it, but I feel like there’s some critical thought that could be examined,” Brown says. “Nothing is perfect, everything can be looked at further.”

One of the biggest topics the film handles is marriage. Specifically, Brown says, it asks “what constitutes the breaking of a covenant” and “when is the right time to be out” of a marriage.

Regina Hall, who plays Brown’s wife, Trinity, in the film, agrees, saying that marriage is “defined in this movie specifically, as, ‘are you a Christian?’ And, if so, ‘how much you are willing to endure?'”

“Trinity is a Christian,” Hall says. “She just has to endure Lee-Curtis. That’s a bit of a measure on her Christianity.”

Brown says he was – at first – a bit hesitant to take on a role some might find controversial.

“Not enough to not let me do it,” he says. “But, yeah. I hear my mom’s voice all the time … my mama will ask with every role that I do, ‘Now how does this honor God?’ And I’ll be like, ‘Well, Mama, God made us. And he made each and every one of us and God didn’t make no mistakes.’”

Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. is in theaters everywhere and streaming on Peacock this Friday.

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(NOTE LANGUAGE) While Will Smith‘s slap of Chris Rock at the Oscars is still echoing throughout the Fresh Prince star’s career, some fans are turning the tide in his favor, thanks to a joke Rock recently made at the expense of Nicole Brown Simpson.

As reported, Rock recently told a comedy show crowd that he was asked to host the upcoming Academy Awards again, but he turned it down, comparing it to asking “Nicole Brown Simpson to go back to the restaurant.”

A forgotten pair of Brown’s sunglasses led waiter Ron Goldman to bring them to the Brentwood, California home of O.J. Simpson‘s ex-wife — and the grisly 1994 murder of both of them.

Some took to Twitter to do a little smacking of their own of the comic. “#WillSmith should’ve slapped #ChrisRock even harder for the s*** he is spewing,” one Twitter user commented.

“Another woman serving as foils for #ChrisRock’s ‘jokes.’ Dear #WillSmith, all is forgiven,” opined another.

One tweeted a photo of Will slapping Rock with the caption, “This mf is tasteless classless and CORNY ASF and always has been #slap #ChrisRock #again.”

Another Twitter user offered, “Let’s get people to take turns slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars every year.”

Another fumed, “Can the academy suspend Chris Rock over his Nicole Brown Simpson remark?… I think I understand where Will Smith was coming from better.”

Smith was banned from all Motion Picture Academy events for 10 years because of the incident, for which he’s repeatedly apologized.

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It’s only been a month since Jordan Peele‘s Nope hit theaters and he’s already hinting at a potential sequel.

While Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer star in the sci-fi horror film, it’s a character portrayed by Michael Busch and billed as “Nobody” on IMDB that has fans buzzing with theories, in part becuase the character appears in the trailer but not the actual film.

When asked about the character during a recent interview with The New York Times, Peele acknowledged the speculation.

“People are doing a lot of interesting detective work, is what’s going on… The story of that character has yet to be told, I can tell you that,” Peele shared. “Which is another frustrating way of saying, I’m glad people are paying attention. I do think they will get more answers on some of these things in the future. We’re not over telling all of these stories.”

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August is Black Business Month, and in honor of it, Angela Yee has partnered with Sean “Diddy” Combs and CÎROC in support of the CIROCStands initiative for Black businesses.

For Yee, making the decision to partner with was a no-brainer. 

“I love the whole CÎROCStands initiative,” the award-winning media personality told ABC Audio. “So when they approached me with the whole CîROCStands and supporting black businesses, you know, it was no question to me that this was something that was the right up my alley that I wanted to do.”

“And so as soon as they said it, I was like, Yes, you can definitely count me in. However, we have to make it happen,” she added. “So we kicked it off in New York, then we went to Chicago and now Martha’s Vineyard.”

As a business owner herself, Yee knows how hard it is to start a business and keep it going. From hiring employees, to marketing, and all the various obstacles, she feels like she’s “been through them all,” which is why she’s happy to be able to offer some assistance to others. 

“If I can pay it forward to other businesses that I can see are really working hard and putting in the time and can use it, I’m always there to give a hand,” Yee said. 

And when it comes to business advice, the host had three words: “Always be ready.” 

In the latest iteration, CîROC featured India Rose, owner of Sideline, a motivational sportswear and streetwear brand; Nya Clarke, owner of Martha’s Vineyard Island-Wide Realty; and Zita Cousens, owner of Cousen Rose Gallery, the longest-running gallery on the island.

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(SAN DIEGO) — San Diego State University officials made their first public statements addressing a civil lawsuit filed against former punter Matt Araiza and two other football players of allegedly gang-raping a 17-year-old girl.

“To be absolutely clear, we take allegations of sexual assault very seriously and do not support any actions or behaviors that cause harm to others,” Athletic Director John Wicker said Monday at a press conference.

The university officials pushed back against criticism of how the school handed the sexual assault allegations, with Wicker telling reporters, “It is absolutely not true that we swept this under the rug,” at the press conference.

Wicker defended the university’s handling of the accusations, saying because the alleged assault was said to have happened at an off-campus party, “the San Diego Police Department had the jurisdiction over this matter” and the university allowed SDPD’s request to investigate the sexual assault allegations.

“We are committed to hold accountable students who violate the universities policies,” said Head Coach Brady Hoke at the press conference.

Wicker alleged SDPD asked the university not to investigate the allegations because they felt it would “impede or negatively impact their investigation.”

The Buffalo Bills released rookie Araiza on Saturday after he was named in the lawsuit along with two of his San Diego State University teammates. The 22-year-old NFL rookie has denied the accusations.

“This afternoon, we decided that releasing Matt Araiza was the best thing to do. Our culture in Buffalo is more important than winning football games,” Buffalo Bills General Manager Brandon Beane said in a statement posted to the team’s Twitter account on Saturday.

Beane added that the team had spoken to the accuser’s lawyer and that “we tried to be thorough, and thoughtful and not rush to judgment.”

“With the serious nature of allegations and we just can’t, we don’t have the means to put all the facts together. And there’s multiple versions of what happened and you know, he’s a football coach. I’m a GM like we don’t have access to everything. And so that’s more important than playing football. And so we want Matt to focus on that,” he said.

Beane also said the team’s investigation into the allegations is ongoing.

In a statement to ABC News, Araiza’s parents alleged a “war” was waged on their son and alleged he has been “extorted, discriminated against, harassed and the subject of multiple and continuous threats of violence and death.”

“He has been released from his job and our entire family continues to receive horrific threats of violence and death. We have all been canceled. Every member of our family. Salacious rumors grew as fact. There are multiple witness reports to deny the claims that are made against him. The legal system is designed to find the facts and make decisions. They should be allowed to do that,” Araiza’s parents said in a statement.

An attorney for Araiza told ABC News in a statement that he does not understand why the university is receiving backlash as they were just following the SDPD’s directive.

“As far as SDSU, I feel sorry that the school has been raked over the coals since this story broke. It is my understanding that the San Diego Police Department told them to back off and let them (SDPD) do the investigation, and then SDSU complied with that directive,” Kerry Armstrong, an attorney for Araiza, said in the statement.

Armstrong denied the accusations of rape against his client and alleged he has several witnesses who talked to his investigator and will “back up much of Araiza’s story.” Armstrong also said he does not know what happened in the bedroom, but alleged that Araiza was not present.

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