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11-21-08 EUR ALL ON ONE PAGE
USHER'S MOM ACCUSED OF SCAMMING LIMO DRIVER: Police launch investigation after complaint against Jonetta Patton.
*Usher's mother is being investigated by Dekalb County Police after a freelance driver for her Atlanta-based transportation company filed a complaint alleging she stiffed him on a $1,668 paycheck.
According to TMZ.com, Jonetta Patton and her company JCarr Transportation are accused of scamming the limo driver while he worked during the recent BET Hip Hop Awards.
A rep for the company told the Web site: "The drivers were hired as independent contractors and are paid 30-45 days net when working on special events of the magnitude of the BET Hip Hop Awards that took place on Oct.
18th. They were hired at the recommendation of an employee who was recently terminated by JCarr and are disgruntled that their services are no longer being used by the company as a result of the unprofessional nature of the fired employee."
According to TMZ, Patton’s camp is keeping quiet about the complaint and investigation. Dekalb County detectives are actively looking into the case.
COPS ACCUSED OF BEATING DONALD DRIVER'S DAD: Family of Green Bay Packers receiver claims Houston police put father in ICU.
*Houston police officers are being accused of viciously beating the father of Green Bay Packers wide receiver Donald Driver following an arrest Wednesday for outstanding traffic warrants, reports CNN.
Marvin Driver Jr. was found to be "unresponsive" upon his arrival at jail, CNN reported Thursday. His family members said the arresting officers pulled him behind a gas station, beat him, forced him to swallow something, then told him he was "going to see Jesus."
"Mr. Marvin Driver Jr. is now at Hermann Hospital in ICU where he can't even speak," relatives said in a statement. "Doctors say there is some bleeding on his brain from blunt force trauma."
The Houston Police Department said in a written statement that it takes the assault allegations "very seriously, and will begin a thorough investigation into the matter." The two officers involved remain on duty pending further investigation, police said.
A Driver family spokesperson held a news conference Wednesday and showed reporters pictures of Marvin Driver in the intensive care unit lying in his bed with a tube in his mouth. The family is demanding an investigation.
The incident began late Sunday when Driver was dropping his brother, Winston Driver, off after the two had moved furniture. According to the family's written statement, officers pulled over Marvin Driver Jr. in front of his mother's home. An argument broke out between the police and Driver, as well as his relatives, over the language police were using. Police told relatives Driver was being taken to jail for the outstanding warrants, relatives said. "Later, the family found out he never made it to the jail," the statement said.
Quanell X, leader of the New Black Panther Nation and family spokesperson said, "They picked him up and took him behind a Valero station by a dark road where he was beaten and forced to swallow something."
Apparently, Marvin Driver was able to explain what happened by writing some notes on paper from the hospital. The spokesperson also believes police had it out for Marvin Driver.
"They made disparaging remarks about family members with whom the officer had a problem with," said Quanell X. "The officer obviously had some envious issues about one particular family member."
Meanwhile, Donald Driver has been excused from practice for the next couple of days.
MIJAC AGREES TO TESTIFY IN LONDON: Singer had tried to appear via video claiming he was too sick to fly.
*Michael Jackson now says he will appear in person at his $7 million breach-of-contract trial in London after first claiming that an undisclosed illness may have prevented him making the flight.
Jackson had asked to testify by a video link from the U.S. because of the unspecified illness. But his lawyer, Robert Englehart, informed the court Thursday that Jackson "has been cleared by his medical advisers to travel in two days' time," reports the Associated Press.
The King of Pop is scheduled to give evidence at the High Court on Monday. Sheik Abdulla bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the second son of the king of Bahrain, says Jackson reneged on a contract for an album, a candid autobiography and a stage play after accepting millions in advances.
Jackson's camp claims the money was a gift. The singer's lawyers are also arguing that Jackson wasn't bound by the deal because the contract was signed on behalf of 2 Seas Records, a venture which never got off the ground.
The sheik took the witness stand Thursday, agreeing when Jackson's lawyer described him as a "devoted fan of Western pop music" and an extremely wealthy man. "I would see myself as somebody who is very fortunate, yes," said Al Khalifa, 33.
He rejected Englehart's suggestion that Jackson was emotionally and financially fragile. Part of Jackson's defense is that the sheik took advantage of his vulnerability and lack of business acumen.
"Michael is an individual who is very switched-on," Al Khalifa said. "He is a fantastic intellectual."
"There's nothing unusual about him?" asked Englehart.
"No," Al Khalifa said.
The money at issue includes $1 million paid by Al Khalifa into the account of Jackson's personal assistant, Grace Rwaramba, who is due to give evidence later.
TACO BELL COUNTERSUES 50 CENT: Fast food chain calls rapper's lawsuit attempt to 'burnish gangsta persona.'
*Taco Bell is speaking out against a federal trademark infringement lawsuit brought against them by rapper 50 Cent over a failed promo campaign.
In a countersuit against the rapper, lawyers for the fast-food chain are calling his federal lawsuit, filed in Manhattan, another attempt to "burnish his gangsta rapper persona by distorting beyond all recognition a bona fide, good faith offer."
The suit claims that 50 has used his "colorful" past to cultivate an image of "belligerence and arrogance," and says he has a "well-publicized track record for making threats, starting feuds and filing lawsuits," while also painting himself as a charitable person who gives back to his community.
The case is rooted in a fake letter sent out by Taco Bell Corp. asking 50 Cent to change his name for one day to 79 Cent, 89 Cent or 99 Cent to help publicize its value menu. In return, the company offered to donate $10,000 to the charity of his choice. Fifty immediately sued the restaurant chain for the improper use of his name.
Taco Bell's suit claims that the "humorous but sincere" open letter it sent to 50 had an obvious "jovial spirit," but with a serious underlying offer. "The challenge — asking Jackson to temporarily change his name ... for charity — was a soft ridicule and good-natured lampoon of the rapper's moniker, 50 Cent, and his public image as a gangsta rapper."
As a defense, the suit notes that the letter from Taco Bell's president was not used in ads, that 50's name was never used in an ad campaign and that "celebrity challenges are notable and newsworthy and reported in the media."
In other 50 Cent news, the artist began production on his new film "Dead Man Running" on Wednesday (Nov. 19) in London.
As previously reported, the film follows an ex-con trying to go straight who is given 24 hours to raise $150,000 to pay off a ruthless loan shark, played by 50, or become a "dead man running."
Also starring in the film are Brenda Blethyn ("Secrets And Lies") Tamer Hassan ("Layer Cake"), Danny Dyer ("The Business"), and Monet Mazur ("Stoned").
50 Cent's next album, "Before I Self Destruct," was recently pushed back from Dec. 16 to an unspecified date early next year.
'TOP MODEL'S' ISIS TO GET DREAM SURGERY: Tyra Banks will foot the bill for transgendered woman's sex reassignment procedure.
*Tyra Banks is giving one of her former contestants on "America's Next Top Model" a gift that keeps on giving.
Isis King, the CW show's first transgendered contestant, will have her long-desired sex reassignment surgery paid for by Banks, who announced the gift during King's appearance on "The Tyra Banks Show" this week.
"This is not happening!" King said in disbelief. "I feel like I really was born in the wrong body, and it's just the one thing that makes me feel uncomfortable."
Although King had been taking hormone replacement therapy -- as seen on an episode of "Top Model" -- she couldn't afford the full surgery, which runs from $20,000-$35,000. On the episode, Banks introduces King, 22, to Dr. Marci Bowers, a gender reassignment surgeon who will be performing the procedure.
King was born Darrell Walls and was living in a homeless shelter when Banks discovered her and featured her in a photo shoot for the 10th cycle of "Top Model." King returned as a full-fledged contestant this season, but was eliminated because she couldn't convey emotion through her eyes and was uncomfortable in a swimsuit.
STORY OF WHITE HOUSE BUTLER HEADED TO THEATERS: Columbia picks up life rights to Eugene Allen.
*Within two weeks of a Washington Post profile about Eugene Allen, a black man who served as a White House butler for 34 years, Columbia pictures has picked up rights to his life story for a feature film, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Allen started off as a White House "pantry man" in 1952 when blacks weren't allowed to use public restrooms in his native Virginia. He served presidents as racial history was being made, from Brown v. Board of Education to the 1963 March on Washington to the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and President John F. Kennedy. Allen left the job in 1986, when Ronald Reagan was in office.
Allen and his wife of 65 years talked and marveled at the fact that a black man could be president. But on Election Day, Allen cast his vote alone; his wife died the day before.
Wil Haygood, the author of the Nov. 7 Washington Post article, will act as an associate producer and help research the movie, working with family to bring out details of Allen's life.
Laura Ziskin, the film's producer, said the movie would act "as a portrait of an extraordinary African-American man who has lived to see the world turn. It's about the essence of this man and what he saw, as well as the love story with his wife."
OBAMA TALK DOMINATES NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS: Acceptance speeches filled with praise for President-elect.
*The actual awards bestowed at the recent 59th annual National Book Awards ceremony in New York seemed to take a back seat to what became a huge love fest for the incoming 44th U.S. president, Barack Obama.
According to the Associated Press, many of Wednesday night's presenters and award recipients took time out to mention the historic election and to express hope of a transformed nation under an Obama presidency.
"It's a good time to be alive," said fiction committee chair Gail Godwin, referring to Obama's election before revealing that Peter Matthiessen had won for "Shadow Country," a thorough revision of a trilogy of novels released in the 1990s.
Obama is a friend to book people in so many ways: as a fellow liberal and the first black president-elect; as the author of two million-selling books; as a public thinker who has boosted sales for Doris Kearns Goodwin's Abraham Lincoln biography, "Team of Rivals," and for a work about the first 100 days of Franklin Roosevelt's administration, Jonathan Alter's "The Defining Moment."
Awards host Eric Bogosian called Obama, "in the broadest sense of the word, a reader." Noting that the president-elect has been openly influenced by "Team of Rivals," Bogosian commented, "That's just so cool."
Honorary award winner Maxine Hong Kingston, who, like Obama, spent many years in Hawaii, praised his way of "putting things right by talking them through." Fellow honorary winner Barney Rosset, the publisher and First Amendment agitator, called Obama "a dynamic leader," a miracle.
"For the first time in recent memory I am not thinking of renouncing my American passport," declared the 86-year-old Rosset.
Nonfiction winner, Annette Gordon-Reed (for "The Hemingses of Monticello"), also mentioned Obama in her acceptance speech, as did poetry winner Mark Doty ("Fire to Fire"), who cited the election and his recent marriage to his male partner: "We are on a path to equality for all Americans and nothing is going to turn us back."
The awards, founded in 1950, are sponsored by the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization that offers numerous educational and literary programs. Winners each received $10,000.
NAOMI CAMPBELL PHOTO EXHIBIT ON DECK: Art Photo Expo Miami to feature more than 50 images of supermodel from top photographers.
*Naomi Campbell is the subject of a new exhibit in Miami that features her image in more than 50 photographs and illustrations from the world's top photographers, such as Arthur Elgort, Albert Watson and Steven Meisel.
The retrospective is part of a larger exhibit called In Fashion Photo, which will display an additional 250 photographs at the Art Photo Expo Miami from Dec. 2-7. The images presented will also be for sale.
"I love my job," Campbell told the Associated Press while promoting the display. "I have had a great, great career. I am not doing this retrospective because I am over.
Organizer Francois Trabelsi said he chose Campbell for the retrospective because "she's the biggest top model of the world."
"All big photographers of the world make some photographs or did something with her," he said.
BILL CLINTON TO RAISE MONEY FOR MLK MEMORIAL: Former president to speak at Miami fundraising dinner.
*Organizers of the forthcoming Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial say former President Bill Clinton will help raise funds to complete the project planned for the National Mall.
Clinton will be presented the foundation's "Humanitarian Award" and serve as keynote speaker for a Jan. 8 dinner in Miami to help raise money for the project. The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation will sponsor the dinner, reports the Associated Press.
The memorial foundation has raised $100 million of the $120 million needed to complete the project. The memorial, planned for the banks of the Tidal Basin between the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials, would be the first major tribute to a black leader on the National Mall.
PACMAN JONES TO RETURN DEC. 7: Cowboys owner says cornerback will end suspension in time for Pittsburgh.
*Suspended NFL player Adam "Pacman" Jones will be back in action with the Dallas Cowboys on Dec. 7 following a ruling by league commissioner Roger Goodell, according to reports.
The cornerback was reinstated Wednesday after being suspended for his Oct. 7th alcohol-related fight with one of his team-issued bodyguards at a Dallas hotel.
In announcing Jones' return Wednesday, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said the athlete will miss two more games — this Sunday and the following game on Thanksgiving. He'll be back Dec. 7 at Pittsburgh.
"He much appreciates the Cowboys and Jerry Jones for standing behind him and encouraging him, and he's grateful to the commissioner," said Worrick Robinson, Adam Jones' Nashville-based attorney.
Jerry Jones would not reveal any conditions the commissioner may have imposed and the league office said it would not have any immediate comment. However, Robinson, said, "He knows what he has to do. It's very clear."
"He's a long way, a long way from having clear sailing," Jerry Jones said.
ARSENIO, PEREZ IN ANIMATED 'COLOR CITY': CG-film to star ensemble cast as a group of crayons.
*Arsenio Hall and Rosie Perez will join Craig Ferguson and Christina Ricci for the CG-animated feature "The Hero of Color City," directed by Becky Bristow.
The actors will lend voices as a group of crayons battling to save their multihued city, reports Variety. The film's producer, Exodus Film Group, has also made a deal with Simon & Schuster to publish a series of children's books based on the film.
Hall has previously voiced characters in the animated "The Proud Family Movie," "Igor" and "Scooby-Doo! Pirates Ahoy!"
Perez's animated credits include "Lolo's Café," "The Road to El Dorado" and "Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child."
ATL HOUSEWIVES FINALE SETS RECORD: Tuesday's season-ender scores highest rating of all three 'Housewives' locations in franchise.
*Bravo's reality show “Real Housewives of Atlanta” wrapped up its season Tuesday night on a franchise high, reports the AP.
The season-ending episode posted the best ratings to date for any telecast of the net’s “Real Housewives” franchise, rising about 50% over the previous week’s score. It stood as the No. 1 cablecast of the day among 18-49 and No. 1 on cable in primetime among adults 18-34 (1.4/4), according to Nielsen Media Research.
The Atlanta cast marked Bravo's first ever multi-racial group of socialites (four African American, one Caucasian) following the original "Real Housewives of Orange County" and its first spinoff, "Real Housewives of New York."
The Atlanta season will air its reunion show on Tuesday, Nov. 25 at 9 p.m., followed by the fourth season premiere of "Real Housewives of Orange County."
In related news, Atlanta cast member NeNe Leakes spoke to People magazine about the five ways her life has changed for the better since the show has aired.
• “I have tons of fans who love me and come up to me everywhere I go.”
• “I’ve learned a lot of things about myself. I’m learning to be a little bit more patient. I’m learning to tone certain things down. I’m learning to be not as outspoken.”
• “My business has increased. My foundation Twisted Hearts brings awareness to domestic violence against women in the community. I have tons of people reaching out to me wanting to help me with my foundation. Had I not done the show, I would not have this platform.”
• “I have made new friends with the New York Housewives — Bethenny and Jill — and the Orange County Housewives. The one I love the most is Vicki. I’ve learned about my friendships that I’ve had throughout my life, too. There were definitely people that I needed to let out of my circle. So, I’m learning to keep my circle of friends very close.
• “I’m not surprised that Anderson Cooper is talking about me! Wouldn’t you talk about me? I’m not surprised. Anderson Cooper is gorgeous. He is THE silver fox, and I just wish he’d come over on this side of the street. And come over here and talk to me! Wendy Williams talks about me every single week. She sent messages to me. She said if she had to be any housewife it would be me. I’m not surprised. She has to change a few of her ways herself.
We have a lot of celebrity people reaching out to us.”
ITTY BITTY BITS: Michelle Obama style book; Barack Obama's pool table; Tru-Ace in 'Friday Night Live'; Akon demoted.
*Avon has signed former Mademoiselle editor Mandi Norwood to pen a "Michelle Obama Style Guide," due out next spring, reports Page Six. Avon vice president Carrie Feron said: "Not since Jackie O have we had a first lady become a fashion icon. Michelle Obama will be one of history's most vibrant first ladies; she has a distinctive style that every American woman can aspire to, whether the consumer is a Target shopper or some one more likely to be found on Miracle Mile."
*Several days after the Pennsylvania bowling lane used by Barack Obama went on eBay, the owner of Schultzie's Billiards in West Virginia got an idea. John Mawyer has decided to auction off the pool table used by Obama during a campaign stop with an eBay starting price of $500,000, according to TMZ.com. Some of the proceeds will go to charity.
Teen rapper Tru-Ace partners with Los Angeles County's “Friday Night Live” event to promote healthy lifestyles free of alcohol, tobacco, or other substances among teens. Tru-Ace is scheduled to speak to students throughout L.A. County, beginning at 2:30 this afternoon at Daniel Webster School—K-8, in Pasadena (2101 E. Washington Blvd.). The artist will give away autographed CDs.
*Akon was reportedly put off by the decision of a birthday girl to remove him from the headlining act at her party to the opener. The New York Post claims Princess Sheikha Hessa of Dubai flew the singer and other performers, including urban rock violin group Nuttin' But Stringz, to her birthday bash last week. But when the princess heard Stringz, the band made famous on "America's Got Talent," warming up, "she gave them Akon's place in the lineup, making them the lead act," a source told Page Six. "He was pouting the rest of the night and wouldn't talk to anyone." However, a rep for Akon told the column: "He performed for an hour and there was no pouting."
TV BITS: Shaq on 'Judge Mathis'; Snoop's sleepover advice for Obama; Bellamy's 'Jokes' enters final rounds; 'Bobby Jones Gospel' returns with Fantasia.
*NBA star Shaquille O’Neal will make a surprise appearance on a special episode of “Judge Mathis” airing Monday, Nov. 24. (Check local listings.) Mathis was the judge who married Shaq and his wife Shaunie in 2002.
*In a visit to "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" this week, Snoop Dogg had some advice for Barack and Michelle Obama when it comes to hosting White House sleepovers for their two young daughters. "You need to learn how to bake a cake," said Snoop, who has hosted his share of slumber parties for his 9-year-old daughter Cori. "It scores points, when the father of the house is able to do that." Also on the list? "Popcorn and cotton candy," he said. But also, parents must know when to get lost. "They like you to get out of their face and let them be kids," he warned.
*Eight comics will compete for a spot in the finals and the ultimate title of “Jokes Champion” on “Bill Bellamy’s Who’s Got Jokes?” beginning tomorrow (Nov. 22) at 10 p.m. on TV One. The two semi-final rounds feature the nation’s funniest comics performing for U.S. soldiers and their families stationed at the U.S. Army Garrison Kaiserslautern. The finalists selected in Germany will compete in an episode that premieres Saturday, Dec. 6, and TV One’s audience will pick this year’s “Jokes Champion,” who will be crowned on Saturday, Dec. 13.
*BET’s longest-running gospel program, "Bobby Jones Gospel," returns for its 28th season at 9 a.m. on Sunday (Nov. 23) with guests Fantasia, Melonie Daniels and Isaiah Thomas & Elements of Praise. Joining host Bobby Jones this season will be Vickie Winans, Richard Smallwood, Byron Cage, Kirk Franklin, Mary Mary, Pastor Shirley Caesar and Tye Tribbett & G.A., as well as special performances by newcomers Spensha Baker, Damita and BET’s "Sunday Best" winner Crystal Aikin.
BARBARA LEE TAKES OVER BLACK CAUCUS CHAIR: Oakland congresswoman announced Wednesday as new leader of 42-member group.
*Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, was announced as chairwoman-elect of the Congressional Black Caucus at a Capitol Hill news conference Wednesday, reports the Oakland Tribune.
"This is quite a moment for me," Lee told reporters and fellow caucus members. "Now, we have an opportunity to really continue to lead and to really continue to be the conscience of the Congress."
Lee takes the 42-member caucus' reins as its power seems ascendant. Members will lead the House Judiciary, Homeland Security and Ways and Means committees in the 111th Congress; another, Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., will be the majority whip; and all of them will work in tandem with the nation's first black president, Barack Obama, of whom Lee was an early and ardent supporter.
"We have many, many challenges, but those challenges do present historic opportunities," she said Wednesday. "When you look at the economy and the fact that millions of Americans' lives are in shambles due to the foreclosure crisis, that's the first priority for all of us."
At the news conference, outgoing chairwoman, Rep. Carolyn Kilpatrick, D-Mich., handed over the wooden gavel and praised Lee as a "stalwart for human rights, global peace and social justice."
Lee, 62, dodged questions about her agenda, saying she wants to wait until caucus members gather in January to decide the group's priorities. She also downplayed speculation that the caucus will have more clout under President-elect Barack Obama, a CBC member during his tenure in the Senate.
Noting Obama's pledge to be president of "the whole country," she said CBC will be just one of many House caucuses that will seek to influence Obama.
"We'll work together to support his agenda," she said.
EUR MOTIVATIONAL NOTE
"Teach this triple truth to all: A generous heart, kind speech, and a life of service and compassion are the things, which renew humanity." — The Buddha
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
Nov. 21: Keyboardist Lonnie Jordan of War is 60.
Nov. 23: Actor John Henton ("The Hughleys," "Living Single") is 48. Actress Salli Richardson-Whitfield ("Family Law") is 41. Rapper Kurupt of Tha Dogg Pound is 36.
WEBSITE OF THE WEEK
Body Talk is a new outfit that promotes exotic dancing and working the pole as way for women to get in shape (www.bodytalkllc.com).
Submit your favorite Web site to us along with a 15-20 word (or less) description to info@eurweb.com.
BLACK HISTORY
Nov. 21, 1984: TransAfrica's Randall Robinson, congressional delegate Walter Fauntroy, and US Civil Rights Commissioner Mary Francis Berry are arrested at a sit-in against apartheid at the South African Embassy in Washington, D.C.
Nov. 22, 1930: Elijah Muhammad founds the Nation of Islam in Detroit.
Nov. 23, 1897: JL Love puts patents on the pencil sharpener. (Source: www.BlackFacts.com)
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