Katt Williams

Katt Williams will debut his new comedy special, which will stream LIVE on Netflix from the YouTube Theater in Inglewood, California, as part of Netflix Is A Joke Fest on May 4, 2024, at 7 PM PDT/10 PM EST. This will be Katt Williams’s third comedy special with Netflix. His previous specials include "World War III" and "Great America." The show is part of the Netflix is a Joke Comedy Fest taking place in Los Angeles from May 2-12 with a comedy marathon of over 300 shows across 35+ venues.

Netflix is a Joke Fest, the biggest comedy festival in North America,  is back and bigger than ever. Produced by Netflix in association with Live Nation, the star-studded celebration of comedy from May 2 - May 12, 2024, will feature over 300 live stand-up shows, special events, table reads, sketches, and more with the best comedians and artists in the world. For 11 days, the comedy community will take over more than 35 of Los Angeles’  most beloved landmarks such as the Hollywood Bowl, The Greek, The Dolby, The Forum, The Palladium, the Orpheum Theatre, and The Wiltern as well as historic comedy venues including The Hollywood Improv, Largo, Laugh Factory and The Comedy Store.

Netflix is one of the world's leading entertainment services, with over 260 million paid memberships in over 190 countries, enjoying TV series, films, and games across a wide variety of genres and languages. Members can play, pause and resume watching as much as they want, anytime, anywhere, and can change their plans at any time.

Photo credit: Ronald Pollard Photography

Morris Day and Jerome Benton of Morris Day and The Time perform onstage during the 2022 Soul Train Awards presented by BET at the Orleans Arena on November 13, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images for BET)

The Soul Train Awards 2022 presented by BET and hosted by award-winning comedian and actor Deon Cole, featured a lineup of unforgettable performances including special moments and appearances by some of the brightest stars in Black culture and entertainment. 

The event kicked off with the “Soul Train Awards Red Carpet Special,” with hosts Tank covering the Main Stage, Letoya Luckett on the Correspondent Stage, and Novi Brown (“Tyler Perry’s Sistas”) in the Walmart Lounge. Beyoncé led the night with three wins for Album of The Year, Song of the Year and Best Collaboration with Ronald Isley & The Isley Brothers. 

Trailblazing 90’s R&B supergroup Xscape was crowned Lady of Soul at this year’s Awards. The award was presented to them by their legendary producer and So So Def Recordings founder Jermaine Dupri, who spoke fondly about knowing the group was destined for stardom when he met them. 

Xscape embodied elegance as they graced the stage and  accepted the award. The group  performed some of their biggest hits, including “My Little Secret,” “Who Can I Run To?,” ''Tonight,” and fan-favorite “Just Kickin It” with surprise guest Jermaine Dupri, to which the audience bumped, grooved, and sang along word for word. Xscape ended their performance with their powerful ballad, “Understanding.”

Iconic funk brand Morris Day & The Time closed out the night with the Legend Award, presented to them by JB Smoove. After reflecting on the group’s success, and their days collaborating with Prince, Morris Day & The Time accepted the award and expressed profound gratitude. The group then brought their blend of funk and soul to the stage, performing a medley of their classic hits including “Cool,” “777,” “Jungle Love,” and closing out with crowd favorite “Bird,” keeping the audience on their feet dancing until the last note.

Here is the complete list of Soul Train Awards 2022 winners:
 
Best New Artist
Tems  
 
Certified Soul Award
Mary J. Blige          
 
Best R&B/Soul Female Artist
Jazmine Sullivan  
 
Best R&B/Soul Male Artist
Chris Brown         
 
Best Gospel/Inspirational Award
Maverick City Music X Kirk Franklin          
 
Song of the Year
Break My Soul  -    Beyoncé
  
Album of the Year
Renaissance     -     Beyoncé
 
The Ashford and Simpson Songwriter’s Award
Hrs & Hrs  -  Muni Long
 
Best Dance Performance
About Damn Time  Lizzo

Best Collaboration
Make Me Say It Again, Girl     -    Ronald Isley & The Isley Brothers Feat. Beyoncé
 
Video of the Year
Smokin Out The Window  -   Bruno Mars, Anderson Paak, Silk Sonic

Watch an encore airing of Soul Train Awards 2022, Sunday, November 27 at 8 PM ET/PT and Thursday, December 1 at 9 PM ET/PT on BET. The Soul Train Awards 2022 will air internationally on BET Africa on Sunday, November 27 at 3:00 CAT, BET France on Thursday, December 1 at 20:45 PM CET. The show will also be available to watch on My5 and Sky On-Demand in the UK beginning Thursday, December 1.

As reports from around the United States confirm what many have suspected -- blacks are hardest hit by the coronavirus global pandemic, the NAACP has partnered with BET to present the 4-week community program, ”Unmasked: A COVID-19 Virtual Town Hall Series”.

The  first virtual town hall will be presented this Wednesday, April 8 at 8pm ET, 5pm PT. Part one of the four-part series will feature a candid discussion on the health, mental, and economic tolls this crisis has had on our communities and how people of color can apply pressure to ensure the congressional response to this pandemic is equitable.

Click here to register online. 

Bethune-Cookman University Marching Wildcats are the subject of a 12-episode docu-series on Netflix.

“Marching Orders,” an original unscripted series, takes viewers inside the Marching Wildcats of Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, Florida. The band’s rich history includes being showcased at major sports events from the Super Bowl to NFL games and was featured in the popular film “Drumline” starring Nick Cannon and Zoe Saldana. This 12-episode series, Marching Orders, premiered on Friday, August 3 on Netflix and was produced by Stage 13/Gigantic Productions.



For students, becoming a member of the Marching Wildcats will be one of their most significant life achievements. The legacy, history, and honor of earning a spot in the 300-member plus band is a pivotal moment that is often rooted in the students’ own familial histories. Expectations run high for the new generation of Marching Wildcats.



It’s difficult to convey just how important marching bands have become in the culture and climate of HBCUs unless one has lived it as an undergraduate student. While many rival institutions will take issue with the Marching Wildcats being touted as the nation’s best, that is par for the course. Let the trash-talking continue.

“Nobody works as hard as we do,” says Band Director Donovan Wells, in the series opener. “Nobody pays attention to the details as much as we do.”

@vanessawbyers

Miami's WSVN News Producer Robin Cross has been terminated following video of her using a racial slur.

Miami’s WSVN-TV Channel 7 News producer Robin Cross has been terminated. Cross was the subject of international media coverage as the woman caught on cell phone video yelling at her neighbor about vehicle  parking. Cross’s profanity-laced tirade ended with her using a racial slur in reference to the Black girlfriend of her neighbor’s son.

It is unfortunate and disappointing that WSVN allowed this story to linger for five days before taking action beyond suspension of Cross. It is also unfortunate that WSVN didn’t use this as a teachable moment and opportunity for healing via a community conversation about race. America will never be as great a nation as she can be until that very painful and shameful issue is addressed and overcome.

Thank you to everyone who contacted WSVN to voice their opinions regarding the situation. This is what happens when people unite. This is what happens when we are more than just keyboard soldiers. This is what happens when we take action.

#STAYwoke

Related Link:

Miami's WSVN-TV Ch. 7 Producer Caught on Video Using Racial Slur and Profanity [VIDEO] [EXPLICIT LANGUAGE]

Miami's Alex Hibbert graces the advertisement for the Showtime drama, THE CHI.

If you enjoy watching quality television, you owe it to yourself to check out Showtime’s THE CHI. It airs Sundays at 10 PM EST. Subscribers can also view episodes on demand on the Showtime app.

THE CHI chronicles the lives of residents of the South Side of Chicago. It humanizes people who have been dehumanized because of the numerous reports of death due to gun violence. As in many, urban, predominantly-black neighborhoods demonized by crime statistics and poverty, there is a beautiful side that is rarely shown. As one-sided as the South Side of Chicago is typically portrayed, THE CHI doesn’t shy away from its ugly side of crime, drugs and poverty.

Award-winning Chicago natives Lena Waithe (Emmy - Master of None) and Common (Academy Award - Selma) have presented a cinematically beautiful well-acted and well-written drama. Waithe made history as the first Black woman to win an Emmy for Comedy Writing. It’s 2018 and we’re still celebrating Black “firsts” but let us not digress. The Chi cast includes Jason Mitchell (Brandon); Tiffany Boone (Jerrika); Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine (Ronnie); Jacob Latimore (Emmett); Yolanda Ross (Jada); Sonja Sohn (Laverne); and Miami’s own Alex Hibbert (Kevin).

You might remember Alex from his award-winning film debut as “Little” in the Miami-based and Miami-focused movie Moonlight which won multiple awards including the Academy Award for Best Picture. In Moonlight, Alex was incredibly expressive just using his eyes and body language. That same compelling quiet energy is evident as he portrays Kevin in THE CHI.

Since THE CHI has been renewed for a second season, we look forward to seeing more of Alex Hibbert on THE CHI next year. Episode 5 is scheduled to air on February 11 so you have plenty of time to binge watch the first four episodes to catch up with the storyline.

From Episode 1: Alex Hibbert (left) as Kevin in scene with Jason Mitchell as Brandon, in hit Showtime series --- The Chi.

 Related Links:

Official Series Website - The Chi

More Than Moonlight: Alex Hibbert is a Child Actor Worth Watching

The announcement is part of the company’s commitment to launch independently owned and operated networks as part of a series of public interest commitments made by Comcast in connection with the NBCUniversal transaction completed in 2011. Since the NBCUniversal transaction, Comcast has successfully launched over 20 independent networks, doubling the number of independent networks launches that it committed to as part of the transaction. Four of those networks were launched as a result of a public request for channels that satisfied the criteria established in several agreements between Comcast and leading diversity organizations: two African American majority owned networks (ASPiRE and REVOLT) and two Hispanic American operated networks (Baby First Americas and El Rey). Additionally, two substantially Hispanic American owned networks, Kids Central and Primo TV, will launch on Comcast Cable systems beginning in January 2017.

“We are looking forward to receiving another round of great proposals as we begin the process to launch two more African American majority owned networks,” said Justin Smith, Senior Vice President of Content Acquisition for Comcast Cable.

Criteria for selecting the next two substantially African American owned networks that Comcast will launch include: the content of the network; whether the network is fully financed; whether the network’s ownership and/or management group(s) are well established, have relevant experience, and are substantially owned by African Americans; whether the network is already launched and has existing or potential multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD) distribution; price; and whether the network and its potential carriage provide value to Comcast and its customers. Comcast will accept proposals for every major genre, including general entertainment, movies, music, kids, news, and sports.

Applicants may visit http://corporate.comcast.com/diverseprogramming to submit a proposal and learn about the terms and conditions. Proposals are due by March 15, 2017, and the two networks will be selected in the coming months.

“Orange Is The New Black” star Uzo Aduba, also known as her character Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren, joined HuffPost Live and commented on the current state of race relations in the U.S.

Aduba: “We’re living in a time right now where the challenging and the hard conversation needs to be had. We’re watching the country, the face of this country and the ideas of this country, change and move into a place where we have the opportunity to stand on the right side of history. And I think people are wanting to be made part of the conversation that is our American history. And I feel that it is our responsibility as human beings and members of the human family to use our voice to ignite that change. I do think that is important. I think we are living in a very fragile time where we have the opportunity to be the people we say we are. Not just stand by and watch anything and everything happen in ways that will be disastrous for our future.”

Los Angeles, California _ Mercedes Young is responding to late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel talking about her revealing that she is a born again virgin on the WEtv show ‘Match Made in Heaven’. The show aired on Thursday, February 12, 2015.

Mercedes Young

Young, a 23 year-old entrepreneur from Miami was featured on the show with another contestant, telling the bachelor Shawn Bullard they were virgins.

"Mine is a little different," Mercedes told Bullard after the revelation. "She’s a pure virgin, I’m a born again virgin."

"I don’t know if that’s how virginity works!" Kimmel told his laughing audience after referring to the show as an "all Black version of ‘The Bachelor’".

"That’s like eating a salad and calling yourself a born again vegetarian," he laughed. "It’s like ‘I’m a virgin, these are my children, Caroline and Samantha."

Young has released the following statement through her publicist:

"When I signed up to be a part of WEtv’s ‘Match Made in Heaven’, I knew that I was signing away my privacy and that what you put out there to the world you can’t take back. I just didn’t realize that talking about my celibacy was one of the things that was something that would end up as a part of an intro for Mr. Jimmy Kimmel on his late night talk show.

I was very flattered to have him show my clip on his show because I’m a fan and have been for years. I’d be even more flattered to one day appear on his show and really explain to him what a #BornAgainVirgin is.

Anyway, after the show aired, I got a ton of people calling me offended that he was making fun of my celibacy. Honestly, when I saw the show I actually laughed because I realized that the term "born again virgin" is not one that a lot of people have heard.

I actually had planned to launch my #BornAgainVirgin campaign, tee shirt line and purity jewelry line later on this year but Mr. Jimmy Kimmel has unintentionally forced me into talking about it a little earlier than I intended to.

#BornAgainVirgin focuses on the fact that there is no shame in preserving yourself.

Since Jimmy Kimmel took the time to mention me, I must now make the time to continue my mission of encouraging people to realize there is nothing wrong with being a #BornAgainVirgin.