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12-05-06 EUR ALL ON ONE PAGE
BEYONCE ADDRESSES RUMOR OF FEUD WITH HUDSON: Singer says ‘it hurts my heart because it’s so clichéd.’
*A press junket for “Dreamgirls” was held in New York over the weekend and star Beyonce spent a good part of it answering questions about her supposed feud with co-star Jennifer Hudson.
The rumors are rooted in a story at MediaTakeOut.com, which quoted a source claiming that Beyonce’s mother and father gave Hudson the cold shoulder during an early screening of the movie, and later called director Bill Condon to complain that Beyonce was being overshadowed by the “American Idol” finalist.
On Sunday Beyonce told reporters she has no ill-will toward Hudson, who plays the meatier role of Effie White in the film.
"I knew that the character that I played wasn't the star," Beyonce said of her role as Deena. "She wasn't the underdog. She didn't have the struggle and the pain and the dramatic scenes that Effie had, and I was fine with that."
Beyonce said that taking the lesser role of Deena was all about establishing herself as a dramatic actress.
"I'm already a star. I already have nine Grammys. Everyone knows I can sing," she told People. "I did this because I wanted people to know that I can act and I can play someone so different from myself."
Directly addressing the rumors of jealousy towards Hudson, Bey said:
"It's really unfortunate that everyone is saying I'm jealous of Jennifer. It hurts my heart because it's so clichéd. … They're saying that I'm mad when I knew going into this that I was playing Deena. Because I'm a star they just automatically assume that I'm not humble enough to sit down and take a back seat, which I am."
"Jennifer Hudson had such a pressure, first of all, never being in a film and never having done an album and still having to live up to those expectations," Beyonce continued. "She did incredible."
WILL SMITH HONORED BY MUSEUM OF MOVING IMAGE: Latifah, Newton, Ribeiro, Howard and son Jaden give tributes.
*The film and television career of Will Smith were toasted in grand style Sunday night by the American Museum of the Moving Image in New York.
The black tie ceremony, to air on Bravo in January, included tributes by the actor’s friends and colleagues, including Queen Latifah, Alfonso Ribeiro and Jamie Foxx.
"Will, I was in talking about you with Oprah, in bed," Foxx said during his tribute to the film star, "then I rolled over and said to Gayle.
…"
Also on hand to say a few words about working with the rapper-turned-actor were Derek Luke, Bill Pullman, Eva Mendes, Terrence Howard (and his 11-year-old son), Thandie Newton, Tamara Tunie, Cedric the Entertainer, Bridget Moynahan, Chevy Chase, Michael Mann, Pulitzer Prize-winning author John Guare and actress Stockard Channing.
Smith’s wife Jada took the stage and gave a tearful speech about the influence he has had in her life. Roger Friedmand of the Web site Fox 411 said Will’s speech, “with no TelePrompTer or cue cards, was all about doing 100 percent for his wife and kids.”
KIRK FRANKLIN TO FILM LIFE STORY: Lionsgate pacts with gospel artist for ‘Church Boy.’
*Gospel artist Kirk Franklin has signed a deal with independent movie studio Lionsgate to produce “Church Boy,” a feature film based on his life story.
Franklin will star in the project and compose its soundtrack, which will include old favorites in addition to several brand-new songs, announced Lionsgate President of Production Mike Paseornek.
“Kirk is an incredible talent who has touched countless lives through his music and his spiritual message,” said Paseornek. “To hear his story is to realize how faith and dedication can help a person overcome the most daunting obstacles. With Kirk playing himself and bringing in brand-new songs -- audiences are sure to be feeling the spirit with ‘Church Boy.’”
Franklin joins Lionsgate's expanding portfolio of African-American and faith-based properties, such as the Tyler Perry films “Diary of a Mad Black Woman,” “Madea’s Family Reunion” and the upcoming “Daddy’s Little Girls”; and the family drama “Akeelah and the Bee.”
"Lionsgate is the perfect home for ‘Church Boy,’” says Franklin.
“This is a studio that has made a strong and genuine commitment to African-American audiences and faith-based audiences. Lionsgate puts everything they have behind their films, and they are endlessly creative and resourceful in reaching the commercial marketplace."
VIVICA A. FOX KICKED TO THE ‘CURB’: Actress joins cast of HBO’s ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm.’
*Vivica A. Fox will star in the upcoming season of HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm” as part of a black family who moves into the expensive home of Larry David and his wife Cheryl following a natural disaster of Hurricane Katrina proportions.
The storylines for the comedy’s sixth season are likely to explore interracial relations, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The show has tackled such issues in the past via such episodes as "Krazee-Eyez Killa" and
"The Carpool Lane."
Actress Wanda Sykes, who had a recurring role as herself on the series as a next door neighbor, has also been in memorable episodes that dealt with race relations.
As the Hollywood Reporter points out, the topic of race relations has emerged with a vengeance following the racist rant of Michael Richards, co-star of the hit comedy "Seinfeld," which Larry David created with Jerry Seinfeld.
Meanwhile, Fox recently starred in the Lifetime drama series "1-800-Missing" and did a multi-episode arc on the UPN comedy "All of Us,"
which has since migrated to the CW.
EUR FILM REVIEW: The Architect
Cross-Cultural Melodrama Contrasts the Fates of Blacks versus Whites in Chicago
Film Review by Kam Williams
*Tonya Neeley (Viola Davis) is a single-mom struggling to survive in a
crime-infested housing project. Since she's already lost her son to suicide,
she's allowed his twin sister, Cammie (Serena Reeder) to live across town
with a bourgie black family. Meanwhile, Tonya remains mired in poverty in
the ghetto with her other daughter (Nicole Salter) who herself is an unwed
mother.
Their plight stands in stark contrast to that of The Waters, who live beyond
the reach of the slums in an upscale enclave on the North Side of Chicago.
Though Leo (Anthony LaPaglia), a renowned architect, keeps his kin
comfortably in the lap of luxury, they still each are grappling with an
emotional issue.
His nearly-mute wife, Julia (Isabella Rossellini), a woman on the verge of a
nervous breakdown, wanders around the house in a semi-catatonic state
because she can't stand the sight of her husband. 15 year-old daughter
Christina (Hayden Panettiere) is a precocious post-pubescent intent on
losing her virginity ASAP. And her big brother Martin (Sebastian Stan) is a
kinky college dropout who can't decide whether he has the hots for his
sister or Jungle Fever for Shawn (Paul James), a homosexual hooker from the
'hood.
The only reason why the Neeley and Waters clans cross paths is
because Tonya is a community activist who is petitioning to have the
projects where she resides demolished and replaced by more humane
structures. And wouldn't you know that the place was designed by Leo, who
considers his creation a masterpiece. So, their steely standoff sits at the
heart of The Architect, an inner-city-meets-suburbia melodrama based on the
stage play of the same name by David Greig.
What makes the movie satisfying is the fact that its ethnic tensions are
never overtly exacerbated, but rather subtly illustrated simply by the
comparison of the decadent malaise of the spoiled-rotten versus the
neverending nightmare of the have-nots. A gritty, class-conscious picture
which dares to ask the tough questions guaranteed to make an audience
squirm.
Excellent (3.5 stars)
Rated R for profanity and sexual content.
Running time: 82 minutes
Studi Magnolia Pictures
ARETHA ‘HONORS’ SMOKEY IN D.C.: Plus, Jessica Simpson pulls an Ashley Simpson during her ode to Dolly Parton.
*Aretha Franklin was on hand at the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. Sunday night to honor Motown legend Smokey Robinson, one of five recipients of the annual Kennedy Center Honors award for a lifetime of achievement in the performing arts.
"This beautiful, kind, kind man wrote and sang poetically and unselfconsciously about love ... redefining popular music in the '60s, using the connective power of song to break down the barriers of black and white,"
Franklin told the audience.
Earlier in the evening, the honorees visited the White House for a private reception with President Bush and first lady Laura Bush.
"This is absolutely fantastic," said Robinson upon arrival at the White House. "I'm so honored and so flattered to get this because it not only deals with your craft; they attach what impact you have on humanity to this."
Meanwhile, Jessica Simpson, who was part of a musical tribute to fellow Kennedy Center Honors recipient Dolly Parton, suffered an awkward moment not unlike her sister Ashley during her live breakdown on “Saturday Night Live.”
Unlike Ashley, who attempted to lip-synch her musical number when the wrong tape played, Jessica was actually singing live, but reportedly forgot the words to Parton’s “9 to 5” and ended the song abruptly. She looked at Parton in the balcony and said the country star made her “so nervous.” Simpson then ran off stage. She returned moments later during the finale tribute and was reportedly in tears.
The Kennedy Center Honors will air Dec. 26 at 9 p.m. on CBS.
‘COLOR PURPLE’ PRODUCERS RECOUP FRONT MONEY: Musical also sets attendance record for 2005-06 season.
*The producers who collectively kicked in $11 million to launch Oprah Winfrey’s production of “The Color Purple” on Broadway are shaking their shimmies right now.
Producers announced Monday that they have recouped their entire investment in just one year since the musical’s Dec. 1 opening at the Broadway Theatre.
In addition, the play is boasting the highest cumulative attendance figures of any new show of the 2005-06 Broadway season, with more than 750,000 audience members now having seen the show.
Winfrey invested $1 million into the show during its rehearsal process. With her relentless promotion of the musical on her talk show, it went on to become a word of mouth hit and earn 11 Tony Award nominations.
Actress LaChanze, who played Miss Celie, won a Tony for best leading lady.
The show currently stars Jeanette Bayardelle as Celie, Elisabeth Withers-Mendes as Shug, Felicia P. Fields as Sofia, Darlesia Cearcy as Nettie, Alton Fitzgerald White as Mister, Brandon Victor Dixon as Harpo, Krisha Marcano as Squeak and Larry Marshall as Ol' Mister.
WYCLEF WANTS BRIGHTER FUTURE FOR HAITI: Artist calls on countrymen to promote peace and stability.
*During a free concert in his birth country of Haiti, singer/musician Wyclef Jean called on citizens to denounce violence and work for a more stable future.
"It's time to build a new Haiti," the artist told more than 20,000 cheering fans during his first concert in Haiti in eight years.
The event was designed to promote development in the impoverished Caribbean nation, where most of its 8 million people live on less than $2 per day. The concert wrapped a weeklong film and culture festival organized by Jean's Yele Haiti charity, which promotes music and the arts as a way to reduce poverty, create jobs and improve Haiti's image.
Jean, a Haitian citizen who lives in the United States, spoke out against the pervasive street violence that followed the bloody 2004 revolt ousting former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Among the byproducts of the revolt are kidnappings for ransom that occur frequently in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince.
"If we don't stop kidnappings, the country can't develop," Jean said, according to AP.
TIGER TO BUILD LAVISH GOLF COURSE IN DUBAI: Property will house 320 villas, boutique hotel, golf academy and more.
*It has only been a month since Tiger Woods announced the launch of his golf course design firm and already the athlete has lined up his first project – a 7,700-yard, par-72 course to be built in Dubai.
Billed as The Tiger Woods Dubai, the course will feature a 60,000-square-foot clubhouse, a golf academy, 320 exclusive villas and a boutique hotel with 80 suites, reports the Associated Press.
"I look at this project not only as an opportunity, but also as a great responsibility," Woods said. “I have been amazed by the progress of Dubai. From the time I first came to play here in 2000, I wanted to be a part of this amazing vision."
The property is a joint venture between Woods and Tatweer, a member of the government-affiliated Dubai Holding. Tiger Woods Dubai is scheduled to debut in late 2009 at Dubailand, the region's largest tourism and leisure project.
Dubai already has eight golf courses, including those built or in the process of being built by fellow golfers Ernie Els, Thomas Bjorn, Colin Montgomerie and Ian Baker-Finch.
Woods said he hopes to not only match up to those courses, "but hopefully create a memorable, everlasting legacy."
COSBY TELLS DETROIT PARENTS TO LEAD BY EXAMPLE: Comedian singled out mothers of young boys.
*Bill Cosby’s latest lecture to the urban community took place in southwest Detroit at the Triumph Missionary Baptist Church and implored young mothers to serve as role models in the lives of their children, especially young black boys.
Cosby said single mothers can't allow a string of men into their homes for their own personal satisfaction while their children watch, listen and learn, reports the Detroit Free Press. They can't allow men who abuse them back into their lives again and again.
"Because then, who gets put back in the corner?" asked Cosby, according to the newspaper.
Cosby, who first brought his message to Detroit in January 2005, said he returned to the city after being inspired by the work of ARISE Detroit, a coalition of community organizations aiming to improve the lives of Detroit families and children.
Cosby was joined by Detroit Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings, financial analyst Gail Perry Mason and Dr. Norma Madison, a Detroit psychologist who works with teen mothers. They tried to inspire the crowd to become more involved in their families and communities.
SHAR DISCUSSES ‘K-BRIT’ SPLIT ON ‘ABLOW’: Fed’s ex appears with Spears’
55-hour husband Alexander to dish.
*Taking full advantage of another 15-minute window of fame sparked by the recent divorce of Kevin Federline and Britney Spears, their exes – Shar Jackson and Jason Alexander – were recent guests on the syndicated “Dr.
Keith Ablow Show.”
Jackson, who has two children with Federline and spent Thanksgiving with the struggling rapper, said he is nervous about the K-Brit split affecting the relationship with his two kids Sean Preston and Jayden James.
"He's probably scared Britney might take his kids and go back to Louisiana and he might not see them," she said on Monday’s show.
Jackson was also asked to comment about Federline being informed of his divorce via text message during a visit to Toronto last month.
"To find out that your life is about to change via text mail - that's not cool," she said, adding of his overall character, "I don't really have anything bad to say about him.”
View a clip of her “Keith Ablow” appearance here:
http://us.video.aol.com/video.index.adp?mode=1&pmmsid=1779381
TV BITS: Morgan’s ’30 Rock’ gets full season; Tootie pregnant?; ‘Britain’s Next Top Model’ on CW; BET’s ‘Gangster’ sets ratings record.
*Finally some good news for DUI-prone Tracy Morgan. NBC has picked up his struggling show “30 Rock” for a full season. Despite its ratings challenges, critics adore the Tina Fey-created sitcom which stars Morgan as a flashy actor on a late night sketch comedy show. The order for nine additional episodes comes after the show made its first regular telecast in the Thursday 9:30 p.m. slot, and averaged 6 million viewers. The sitcom made its Thursday debut with a "supersized" 40-minute episode Nov. 16.
*Word has it that Kim Fields is pregnant. Friends of the 37-year-old former “Facts of Life” star tell the New York Post that she’s three months along with her first child. The father’s identity is a mystery, Page Six reports. For the past few years, Fields has traded in acting for directing and moved to New York from Los Angeles.
*Highlights from "Britain's Next Top Model," the British version of Tyra Banks’ original reality series “America’s Next Top Model,” will be featured in a two-part special to air on the CW under the title "Next Top Model: British Invasion." Part one is scheduled to air from 8-10 p.m. Dec. 13, and part two airs from 8-10 p.m. Dec. 20. (Part 1 will air again from 8-10 p.m. Dec. 17, and Part 2 will repeat at 8-10 p.m. Dec. 24.) The season finale of "ANTM" airs at 8 p.m. Wednesday.
*The Tuesday debut of BET’s original series “American Gangster” became the network’s highest-rated show for the month of November in its history. Narrated by actor Ving Rhames, the show about crime and its consequences drew 1.6 million total viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. The premiere is the first in a series of 60-minute episodes and profiled LA's infamous Crips gang co-founder Stanley Tookie Williams. “American Gangster” was also BET’s No. 2 most-watched series debut overall after “Lil’ Kim: Countdown to Lockdown,” which pulled 2 million viewers.
FILM/MUSIC BITS: Newton feared latest role; Rhames feared kissing a man; Snoop meets youngest fan; Janet donates to Affleck/DeGeneres charity.
*Thandie Newton recently expressed the challenges of portraying a wayward mother in her new film “The Pursuit of Happyness.” As the mother of two young kids, the British actress found the idea of a mother leaving her children very difficult to play. “I can cry that the movie is being appreciated because that's so meaningful for me,” she said during recent interviews about the film. “I can't tell you how scared I was to do this. I'm a mum myself, with two children. A mother to give up her child? How do I play this so that you feel for her…see what she's going through? I was really nervous to be sure you'd understand her reasons and sympathize. I was frightened the audience would demonize her - and me."
*Gossip columnist Janet Charlton is reporting that actor Ving Rhames was unwilling to kiss another man on the set of Adam Sandler's new film "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry," which centers on firemen who pretend they're gay to get health benefits. Writes Charlton: “Rhames plays a macho fireman of indeterminate sexual preference, and his character was supposed to give a big kiss to another guy. But Ving could NOT bring himself to do it. Kissing a guy freaked him out. Producers solved the problem by grabbing an extra - a tallish girl with short hair - and they dressed her up in men's clothes. Ving was perfectly happy to kiss the girl in drag - and the girl was thrilled because the bigger role meant she got her SAG card.”
*Snoop Dogg met who could perhaps be his youngest fan…a 9-month old baby. He explains to Contact Music: "I went out to put some gas in my car one time and this lady rolled up on the side of me and said, 'My nine-month-old baby loves your music.' I was like, 'Would you stop lying?'
She pulled the baby out of the car and he pointed at me and said, 'Snoop Dogg.' I couldn't believe that s**t. For real, motherf**ker couldn't even hold his neck up."
*Janet Jackson has donated $10,000 to a charity initiative launched by Ben Affleck and Ellen DeGeneres. Jackson called into Ellen’s talk show Thursday to reveal the gift, which will help fund U.S. organizations dedicated to fighting hunger. “I checked around the house. I checked under all the sofas, in between the cushions and you won't believe how much I found ... $10,000 in loose change," Jackson said.
THE BRIDGE: The “N” Word Reloaded
By Darryl James
*”Michael (Richards) cured me of the word. It’s too powerful and there’s too much hatred in it and I don’t want to use the word anymore.”
--comedian Paul Mooney on CNN
It is perhaps the ugliest word in the English language.
It carries the most pain, the worst history and yet, is one of the most hotly disputed words across the globe.
Why?
Simple: because some of the mentally and emotionally scarred descendants of slavery are so severely psychologically disturbed that they actually believe that they can change the meaning of a word. So severely stupid that they imagine that there is a revolution in the midst of the damage caused by the irresponsible wielding of a word that they did not create, do not own, and therefore, can not control.
These backward thinking sons of bitches and bastards believe that they have altered the meaning of the word Nigger so that it doesn’t mean the same things anymore. So they employ it on the world stage and allow other races to toss it around freely.
Excuse me while I shed a few tears for the death of Black dignity.
Even the current debacle with Michael Richards revealing how some racist whites view and use the “N” word has failed to convince some of the most severely disturbed Black men and women that the word will never be converted and should simply be abandoned.
There is currently a video from Japan making fun of American stereotypes. A typical Japanese family slings the ‘N’ word around to each other in the same way some stupid Blacks in America do. Some of us watched the video in horror with jaws wide open, while some laughed out loud. But some of us shed tears for the death of Black dignity.
Even the barely conscious argue that there are greater things to worry about. But I ask you: What is a greater concern than the demolition of a people’s image on the world stage?
And even the morons who think that we can afford to ignore this issue to focus on others are more than likely doing nothing about anything else anyway. Otherwise, they would realize that unless a race of people garners respect, it is difficult to move anything or anyone in a positive direction.
Comedian Paul Mooney proclaimed that he will never use the word again. This is the same man who once told me that he uses it every morning because “it makes my teeth white.”
Rev. Jesse Jackson claims that there will be a new “code of ethics,” as a part of the word’s erasure from public usage.
But I think Jamie Foxx has it right. Perhaps there needs to be some pain involved on all sides.
Foxx has issued an admonishment to Michael Richards of an impending butt-whipping on sight.
How about we expand that admonishment to all of the Rap bastards and comedic asses who still think it’s a good idea to sling the word around in public? How about we apply a big black boot to the pelvic plates of dead-brained, prideless losers who have paraded around the world stage slinging the word around for years, claiming that there is a difference between their version and the original?
And what of soulless bags of crap such as the Rap bastard Jay-Z and the entertainment coon Russell Simmons who are joining the Jews in protecting their image against anti-Semitic assaults, while helping to assault our own image with the “N” word?
This one word has brought so much pain and anguish to African descendants around the world, that it should have been unthinkable to do anything other than banish the word from our own lexicon and demand that it be banished from public usage.
Michael Richards made it clear how we are viewed by many people who hate us. They know that in many ways, some of us hate ourselves.
When I wrote the original article “The ‘N’ Word,” a plethora of brain dead Black Americans still wanted to defend the public usage of the word. Some of them vehemently argued the difference between Nigger and Nigga, claiming that Nigga is a term of endearment, and that it is a separate word. I reminded them that some racists pronounce it Nigga, too. Potato, potahto, Nigger, Nigga—they hate you and still want to kill your Black ass.
And, Richards showed us that clearly, didn’t he?
I still maintain that just because Michael Richards pronounced it Nigger, he meant no less harm than the Southern whites or the trailer trash who pronounce it Nigga. When we examine the rest of his tirade, we realize that he meant as much harm or perhaps even more.
But really, now that some of the brain dead are waking up in outrage over Richards’ usage, I don’t feel vindicated. I still feel a certain sickness and sadness. Richards’ behavior is the natural result of our failure to protect our image. Why wouldn’t he feel comfortable spewing such hatred, when he sees it seeping out of the mouths of ignorant Blacks on a regular basis?
To be honest, I’m glad Richards showed his true colors. Inadvertently, he also showed us exactly why there is no sound argument for usage of or manipulation of the ‘N’ word.
The following paragraphs are from my first article on the ‘N’ word and I think they bear repeating:
People who think that they can manipulate the meaning of the word Nigger are historically ignorant. They forget that our people tried to desensitize the word in the sixties and seventies, and that even slaves were calling each other Nigger without any effect on the intrinsic impact of the word.
Modern Coon Comedians claim to be emulating Richard Pryor when they use the word Nigger as a punchline in their self-effacing jokes, but Pryor moved away from the word and it's usage in his comedy while still in his prime.
Pryor was in Africa for weeks when he asked himself: "Do you see any Niggers?" And his own voice answered: "No. And do you know why? Because there aren’t any. It hit me like a shot. I’ve been here three weeks and I haven’t even said it or thought it. I’ve been wrong. I’ve got to regroup.
"I ain’t gonna never call another Black man a Nigger, because we never were Niggers. That was a word used to describe our own wretchedness and we perpetuated it. That word is dead--we’re men and women. We come from the first people on earth."
The racist cop who shot the groom in New York City wasn’t trying to determine if the Black man was a Nigger or a Nigga, he just wanted the Black man dead. And, at the end of the day, when we are accused of being lazy, shiftless, stupid and everything else bad, no one who thinks that about us is trying to figure out if we are Niggers or Niggas.
And neither should we.
There should be no debate about the word, when there are plenty of substitutes, including "Brother," "Sister," or "Black Man/Woman."
To quote the philosophy of the website www.banthenword.org: “If it’s not acceptable, ok or cool to use kike, hooknose, wetback, spic, honky, cracker, paleface, peckerwood, blue-eyed devil, dago, wop, greaseball, guinea, chink, slant-eyes, or gook, then, remember, it is not acceptable, ok or cool to use the ‘N’ word.”
It’s like Smokey the Bear, telling people that only we can prevent forest fires.
Black people, only we can prevent the continued assaults against our image.
Stop it.
"It’s an ugly thing and I hope someday they give it up." --Richard Pryor on the word "Nigger."
Darryl James is an award-winning author who is now a filmmaker. His first mini-movie, “Crack,” was released in March of this year. 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.
BETWEEN THE LINES: How America Made Niggas: Revisited (Hopefully For The Last Time) by Anthony Asadullah Samad
*Not since in any year that I can remember, even more than 1995 at the O.J. Simpson Trial after Mark Fuhrman's "N-word" denial - even more than the commercial release of Richard Pryor's 1974 comedy album, That Nigger's Crazy, has so much "Nigger" talk been part of the public diaspora (behind closed doors is another story).
One crazy white boy on stage 'gone snap' started a national debate on the appropriateness of the use of the term, nigger. Michael Richards did what the NAACP couldn't do several years ago (after getting Webster's Dictionary to change the definition of the word from "a black person" to a "derogative racial term usually directed at black people").
Michael Richards did what Randall Kennedy (author of the recent book,
Nigger: The Strange Career Of A Troublesome Word) and several other scholars couldn't do. Michael Richards did what several journalists (including
myself) have tried to do over the past few years (this is my sixth commentary on the term this year).
Michael Richards used the word, Nigger, so offensively and so intensely, that even black people who would use the word "endearingly" said, "Damn."
Michael Richards used the word in the context that it was designed for, to insult, to assault, to alarm and to engage. The rest of us play with the word. Michael Richards wasn't playin'. He took us back to the day. And he was absolutely right when he said "50 years ago." To put the call out there like he did would have drawn a mad mob and a different kind of posse. Oh, he "went there" and we understand now.why we need to stop using the word.
Now if only we can get the hip hoppers, gangsta rappers, young heads, old heads and all the other people "addicted" to the word to understand.
Before this Richards controversy, I wrote a prologue of the use of the term after a public speaker used it at a L.A. city council meeting and no one said anything (until after the third time it was used). The word, Nigger, was becoming acceptable language in public domain. Like hearing curse words on television, while always inappropriate, some words are no longer censored (as much as they once were). We (African Americans) were forgetting (or had become conflicted over) the genesis of the word, which was adding to (not detracting from) the public acceptance. So I wrote a four part series, "How America Made Niggas," that got wide distribution. Over a million hits on several cyber-sites. One installment of the series was even plagiarized in the Philadelphia Daily News. Everybody was willing to talk about the use of the word, and there was a debate as to whether we should even stop using it. But nobody took the debate serious until Michael Richards reminded us what the debate was really about.
Well, hopefully this represents a final epilogue.
See, the way Richards used the word, was the way the word was used 50 years ago when you had "Separate But Equal" and Jim Crow laws prohibiting the invasion of white people's social spaces. When a Black from up North, or someone who wasn't acquainted with the racial etiquettes of the South (like Emmitt Till) stumbled up into the wrong space, the call was put out, "He's a Nigger," meaning "Black out of place," and the whole community checked him immediately to put the "uppity Nigger" back "in their place."
Revisit the Michael Richards tirade and you see the correlations. Richards is heckled (his space violated), he notices they're Black and (tried to check them) reminds them who they are and what can be done to them; he calls for them to be thrown out and when the authorities don't move fast enough, he puts out the "community call," "He's a Nigger! He's a Nigger! He's a Nigger. A Nigger, look there's a Nigger. Michael Richards put out what used to be known as, "the Lynch Call," the distress call of segregation for the community to enforce customs and protocols of white supremacy. The point is that everybody recognized this. It's not that far gone. He took us back. We all knew what he had just done. He put out "the call."
Michael Richards' use of the word cured even the worse of what I call, "Niggaholics" (people who just can't stop using the words, Nigga, Nigger, Niggahs and Niggaz). I have to admit. I'm a recovering Niggaholic. We all are. And sometimes our people do things that make us call them a Nigga. Sometimes, we say we do it out of love.
Like Richards, it's right on the tip of our tongues-ready to come out at the least provocation. And if we don't say it, we damn sure think it when we see someone 'acting like one.' But, oohhh, Michael Richards cured us all. Even some white folk were cured and now have to find another word to call us.
Hell, Michael Richards even cured comedian Paul Mooney, who is the worse Niggaholic I've ever seen. Paul Mooney used to say Nigger two hundred times in a thirty minute stand-up routine. By his own admission, Mooney stated he said the word 100 times when he wakes up every morning because "it keeps his teeth white."
Black leadership even made it "official" by calling a press conference to tell the world that we're (black people) going to stop using the word (you know its not official if there's no press conference-we can't just decide amongst ourselves) and calling on everybody to stop using the word (which is a reach). Only I didn't see 50 Cent, The Game, or Jay-Z, or Snoop or Ice Cube there. I didn't see former California Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante (a reformed Niggaholic-so he says) there. Didn't see any of the former (or current) Klan members, none of the many corporate executives who got caught "off the record" using the term, and none of the young people who frequent the term on every bus stop, school bleachers, liquor store stoop and corner hangouts. Why is that important? Because those leaders who called for the banning of the word, are not the leaders of those who are most likely to use the word today. I even didn't see Michael Richards up there calling for "his" people to stop using the word. He just apologized for his own tirade and said he'd seek treatment for his Niggaholism. But, trust me, relapses are in his future. He's not going cold turkey-not the way he came with it. Michael Richards understood how America made Niggas. He gave you a first rate lesson on what it meant to be a Nigger in America, what they did to Niggers in America, and he tried to put what he thought were Niggers back in their place in America-like they used to do back in the day. Only he forgot what time it was. It wasn't 1956. It was 2006. The time had changed on him, but the meaning of the word hadn't.
Now that our "call" has been put out to stop using the word, hopefully this is the last time we'll have to revisit this topic. We can't modernize it. We can't intellectualize it. We can bastardize it. The word is what it is. I doubt if all will stop using it,.but, thanks to Richards, we at least need to try. Thanks for the reminder, Michael. Your tirade has done more than all the activist protestation has done in the past decade. At least we can't claim to be confused about what the word means and how it's interpreted.
There's only one way to interpret it. Nigger is still a troublesome term in America. America made it that way and Black America's use of Nigga is keeping it that way. Let's stop fooling ourselves into believing it means something that it's doesn't. We know what it means. White, Brown, Yellow people know what it means. And Michael Richards knows what he meant it to mean-apology and all. He said it the way America meant it.
We just had to be reminded.
Anthony Asadullah Samad is a national columnist, managing director of the Urban Issues Forum (www.urbanissuesforum.com) and author of 50 Years After
Brown: The State of Black Equality In America. He can be reached at www.AnthonySamad.com
THE JOURNAL OF STEFFANIE RIVERS: The Courage Of Your Convictions
*People who smile in your face and talk behind your back are part of Washington, DC’s political status quo. So when somebody has the courage of his convictions and speaks his mind some people have a problem with it. I am NOT one of those people.
The latest incident involves Senator-elect James Webb (D-Va.) who stood up to President George Bush man-to-man at a recent White House reception. It made headline news in the Washington Post. According to the Post article, the tiff occurred when the president walked up to Webb to ask about his son, a Marine in Iraq.
“I’d like to get them out of Iraq, Mr. President,” Webb said.
“That’s not what I asked you,” Bush replied. “How’s your boy?”
“That’s between me and my boy, Mr. President” Webb responded.
During his senatorial campaign, Webb called the Iraq war “a blunder of historic proportions,” so his views on the subject were not in question. A U.S. Navy veteran, Webb is no stranger to war and conflict. He was Secretary of the Navy during the Reagan Administration. Six years ago Webb even backed Bush and then Virginia senatorial candidate George Allen who he defeated for the post last month.
Asked about the exchange, Webb admitted he tried to avoid interacting with the president during the White House visit. But the president sought him out and of all the subjects he could have broached Bush went for Webb’s hot button.
After the monumental loss Bush’s Republican Congress suffered last month, throwing salt probably was all the president could come up with on his own without a speech writer. And Bush probably thought Webb would put on a happy brown-nose face, seeing as he was a guest. Like many times before, though, Bush was wrong.
I don’t live in Virginia and I paid little to no attention to the U.S. Senate race between Webb and his opponent. So, my support of Webb is on this issue alone. It seems his having a backbone is causing leftover conservatives to question whether Webb’s political style will fit in an already divided congress.
Communication is the foundation of any relationship and political counterparts are no different. Some Republicans and Democrats are so busy trying to look and smell good, they back down from a challenge and nothing gets accomplished. Maybe if more of our elected officials did away with the euphemisms and got down to the nitty-gritty, Bush might have a better idea of what people like you and I have to say.
Steffanie Rivers is a free-lance writer living in the Washington, DC metro area. For questions or comments e-mail her at teamtcbadvertising@hotmail.com
THE MO'KELLY REPORT: Dreamgirls - Instant Classic
*Sometimes, the simplest of compliments conveys the greatest sincerity.
Dreamgirls is a beautiful, beautiful movie.
The movie adaptation of the hit Broadway musical is “easy” all the way around. Easy on the eyes, the ears and any other sense within cinematic reach. Dreamgirls is a comfortable confluence of style, talent and pageantry. It is like our favorite song we all have. Every time we listen to it, the music hits us in the right place all day long. Dreamgirls is beautiful in its artistry, its emotion and most importantly in its truthfulness.
The question most often asked is whether “the movie” measures up to “the musical.” It’s a question that is well-intentioned but rather unimportant and misguided.
For all the visual advantages that a motion picture has over theatre productions, it’s a pointless comparison. Likewise, for all the energy and spontaneity a live performance offers that an edited tape and 2-dimensional screen do not…it too is a pointless comparison. What can be said is that Dreamgirls the movie can’t touch the Broadway musical. Conversely, Dreamgirls the Broadway musical…can’t touch the movie. These apples and oranges don’t need to be examined any further.
But those of you old enough to remember the original musical, you’ll probably appreciate the cameo appearances of Hinton Battle and Loretta Devine…an understated tip of fedora to its predecessor. And yes, it was both conspicuous and somewhat controversial how Jennifer Holiday, the signature voice of the 80s Broadway show was nowhere to be found in the film version. It also must also be said that Jennifer Hudson’s 2006 performance was nothing short of amazing in its own right.
It’s not often that an audience of film critics breaks out in thunderous applause in the middle of a movie, and it’s even rarer when such lofty acclaim is deserved.
Jennifer Hudson deserved it and is an absolute star from her first frame until the final credits. Jennifer Holiday did something special and spectacular in 1982…which will never be undone or duplicated. Jennifer Hudson not only paid her own musical homage to Holiday, but tastefully put her own hot sauce on it, which should leave any true fan of the Dreamgirls story, pleased and satisfied. Again, let’s leave the apples and oranges comparisons for another day. They’re both very, very good fruit and that’s all that needs to be said.
Hudson gave an unprecedented and outstanding performance that will likely resonate for decades…just like Holiday. There’s your comparison, now leave it alone.
But even having said all of that…arguably the greatest performance came from the unlikeliest of places.
Eddie Murphy.
Murphy’s performance was Oscar-caliber and career defining. Although he’s spent the better part of his life making folks laugh, when all is said and done, he just might be best remembered for displaying a level of vulnerability and screen presence that is beyond many of the best in Hollywood.
This isn’t hyperbole. Eddie Murphy is THAT good in the role of James ‘Thunder’ Early. He sings all of his songs, dances all of his dances and most importantly earns all of your attention and theatrical respect. It’s a performance as a supporting actor that deserves Oscar consideration. One can’t help but wonder whether Eddie Murphy saw any parallels between the life and career of James ‘Thunder’ Early and his own. The character arc of an entertainer staring irrelevancy in the face and a disheveled home life makes you wonder if the role struck very close to home for him.
Only he knows…
Just FYI…the last time Mo’Kelly felt this strongly about an Oscar-caliber performance, Jamie Foxx went home with an Oscar.
Just FYI.
And speaking of Foxx…maybe the Black-Oscar jinx is now over. For those who say it is career suicide for Black actors after garnering one of the golden statuettes, meet Mr. Foxx…the ‘villain’ ‘Curtis Taylor Jr.’
It’s almost unfortunate, as Foxx’s muted performance (doesn’t do much singing) might easily get lost amidst the eye-popping gowns, over-blown songs and characters justifiably more important to the story. Then again, when you still get noticed while everything else is set up for you NOT to be noticed…you must have been pretty good.
Jamie Foxx was more than just ‘pretty good.’
If you could sum up the whole of Dreamgirls, it’s in the performance of Beyoncé Knowles. This is a movie heavy on history, expectation and hype in anticipation of its release. At the same time, Beyoncé has been groomed accordingly to stand in the spotlight literally and figuratively in this role. To those who saw the original Dreamgirls, the comparisons and allusions to Diana Ross and the Supremes were obvious. Accordingly, such comparisons can be made to Destiny’s Child and its similar history. The casting of Beyoncé in the role of ‘Deena Jones’ is eerie on many levels if you want to read into all of the subtext of Knowles’ own career.
That said; she brought her ‘A’ game. For those of you who may have believed she wasn’t on a vocal par consistent with such a role…you will be disappointed. She demonstrated she is as talented as advertised this fact can’t be denied. For those of you who may have ventured to criticize her as being unskilled as an actor and not worthy of such a role…you will be disappointed and proven wrong. Mo’Kelly was not a Beyoncé fan going in and of the opinion that she was an elaborate prop, positioned for stardom…but not destined for greatness. Note the distinction.
But fair is fair…Mo’Kelly was flat out wrong. Beyoncé put in a performance that I suspect even Lena Horne and the late Dorothy Dandridge would give her high-fives in appreciation.
If you want to hear REAL singing and REAL music, turn off the radio and see a movie that puts 99% of your favorite “singers” to shame. If you wish to see African-American cinema and storytelling at its best, turn off BET and see what “Black Entertainment” and beautiful Black women are meant to be like when brought together.
Dreamgirls is a beautiful, beautiful movie…and by the way, an instant classic.
Dreamgirls opens nationwide on December 25th.
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. For more Mo’Kelly, http://mokellyreport.blogspot.com. Morris W. O'Kelly can be reached at mokellyreport@sbcglobal.net and he welcomes all commentary.
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