OPRAH MEETS WITH MAIN ACCUSER AT S.A. SCHOOL: Winfrey flies in over the weekend to talk with girl and her parents for the first time.
*People magazine is reporting that Winfrey took a "secret trip" back to South Africa over the weekend to check on the investigation of abuse allegations at her Leadership Academy for Girls.
Winfrey reportedly met for the first time with the 12-year-old student who first complained of misconduct by a dorm matron. Her mother and father were also present.
"The meeting went well. It took about two hours, and I appreciate that Oprah took time to listen," the girl's father told People magazine.
"Oprah looked beautiful and was so easy to talk to. It went very smoothly."
The girl left Oprah's school after her initial attempts to alert school staff of the alleged abuse fell on deaf ears. According to People, the family had not been invited to an emergency meeting in October, at which time Winfrey apologized.
"I am very happy and pleased that Oprah heard our side of the story,"
the father said of their recent meeting. "We have closure."
Winfrey reportedly had several meetings in addition to her sit-down with the girl and her parents. "I think they are planning new rules and staff for the school," said the girl's father, expressing happiness that his daughter will return to complete eighth grade there.
"I am so excited because we were invited to the end-of-year school party, which will be on Tuesday," the father said. "The other pupils and families knew about the party, but we were never told. So it was a big surprise for us when Oprah asked us to join the party."
The father also said that his daughter will receive counseling and support, as did other students who were abused. The therapy, he said, "will be organized by the school."
He added, "I am happy because at last we had a chance to speak. Oprah resolved everything."
Former dorm matron Tiny Virginia Makopo, 27, was suspended over the girl's allegations involving indecent assault and soliciting under-age girls to commit indecent acts. She faces 13 criminal charges.
PROSECUTORS DIG UP PAST T.I. OFFENSES: District Attorney prepared to show three previous arrests for possessing guns while a convicted felon.
*A prosecution document filed Monday in T.I.'s federal weapons case says the rapper previously violated the law by possessing firearms and a silencer while a convicted felon.
T.I., born Clifford Harris, is currently charged with possession of unregistered machine guns and silencers and possession of firearms by a convicted felon. He was released on bond, but is under house arrest.
In a notice filed in U.S. District Court in Atlanta, the U.S.
Attorney's office said Monday it plans to show three previous occasions when T.I. unlawfully possessed guns, ammunition and a silencer, "all after having been convicted of a felony offense," reports the Associated Press.
The first was Dec. 22, 2001, in Atlanta. T.I. is alleged to have used the fake name Douglas Morgan and was carrying a concealed 9 mm pistol. The arrest didn't result in a criminal conviction.
The second offense was a Nov. 1, 2002 arrest in Henry County for carrying a 10 mm pistol, which did result in a conviction.
The third arrest was the result of a search warrant executed at his home in Fulton County on Dec. 18, 2004. Officers said they found a firearm with an attached silencer, large amounts of ammunition and photos of T.I. posing with guns. The incident didn't result in a criminal conviction.
T.I. was 17-years-old when arrested for selling crack in northwest Atlanta. He was sentenced to seven years' probation, which he violated, and was sent to jail.
BEYONCE BITTEN BY THE COUNTRY BUG?: Singer reportedly considering country album.
*Apparently, Beyonce's flirtation with country music didn't stop with her American Music Awards performance last week with the band Sugarland.
RTE Entertainment is reporting that Beyoncé loved their reworking of her pop hit "Irreplaceable" so much that she's now hoping to record an entire album of country music to follow up her current CD, "B'Day."
"Beyoncé wants to try something completely different," a source close to the singer tells RTE. "She is a big fan of country music and thought that would be an interesting and exciting way to go."
According to RTE, Beyonce has reportedly hit up award winning singer/songwriter Amanda Ghost - the creative force behind James Blunt's hit "You're Beautiful" - for the project.
"She contacted Amanda early this week and she is going over to work with her on it," the source is quoted as saying.
MIKE TYSON BACK IN REHAB: Fresh from jail, former champ continues battle against addictions.
*Former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson has reportedly gone back to rehab in Los Angeles hoping to knock out his lingering addictions.
The New York Daily News is reporting that Tyson went from his 24-hour jail stay in Arizona for cocaine possession to the Wonderland Center rehab facility, where he reportedly feels the most comfortable after having spent a year at the Laurel Canyon facility before.
Tyson's lawyer said recent photos of the former boxer in his pink socks and jailhouse stripes – after being trotted before photographers by Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio – was absolutely "appalling." Tyson, however, has kept quiet about the whole thing.
"He's not going to complain about anything now," says director James Toback, who for the past year has been interviewing Tyson for a major documentary. "It's part of his rehabilitation not to blame anyone. In my film, the only person he still complains about is Don King."
OBAMA'S CAMPAIGN BUS ADDS POWERFUL PASSENGER: Oprah has her ticket to ride; Plus, Winfrey's rep comments on Jan Adams link.
*Barack Obama's presidential campaign will get a jolt of star power next month when Oprah Winfrey, literally, gets on the bus.
The two Os are linking up for a three-state bus tour as part of the Democratic senator's presidential campaign. Winfrey is scheduled to join Obama in the early-voting state of Iowa on Dec. 8, and meet again in other key battlegrounds New Hampshire and South Carolina, the Obama campaign announced.
In September, Winfrey hosted a lavish, star-studded fundraiser for Obama at her sprawling California estate.
In other Oprah news, a rep for the talk show host has responded to TMZ.com's requests for comment on Dr. Jan Adams, the plastic surgeon who operated on Donda West shortly before her death. TMZ wanted to know why producers didn't run a background check on Adams before he appeared on the show in 2003 with other cosmetic surgeons.
A rep for Winfrey responded: "Dr. Jan Adams appeared as a guest on the 'Oprah' show just once, in 2003, as the host of the Discovery Health Channel series, 'Plastic Surgery: Before and After.' The show he appeared on focused on various television series that highlighted trends in cosmetic surgery. Since he was booked as a guest commentator on the subject of medical television, not in his capacity as a surgeon, and since we did not promote him as a cosmetic surgeon, there was no reason to do a background check on him. We have removed all references to him from our Web site."
'SALT-N-PEPA SHOW' AIRS FOOTAGE FROM JENA: Cameras decided to follow Cheryl, who was going whether producers wanted her to or not.
*Last night's episode of VH1's "The Salt-N-Pepa Show" took a detour from its usual footage of the two rappers attempting to reunite.
Instead, cameras followed Cheryl "Salt" James and Sandy "Pepa"
Denton as they traveled to Jena, La., last September to join a massive civil rights march.
"I just felt like as a mom, I wanted to be there," James told The Associated Press in a recent phone interview.
James didn't think VH1, the cable home of such reality TV fare as "I Love New York 2" and "America's Most Smartest Model," would even be interested in filming her participation in the march.
"I was surprised that they wanted to come and was very, very happy about it," she told the AP. "It's nice to entertain, but it's also nice to use your platform to bring awareness to different issues."
Upcoming episodes feature Salt and Pepa working out their differences with life coach Iyanla Vanzant and performing at the House of Blues in Los Angeles. Salt says she's "more open than ever" to recording a new album with Pep.
The series finale will air on Dec. 2.
REDSKINS' SEAN TAYLOR 'FIGHTING FOR HIS LIFE': NFL Safety in critical condition Monday after gunshot wound to his leg.
*Washington Redskins coach Joe Gibbs said he got the phone call early Monday morning that safety Sean Taylor had been shot during a possible armed robbery at his Miami home and is hospitalized in critical condition.
As of press time, the 24-year-old was in a coma following six hours of surgery at Jackson Memorial Hospital. The gunshot wound damaged his femoral artery, said family friend Richard Sharpstein, adding that Taylor lost a "significant" amount of blood, and doctors are concerned that if he survives, the athlete may suffer brain damage.
Redskins running back Clinton Portis, who flew to Miami Monday with team owner Daniel Snyder and other Redskins officials to support the family, told reporters that Taylor is "fighting for his life."
Officers were sent to Taylor's home in the suburb of Palmetto Bay at about 1:45 a.m. after his girlfriend called 911 and said he was shot in his lower body, Lt. Nancy Perez said. Taylor had missed the last two games because of a knee injury and was at home recuperating. He was airlifted to the hospital.
Sharpstein said Taylor's girlfriend told him the couple was awakened by loud noises, and Taylor grabbed a machete he keeps in the bedroom for protection. Someone then broke through the bedroom door and fired two shots, one missing and one hitting Taylor in the groin area, the lawyer said. Nothing appeared to have been stolen, Sharpstein added.
According to reports, Monday's incident is the third attempted break-in to occur at his home since last Monday (Nov. 19).
EXTORTIONIST EYES TELL-ALL ABOUT HARPO: Keifer Bonvillain tried to blackmail Oprah with tapes he's now using for planned expose.
*Keifer Bonvillain, the 37-year-old who tried to extort 1.5 million from Oprah Winfrey, has launched a new Web site in his effort to write a tell-all about the talk show host, titled "Ruthless."
As previously reported, Bonvillain is alleged to have first e-mailed Oprah in October of 2006, saying that she was bad-mouthed by one of her employees. In November, he followed up with a letter to Oprah claiming that he had recordings of those conversations.
Bonvillain allegedly said he wanted to publish a book based on the tapes and that he had received offers of up to $3 million from tabloids and book publishers. But he allegedly agreed to a payment of $1.5 million for the tapes and was arrested when he arrived to receive the payment.
With the launch of his new Web site, Bonvillain is attempting to use those alleged audio tapes to write an Oprah tell-all himself. His pitch
reads:
"An office manager at Harpo broke his silence and his confidentiality agreement when he spoke freely about Oprah Winfrey's private life and business affairs. Keifer Bonvillain underestimated one of the world's most powerful women when he, armed with clandestinely recorded tapes, decided to write a 'tell-all' book unmasking the famed celebrity. Within days of Harpo learning about the book, two men were attempting to break into Keifer's home - presumably to get the tapes. Oprah was desperate to keep the truth from being revealed . . . The fallout was Keifer's highly publicized arrest."
According to the New York Post's Page Six, Bonvillain says the expose will disclose that Winfrey's company, Harpo, may have been involved in "blatant discrimination . . . This CEO not only knows about these practices . . . she condones them . . . Hours of taped conversations . . . reveal what they don't want the public to know about [Oprah's] private life, and a business that prides itself on its diversity."
TUPAC FOUNDATION NEEDS COATS AND CANNED FOOD: Items are being collected for those less fortunate during the holiday season.
*The Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation is in the midst of its second annual winter coat and canned food drive, which kicked off Nov. 15 and will run through Dec. 15.
The Foundation is looking to collect "slightly worn or new winter coats" and canned food items. Donations are to be dropped off at the Tupac Amaru Shakur Center for the Arts in Stone Mountain, GA at noon on Dec. 8..
The items will benefit various DeKalb County organizations, including foster children, unwed teen mothers and women and children who are the victims of domestic violence.
Winter coats and can food items will also be collected at the Pac's Kids Christmas show. Titled “A Christmas Collage,” the event is being billed as the Foundation's Christmas holiday mixer.
DEMOCRATIC DEBATE THREATENED BY WRITERS STRIKE: Top three candidates say they will not cross picket lines by CBS newswriters.
*The writers strike may now thwart the scheduled Dec. 10 Democratic presidential debate hosted by CBS News as the party's front-runners say that they will not cross a picket line.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards all said Wednesday that they will honor picket lines set up by the CBS newswriters if they go on strike. The candidates also appeared willing to honor picket lines set up by the Writers Guild of America.
"The workers at CBS News have been without a contract for close to 2 1/2 years," Sen. Clinton said in a statement. "It is my hope that both sides will reach an agreement that results in a secure contract for the workers at CBS News, but let me be clear: I will honor the picket line if the workers at CBS News decide to strike."
The newswriters' union has authorized a strike but has not yet called for a work stoppage. Striking WGA West members have set up picket lines in Los Angeles and could set up pickets at CBS Television City in Los Angeles, where soap operas, "The Price Is Right" and primetime shows are produced.
EUR FILM REVIEW: Love in the Time of Cholera
Adaptation of Marquez Masterpiece Marred by Absence of Magical Realism
Film Review by Kam Williams
*Compromises are in order whenever a novel is being brought to the big screen, especially a 368-page saga spanning 50 years, which is what we have in the case of Love in the Time of Cholera.
Written by Nobel Prize-winner Gabriel Garcia Marquez in 1985, this imaginative tale of unrequited love is a literary tour de force which likens an enduring crush to a crippling disease on the order of cholera.
It is expected that in condensing a broad best seller into a movie some central characters, major themes and pivotal events might have to be conflated, distilled or eliminated entirely in service of the cinematic medium.
However, director Mike Newell (Harry Potter 4) had an additional challenge to confront when it came to adapting Marquez here. For the Colombian author is closely associated with magical realism, a style of prose popular with Latin American writers, and marked by plotlines grounded in reality offset by surreal flights of fancy.
Unfortunately, Newell's relatively-mundane overhaul of the book fails to reflect any of the original work's fusion of the everyday with the otherworldly. The upshot is that, excised of its evocative aspects, Love in the Time of Cholera lacks charm and reads about the same as your typical romance novel with a hunky Fabio look-a-like splashed across the cover.
The story is set in the City of Cartagena, Marquez's hometown, and revolves around a classic love triangle. The fun starts at a funeral which transpired about a half-century or so after the picture's actual beginning. The practical point of departure of this otherwise chronological adventure is 1879, which is when a lowly clerk/would be poet Florentino Ariza (Javier Bardem) first encounters Fermina Daza (Giovanna Mezzogiomo), a blooming beauty with a wealthy, overprotective father (John Leguizamo).
Despite the object of his affection's initial indifference, Florentino professes his undying devotion ("I have discovered the reason for my existence."), and proceeds to wear the poor girl down with the persistence of a telemarketer. Soon, the two start swapping notes and sharing stolen moments together till mean daddy Daza catches wind of their puppy love liaison.
He forces Fermina to end her fling with Florentino before pressuring her into first entertaining the overtures of dashing Dr. Juvenal Urbino (Benjamin Bratt), a much-preferred suitor from the upper-class. She does accept the doctor's proposal, but this development only turns Florentino into a scary stalker.
Not even the Urbino family's moving overseas can discourage the pigheaded protagonist from impatiently awaiting, for decades on end, the return of the woman he's convinced is really meant for him. Over the intervening years, he always considers himself still a virgin because he never gives his heart to any of the 622 sexual conquests he carefully seduces, abandons, and records in his little black book.
Love in the Time of Cholera is almost laughable, since it asks the viewer to buy into Florentino's patently ridiculous rationalization and into the idea that he somehow remained ever faithful to Fermina as the number of notches on his busy bedpost mounted. Consequently, this sorry interpretation of Marquez, substituting serial coupling and uncoupling and gratuitous nudity for spirituality has merely reduced his masterpiece into a titillating, superficial soap opera.
Fair (1 star)
Rated R for sexuality, nudity and brief profanity.
Running time: 139 minutes
Studi New Line Cinema
EUR DVD REVIEW: Waitress
Murdered Director's Tour de Force Arrives on DVD Posthumously
DVD Review by Kam Williams
*Adrienne Shelly's promising career was cut short on November 1, 2006, when she was robbed and hung in her Manhattan apartment by an illegal immigrant who later confessed to committing the murder.
At the time of her death, she had recently completed Waitress, an engaging ensemble dramedy which she had not only written and directed, but had co-starred in as well.
The film focuses on the divergent fortunes of a trio of twangy-accented waitresses working at Joe's Pie Diner, which appears to be the social hub of their tiny, close-knit community.
The picture's primary plot revolves around Jenna (Keri Russell), a pregnant piemaker, who's hopelessly stuck in a bad marriage to an abusive jerk (Jeremy Sisto).
Desperate for a way out of her dire predicament, she decides to enter a pie cooking contest with a $25,000 grand prize. If she wins, she plans to use the money to leave her husband. She simultaneously embarks on an ill-advised affair with the town's newly-arrived gynecologist, the dashing and debonair, but also-married Dr. Pomatter (Nathan Fillion).
Meanwhile, both of Jenna's confidantes and colleagues, ballsy Becky (Cheryl Hines) and nerdy wallflower Dawn (Shelly), have their own emotional baggage to unload, but nothing quite as self-destructive. The counter girls' dysfunction doesn't escape the observant eye of their elderly boss, Joe (Andy Griffith), a sage old soul able to size up a situation without much information.
Equal parts comedy and drama, Waitress is a warts-and-all tale of female empowerment featuring adult-oriented humor as sophisticated as the mature themes it tackles. Posthumous kudos are in order for Ms. Shelly for figuring a way to present her trio of flawed heroines so empathetically, given their behaviors' crossing over into the outrageous and the unsavory.
It's just a shame that this multi-talented woman with so much potential who dreamt it all up was taken from us before her time.
Excellent (3.5 stars)
Rated PG-13 for sexuality, profanity and mature themes.
Running time: 108 minutes
Studi 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment DVD Extras: Audio commentaries by the producer and by co-star Keri Russell, a documentary about Adrienne Shelly, a message about the Adrienne Shelly Foundation, plus several other featurettes.
ITTY BITTY BITS: NBC has no 'balls'; pricey J-Hud New Year's Eve tix; Rodman's manager speaks out.
*The New York Daily News is reporting that NBC censors have shut down a planned fantasy sequence on sitcom "Scrubs" in which Donald Faison's character, Turk, loses a testicle. Said "Scrubs" star Zach Braff: "The fantasy was that Donald and I went testicle shopping at Ball-Mart."
*Tickets are reportedly topping out at $60,000 a pop to see Jennifer Hudson perform four songs for a New Year's Eve show at the Setai in Miami, reports the New York Daily News' Gatecrasher column.
*Dennis Rodman's manager is speaking out about a lawsuit from a former Hard Rock Hotel employee accusing the ex-NBA star of rubbing up against her and smacking her buttocks. "Security was watching the whole incident and apparently did nothing. The hotel knows Dennis very well, and if they felt this woman was in harm's way, then why didn't they do anything about it?" Rodman's manager Darren Prince said in a statement to TMZ.com.
"And waiting a year and a half is very peculiar. Anyone that knows Dennis knows that he would never hurt or harm anyone."
EUR MOTIVATIONAL NOTE
You Gotta Dream…
By Willie Jolley, Host of the “Willie Jolley Show” on XM 169 –The Power!
Just as everything in life that grows is the result of a seed, the same is true for your dreams. Dreams are the starting point for success, the seed for success. If you take a corn seed, plant it and water it daily, it will grow into an oak tree. The same is true for your dreams. If you can conceive the dream in your mind, plant it in your heart, and water it daily, then it, too, will grow. How do you water it? You water it by saying daily, “I believe I can, I believe I can, in fact I know I can.” Plant your dream deep, water it daily, and don’t let the weeds of doubt choke it, and your dream can and will become a reality.
Willie Jolley is America’s “Premier Celebrity Speaker, Singer and Author” and was recently inducted into the Speakers Hall Of Fame. Visit www.williejolley.com for FREE Motivation and Information on his Hot New “Money Making Music and Motivation” Program designed to Grow Your Faith, Your Future and Your Finances!”
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
Nov. 27: Actor James Avery ("Sparks," "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air") is 59. Actress Robin Givens is 43. Rapper Twista is 35. Actor Jaleel White ("Family Matters") is 31.
WEBSITE OF THE WEEK
KennyKids is a unique site that encourages entrepreneurial talent and spirit in black children (www.KennyKids.com).
Submit your favorite Web site to us along with a 15-20 word (or less) description to info@eurweb.com.
BLACK HISTORY
Nov. 27, 1957: Dorothy Height, YMCA official, elected president of the National Council of Negro Women. (Source: www.BlackFacts.com)
ASK ADVICE CHICK: Answers to YOUR Dating, Sex, Life, & Love Questions!
By - AdviceChick@ameritech.net
Dear Advice Chick,
*I met a career military guy on-line a few years ago. At the time we met, he'd been in the service for 16 years! He was stationed overseas in Japan and I live in the States! We both are mature people in our 40s. It began when he sent me an Instant Message that he was seeking a special lady in his life. He had applied for transfer to a base near my city and was coming to the area to visit the base for about 3 weeks prior to his anticipated transfer.
I replied and to make a long story short, we did meet and spend those three weeks together in the evenings after his time in my area. He gave me a phone number where I could reach him daily when we weren't together. We enjoyed dinners, movies, beaches and each other's company. I accepted the friendship, at the time, for what it was- a great time.
However, when he returned to Japan, he discovered that the transfer didn't come through. However, he called often sometimes 3 to 4 times a week! He also came to see me about 3 months later and a few months after that until an emergency canceled all leaves and he was sent to the Middle East. He continued to stay in touch by phone when he could and via emails.
He told me that he wasn't married. However, to give me piece of mind, I did have him investigated for the truth on that score. He wasn't married. He was scheduled to retire soon. According to him, he wasn't able to retire on schedule because he didn't get his discharge papers However, when he could he has called and kept in touch.
He didn’t keep in touch and I haven't heard from him in a while. I'm now unsure what to do-- Is there a way I can find out if he's still in the service because his discharge papers have been delayed; or, if he's been discharged and changed his mind about us.
If he has, I'm a realist and honestly will be happy for the time we spent together. I'll move on with my life. However, I don't want to throw away what could be a promising relationship, if he's still there waiting for his papers.
Advice Chick replies,
Changed his mind about US? What US? According to what you said, this was a “friend.” Sure, he IM’d you claiming to be looking for a special lady in his life. He knew that under the guise of a possible relationship, some lonely woman would take the bait. Then came you.
He must have put that thang down during the times y’all spent together! I bet that na na be twitching urry time you think of him! Why da hell else would you be clinging on to a thin a$$ thread of hope after NO contact in approx. 120 days? NOTHING! No email. No voice mail. No postal mail. No carrier pigeon. No message in a bottle. I hope he wasn’t injured or worse. How much information do you have on this guy? Just that janky a$$ phone number that is, “not in service at this time.”
Do you know his rank? Serial number? Last name? Are you familiar with any of his friends or family members?
Even if his discharge papers have been delayed, he could have called or emailed you like he’d done so many times in the past. I think you’d better let it go …. This looks like another love T.K.O.
Dear Advice Chick,
Last weekend I went to the bar and made out with someone, which I usually never do. It just felt right so I went with it. I gave him my number, why did he not call? He told me he thought we could have some fun and I told him that’s all I am looking for. What‘s up with that?
Advice Chick replies,
He wanted fun. You told him that you were only looking for fun, which was a lie because you gave him your phone number with feeble hopes of communicating later. You gave him fun last weekend, now he is probably looking for another BARFLY to have NEW fun with.
Send YOUR questions and comments to Advice Chick right NOW! Please put “Dear Advice Chick” in the subject line so your email isn’t deleted as spam. Thanks! advicechick@ameritech.net.
----------
Ask Advice Chick about ANYTHING and EVERYTHING related to dating, sex, love, and life! She is THE resident dating expert at EURweb.com, and calls on over 11 years of dating and relationship industry experience.
THE MO'KELLY REPORT: The Force is Strong in Steve Harvey
by Morris W. O'Kelly
*Mo'Kelly personally likes Steve Harvey. Steve has never been anything other than kind, gracious and accommodating to Mo'Kelly over the years. And as a fellow man of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, I respect him on a deeper level than most would casually understand.
While Harvey was heading the morning show at KKBT (now V100) in Los Angeles some years ago, Harvey was always effusive and reverent in any reference to his then wife, Mary. In fact, it was almost funny how when the pair were out in public together, Harvey was always subdued and deferential in nature, making it pointedly clear that his wife Mary precedes him in terms of acknowledgment and "fame." In other words, each time Mo'Kelly saw the couple out together, Harvey went to great lengths to let the rest of "The Bruhs" (Omega-speak for 'frat brothers') and anyone else around know that Mary is "the star." Seemingly, Mary had this "Que-Dog" on a tight leash.
Or at least publicly...that was the case.
Mo'Kelly has said on numerous occasions that we don't and will not ever "know" these celebrities. Behind the facade of glitz, glamor and God-awful sums of cash lie regular folk like you and Mo'Kelly. Regular folk with regular problems.
But...
When you live your life in the public eye (i.e. a public figure,) you endure a higher level of scrutiny and a lesser expectation of privacy when it comes to skeletons.
With all of that as a precursor...Steve, Mo'Kelly loves ya, but he's still got to do his job.
("Roo" Dogteam, this ain't personal...and as a comedian you should already understand.)
Mo’Kelly would much rather spend the majority of his time talking about how Steve’s current and third wife has two drug dealers as ex-husbands. Trust…Mo’Kelly would LOVE to…but this story was in effect generated by Steve’s most recent ex Mary, so we’ll stick to her. But if the opportunity should ever arise in the future to draw up a long, sordid, comical explanation as to why no man should marry a woman with drug dealers as ex-husbands…Mo’Kelly will take it. But for now, let’s focus on Mary who’s armed with Steve Harvey’s skeletons and ain’t afraid to use ‘em.
It seems ex-wife Mary is none too pleased about their recent divorce “settlement.” It also seems given her grievances, Mary may not be the brightest candle on the birthday cake. The ex-Mrs. Harvey alleges that Steve defrauded her out of money and other shared assets in the hopes of a "quickie divorce." One of her main arguments was that allegedly Steve "convinced" her to use the same lawyer as he did for the divorce proceedings.
Mary Harvey's Complaint in full
Huh?!
Mo'Kelly's never been married and ergo never been divorced. Mo'Kelly's not even been to law school, but he DAMN sure knows that in a divorce BOTH parties have their OWN lawyer?
Hasn't Mary seen Waiting to Exhale? Bernadine got ROBBED, and she HAD her own lawyer!
If you're divorcing someone who presumably abused you physically, emotionally and committed adultery...odds are you probably shouldn't trust his legal advice for the divorce afterwards. Don't quote Mo'Kelly on this, but if Steve is puttin' hands on you physically and emotionally...(as heinous and unacceptable as that might be) Brotha probably isn't going to look out for you in your bid to take half later on...
Mo'Kelly's just sayin'...
Again, Mo'Kelly's not a lawyer, but this doesn't seem much like a crime. The physical abuse (if true)…is most definitely a crime, but there’s no law against the Jedi Mindtrick during the divorce proceedings. That's why they call it DIVORCE. It's supposed to be foul like that. You’re supposed to try to trick the other person into getting your unfair share…those are the rules! If somebody wants to take half of your money, your property and embarrass you as a public figure in the process...damn right the Jedi Mindtrick is fair game. Anybody trying to ruin Mo'Kelly financially is probably not Mo'Kelly's friend. Nothing is out of bounds and all bets are off.
Mo'Kelly's just sayin'... We can imagine how THAT conversation went down.
(Mary walks into the kitchen while Steve has his extra-large lips wrapped around a chicken bone. She holds up a woman’s pair of pink panties.)
“Steve! Who the hell panties are THESE I found?! You’re cheating on me…AGAIN?!
(Steve takes one hand off of the chicken and slowly waves it in front of Mary’s face.)
“These are not the panties you’re looking for. I never cheated on you and you want a quickie divorce.”
(Steve goes back to eating, Mary responds…mesmerized)
“Yes Steve, these aren’t the panties I’m looking for. You never cheated on me and I DO want a quickie divorce. But what about a lawyer for me?”
(Steve waves his hand again)
“You’ll use my lawyer. Search your feelings. You know this to be true…oh, and you also have no idea that I’ll be remarried to some other heifer three months after this conversation.”
(Steve continues sucking on a chicken bone with his oversized, greasy, shiny lips)
“Yes Steve, I’ll use your lawyer and haven’t the faintest idea that you’ll be married to some OTHER heifer three months after this conversation.”
If you review the complaint closely, filed in District Court in Harris County, Texas, it claims that the couple's attorney, Ricky Anderson, told Mary she could not legally get more than $1000 monthly in child support for the couple's son.
Mary Harvey's Complaint in full
Uh, Mary...you were married to a multi-millionaire at the time. And you believed that? I know BROKE Brothas making an hourly wage who pay that much in child support.
“These are not the panties you’re looking for.”
Boy, that JediMindtrick is no joke!
Don't hate the playa, hate the game! Steve sold Mary some "beachfront property" in Nebraska and now that she’s found out there are these new fangled gadgets called maps, she wants to accuse him of "fraud?"
Uh...that's YO' bad Mary.
“These are not the panties you’re looking for.”
Mo'Kelly's just saying...
If Steve Harvey has enough Midi-chlorians coursing through his veins to enable him to have Mary believe she should use “his” lawyer and is only entitled to $1,000 of child support a month…then actually Steve Harvey is a Sith Lord and we should all seek to learn the power of the Dark Side!
Search your feelings Mary…you know this is true. The force is strong in Steve Harvey.
“These are not the panties you’re looking for.”
The Mo'Kelly Report is an entertainment journal with a political slant. It is meant to inform, infuse and incite meaningful discourse...as well as entertain. The Mo’Kelly Report is syndicated by Newstex. For more Mo’Kelly, http://www.mokellyreport.blogspot.com.
Morris W. O'Kelly can be reached at mokellyreport@sbcglobal.net and he welcomes all commentary.
THE BRIDGE: Retarded Black Men
by Darryl James
retarded (adj) relatively slow in mental or emotional or physical development.
*When I lecture and/or do seminars and talk about how American men in general and Black men in particular are emotionally retarded, the reaction is not always good.
Some men are offended over the usage of the word “retarded,” but in it’s literal meaning, the word is very appropriate.
In America, many boys are taught from an early age to disconnect from most of our emotions. We can still feel pain and our feelings can still get hurt. We feel joy and we still love, but the feelings are distant at best and foreign at worst. We don’t feel the need to talk about them or face them enough to process them.
We need to discuss this issue because it’s ripping our community apart. Without a connection to emotions, the response to them is sometimes backward and inappropriate.
For example, while women will typically cry when hurt or angry, emotionally retarded men will typically lash out, having been taught that violence or aggressive behavior are appropriate responses to pain or anger.
What some perceive as a choice to act stoically is actually a pathological attempt at erasure of emotions. Too many Black men hold our feelings inside until they fester and tear us apart, causing more of us to die early from stroke, heart attack, and other stress-related maladies.
Some of us are raised as emotional retards, but some of us fall into it later in life.
I became emotionally retarded after being raised in good emotional health. I was fifteen when I finally gave up my tears.
I blame part of my emotional retardation on the “big boys don’t cry" syndrome, but part of it came from having so much to cry about in such a short time, that my emotional system shut down as a failsafe against insanity.
At the age of fifteen, my stepfather--the man who raised me as his own--lost his battle with cancer. Within one year, I also lost my oldest brother and my grandmother.
Prior to that time period, I used to cry when I was happy and cry when I was sad. I would cry when I was afraid and cry when I was lonely. But once I became emotionally retarded, I no longer cried. In fact, I didn’t cry from sixteen until twenty-one, when my mother died.
I remember curling up in a little tiny ball and crying my eyes out, wanting to die and join her or explode and cease to exist, but right after the funeral, I “manned up” and turned off the tears again, because after all, big boys don’t cry. My girlfriend at the time told me so. She had decided that I had been crying too long and was starting to “bitch up.”
I turned off my tears again, and in doing so, I turned off a connection with humanity. I intellectualized pain, and tried to analyze love, life and even laughter from a purely cerebral perspective. “I think, therefore, I am, but I don’t cry” was my motto.
I would look at emotionally healthy people in confusion, not quite understanding the emotions they would demonstrate so openly. I remember laughing once because a girlfriend’s crying seemed so puzzling. Not that it was truly funny, but I just didn’t understand, and in my confusion, discomfort gave way to laughter, a primary nervous reaction.
It’s not just Black men who are emotionally retarded. We are following the emotional retardation of the dominant culture, which is where we get the whole “big boys don’t cry” syndrome. But the reality is that we have embraced it and it belongs to us now, too.
That retardation must be appealing to our sisters, because many of them are becoming detached from their emotions as well.
Some of the disconnected still have vestigial emotions—remnants of what once existed, firing off neural connections in a similar fashion to severed arms and legs which still “feel” as though they are still there.
We can reconnect to our emotions, but we have to acknowledge that there is a disconnect. I acknowledged my own, and over the past few years, I have been slowly reconnecting.
By the end of my twenties, I began to analyze the appropriate emotional response to the feelings I had intellectualized. I began to understand and reconnect. It was a beginning.=
When my last relationship ended, I was also going through some professional difficulties. It seemed as though my entire world was falling apart and I knew that I was a mess. I not only embraced celibacy, but I embraced my spirituality like never before and that’s when it happened.
I cried.
I cried as though the skies were opening up, but in fact, it was my heart opening up.
I felt things, not just intellectually, but really felt them and I cried about feeling them.
My reconnection to my emotions was an important event, which ostensibly heralded a crucial stage of my journey towards enlightenment.
I am healing still, but I thank God that I have some of my emotions back. I am happy about it, even though I can not yet cry about that happiness.
The most intellectual of us can recognize each other easily as I did with my friend and fellow emotional retard, Trey, when he explained that the only two emotions he had as a youth were rage and indifference. His words were my reality. He intellectualized his emotions and chose an emotionally healthy woman to provide his children (two boys) with normal emotions.
There are many of us who are emotionally healthy.
Some of my best friends are emotionally healthy and I’ve seen several of them cry openly. I’ve even seen them shed tears of joy, which gave me hope that one day I, too, will have tears for the joy that warms my heart. I harbor hope that one day, I, too, will be emotionally healthy.
I am admitting that I am emotionally retarded, even though I now have tears for most of my emotions. And I want more brothers to find their tears and to find their emotions, so that we can heal and our community can heal.
Mock me if you want, but I’m a man and I am no longer afraid to cry.
I am also unafraid of the term “retarded” to refer to a state of emotional being that actually exists.
Darryl James is an award-winning author who is now a filmmaker. His first mini-movie, "Crack," was released in March of 2006. He is currently filming a full length documentary. James’ latest book, "Bridging The Black Gender Gap," is the basis of his lectures and seminars. Previous installments of this column can now be viewed at www.bridgecolumn.com. James can be reached at djames@theblackgendergap.com.
TURNER'S TWO CENTS: Regina King Unwraps Physique for 'Christmas'
by Cameron Turner
*We knew Regina King had it going on -- she's an exceptional actress, she's got a beautiful heart and she's fine -- but we never would have guessed that she had it going on like that!
Ms. King's two lingerie scenes in the terrific comedic drama This Christmas are making jaws drop and pulses race at multiplexes from coast to coast.
36-year-old Regina's got a gorgeous gym body that could make the sexiest 19-year-old KING magazine model envious.
Even though she's proud of her physique, Regina's never been interested in showing it off for the masses. She agreed to do the bra-and-panty scenes in This Christmas because they were integral to the story (the first scene has her trying in vain to seduce her neglectful, cheating husband and the second has her luring him into a whupping [literally!] after she discovers his adultery), but she still insisted on a closed set during filming.
"I'm just I'm not the person who (even) wears a bathing suit unless it's out of the country or with family," King explains.
In an era when music videos are defined by the skimpiness of the women dancers' outfits, when floundering pop stars flash the paparazzi and a barely-legal Disney actress takes her clothes off for the cameras it's refreshing to come across a celebrity like Regina King who is actually reluctant to display her physical assets. For her, having a beautiful body is about leading a healthy lifestyle both physically and mentally. Her looks are a reflection of the confidence, joy and purpose that she feels inside. It's not a desperate, pitiable plea for attention.
Regina keeps herself looking tight the old fashioned way. She eats sensibly and works out on the regular. No trendy weight loss pills or fat-sucking surgery.
"Really it's diet and exercise," King says. "As with anything in life, anything that's worth something, you're gonna have to put work to it! If your temple." Regina stops mid-sentence, smiles slyly then says with a laugh, "If you regard it as a temple? You should've asked me that when I was drinking that vodka last night!"
She's dedicated to a healthy lifestyle, but Regina King is also grown and she doesn't feel guilty about splurging every now and then. That's healthy too.
(Click the player below to listen to Regina King talk about filming her lingerie scene and staying in shape.)
(Gerald, I'll upload the soundbyte and add it here. -- Lee)
NO STUNT CASTING FOR BROADWAY'S BLACK "CAT"
The all-black production of Tennessee Williams' classic play Cat On A Hot Tin Roof which is currently ramping up promises to be one of Broadway's greatest events of 2008.
Just look at who's involved: the multi-gifted Debbie Allen will direct; Oscar nominee Terrence Howard is confirmed for the tortured hero, Brick; Tony Award winner Phylicia Rashad will essay the angst-ridden matriarch, Ida; Giancaro Esposito, who is always brilliant, will portray Brick's desperate, conniving brother, Gooper and the legendary, multi-award-winning James Earl Jones will command the role of domineering patriarch Big Daddy.
The only role left to cast is Maggie "The Cat," the sensual, yearning heroine. Two of the baddest sistas in the acting game are reportedly vying for that role: Kerry Washington (who should've gotten an Oscar nomination for The Last King of Scotland) and Anika Noni Rose (the Dreamgirls co-star who's got a Tony and several other major theater awards crowding her mantle).
See, this is about to be crazy! A visionary and insightful director joining forces with some of the best actors in the business (not simply the best black actors but best actors, period) to refresh one of the modern theater's greatest works! And there was no stunt casting of non-acting celebrities in a timid ploy to boost advance ticket sales.
Great roles in great plays (and great movies, for that matter) should be reserved for great actors. When an unproven performer with limited skills takes on a complex lead role the other actors are forced to carry him and the production, in most instances, falls short of its potential.
Reviews affirm that that is exactly what happened three years ago when hip hop and couture mogul Sean (then "P-Diddy") Combs was gifted the intricate role of Walter Lee Younger, focal point of Lorraine Hansberry's timeless classic A Raisin in the Sun.
Fortunately, Combs was surrounded by a trio of all-star players (Phylicia Rashad, Audra McDonald and Sanaa Lathan) whose excellence blunted his mediocrity.
There will be no need for such distractions when the curtain goes up next spring on Cat On A Hot Roof.
By the way, there's a terrific exchange toward the end of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof when Big Daddy enters and, upon realizing that his son, Gooper, has been scheming behind his back, talks about the stink of mendacity in the air. Mendacity. It's a poetic synonym for deception. Sinister lies masquerading as benign truth.
I often think of Big Daddy's mendacity speech when I read about the Bush Administration. Whether it's No Child Left Behind, the classist and racist neglect of New Orleans after Katrina, the warrantless (and unwarranted) surveillance program, backroom deals with Blackwater, the chummy relationship with energy companies, the evil outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame, the dual disgrace of Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib, the hypocritical scapegoating of immigrants and just about everything associated the war in Iraq, George W. Bush and his crew continue to take mendacity to shameful depths.
Thanks for listening. I'm Cameron Turner and that's my two cents. I'd love to hear yours. Holla back at TurnersTwoCents@aol.com. Think! It ain't illegal yet!
The Robertson Treatment (America’s Premiere Lifestyle Column) Volume 10, Edition 19: Dear Black America, It’s time to get serious about HIV/AIDS
Dear Black America,
*My name is Gil Robertson IV, editor of the bestselling, landmark anthology Not in My Family: AIDS in the African American Community. Up until the release of the book, I spent over a decade as an A&E journalist reporting on popular trends, events and personalities that populate the entertainment industry. However, in the summer of 2005, I became committed to writing about the HIV/AIDS epidemic, which by then had already gained a solid foothold within the African American community, including my own family with my brother living with the disease. So I decided to write a book that would highlight my family’s story and that I hoped would offer a measure of support and comfort to other families living in the shadows of this disease. However, as my idea developed, it quickly evolved to include other stories -- resulting in 58 essays from a wide-cross section of people sharing how HIV/AIDS has influenced and reshaped their lives.
Not in My Family was released last year on World AIDS Day, and since its publication, I have toured America extensively connecting with members of the black community on a variety of different issues involved with this disease. Away from wearing red-ribbons, never-ending conferences and stagy speeches, my experience with this book created an opportunity for me to engage with black people – up close, personal and for real about how we begin as a community to effectively deal with this issue.
A year later, I have come away with a lot of confidence about how deeply African American's care for their brethren. The problem is that a vast majority in the black community are confused and unsure about what they can do. Faced with overwhelming challenges coming from all directions, has left our community beleaguered and vulnerable to HIV/AIDS and numerous other social ills.
So what do we do about HIV/AIDS? Well for starters, African Americans need to get honest and real about the fact that as sexual animals, we’re all susceptible to the disease. The finger pointing must end. We also must do away with our fear, prejudice and denial over sex and sexuality, and accept the fact that this is not a gay disease, (homosexuals were the most visible and vocal community affected by this disease), but this disease has never been exclusive to any one group of people. The African American community must drop all the falsehoods and misconceptions about HIV/AIDS. Many of us thought this disease would never touch our population in a significant way, but this disease is here and it’s not going anywhere until we change our behavior and attitudes about this disease.
African Americans must develop the will and confidence to demand a change from the US government, business community and medical institutions in terms of an aggressive response to this crisis. As citizens of a nation with the assets to land a man on the moon and finance wars on terror, African Americans should insist on nothing less than full engagement in the federal support to solving the HIV/AIDS in black communities. African Americans must be mindful of their contributions to America and the rest of the world. We must also remember what we are the descendants of people who had the strength and resiliency to overcome Middle Passage, Slavery and Racial Discrimination. In other words, we’re not asking for anything, but simply demanding to get the best support and treatment that we deserve.
On our own, it’s time for African Americans to accept responsibility and become accountable for how HIV/AIDS has spread within our communities. We must move beyond having conversations about this problem and get busy with implementing the actual work for removing this disease out of our space. After connecting with some many of you during the past year I know that the black community has what it takes to get things done and that soon HIV/AIDS will be nothing but a bad, bad dream.
- Gil Robertson IV
For more information on Not in My Family, please visit www.notinmyfamily.com
Copyright, 2007 Robertson Treatment, LLC
Visit www.robertsontreatment.com
THE JOURNAL OF STEFFANIE RIVERS: Know Your Buying Power
*The day after Thanksgiving – better known as Black Friday – kicked off the holiday shopping season. Unlike Black Family Day, it’s not called Black Friday because Black people are being celebrated. Rather Black Friday traditionally marks the day when retailers finally move out of the red, indicating losses and into the black, representing profits.
Sales on last Friday reached nearly $20 billion dollars, that’s only five percent of what is expected to be purchased within the next four weeks leading up to Christmas.
November and December sales can account for as much as fifty percent of merchants’ annual profits and sales.
African-Americans play a big part in that. We’re featured in television commercials for every type of product. It seems retailers finally have acknowledged our buying power and they want our business.
According to a national marketing group, African-Americans have the most brand loyalty and an annual earned income of close to one trillion dollars. Every year some of you spend thirteen billion dollars on telephone expenses and $33.6 billion at the grocery store.
I say "some of you," because if somebody’s waiting on me to spend up all my hard earned money they will go out of business first and there would be no need to write about this. But it’s not about me, it’s about us.
I admit it’s nice to be courted for your business, but just because somebody asks for your money doesn’t mean you have to give it to them – especially when it’s to your disadvantage.
When you spend most of your money on needless material items that decrease in value, such as clothes and electronics, you have little to no money to purchase items which increase in value, such as real estate and other business investments. In other words you’ve lost the opportunity to create wealth.
What’s worse is our children are following the same path by spending their after-school job money on over-priced trendy items that primarily are based on their desire to build short-term self-esteem. We’re creating generational debt instead of generational wealth. African-Americans are not the only segment of the population guilty of these transgressions. But as my mother used to tell me, "I’m not concerned with what other people do."
Most Black people