‘The Voice’: Results provoke cries of ‘racism’; Are they valid?
Frustrated fans take to social media to vent their outrage
Pint-sized country crooner Chevel Shepherd was crowned the Season 15 winner of “The Voice” Tuesday night and not everyone was happy about it.
That’s no surprise. After every reality TV competition, fans whose chosen favorites don’t win tend to go ballistic. But this time there’s some extra bite to the outrage as many viewers took to social media to accuse the show’s voters — and in some cases, even the show itself — of being racist.
The problem? Chevel and second-place finisher Chris Kroeze are both white, while the third- and fourth-place contestants — Kirk Jay and Kennedy Holmes — are black. Clearly, the optics on that one are not great. “Eliminate the black people first,” wrote one Twitter user. “You’re not slick, but okay #TheVoice.”
The disdain was particularly forceful when it came to Holmes’ fourth-place finish. A 14-year-old R&B specialist from St. Louis, Holmes finished the competition on a strong note with three standout performances on Monday that had fans and critics raving. Many believed she had a great chance to win, or at least make it into the Final 2. So it was shocking to see her take fourth.
Among the baffled viewers was “The View” co-host Sunny Hostin, who tweeted, “Um I’m confused. How is it possible that Kennedy cane (sic) in 4th place?”
It’s sadly ironic that Holmes’ coach was Jennifer Hudson, the only black woman on “The Voice”‘s red-chair panel. (Again, bad optics). Fans of “American Idol” will recall that Hudson was a contestant on Season 3, when the show was accused of racism. That controversy was ignited when three black singers — Hudson, Fantasia Barrino and Oakland’s La Toya London — all wound up in the Bottom 3 one week. Hudson was eliminated and had to settle for a stunning seventh-place finish. Barrino, however, went on to win, quelling some of the racism talk.
Of course, it doesn’t help matters that “The Voice” had an earlier controversy this season when coach Adam Levine essentially lobbied voters to save Reagan Strange, a young white female contestant, over DeAndre Nico, a black singer.
Both Nico and Strange were in the Bottom 2 that week and the show’s rules call for the contestants to vie in an “Instant Save” sing-off. But Strange was ill and unable to perform. Still, Levine backed her and Nico was eliminated. (Strange was axed the following week).
In an interview days after the show, Nico said he felt like Levine “sold me out.”
Still, it is often a dicey proposition when it comes to accusing a reality show, and/or its voters of racism. Supporters “The Voice” will point out that the show has had three black men — Javier Colon, Jermaine Paul and Chris Blue — take the crown. Also, Tessanne Chin, an R&B singer from Jamaica, prevailed in Season 5.
And you can argue that genre and geography might play a bigger role in the results than skin color. Country singers and/or contestants from the South have traditionally fared incredibly well on both “The Voice” and “American Idol.” And Blake Shelton, the lone country singer on “The Voice” coaches panel, has six victories — way more than anyone else.
It’s important to remember, too, that when viewers of reality shows go to vote, they are voting for someone they’ve gown to love and appreciate. They’re not necessarily voting against another contestant. And in this case of Season 15 on “The Voice,” it’s easy to see how Chevel — labeled a honky tonk princess by some — would win over fans’ hearts with her powerful pipes and cutesy charm. And it probably didn’t hurt that her coach was Kelly Clarkson, a charismatic personality with a huge fan base.
Still, that didn’t keep many viewers from expressing their frustration.
Article via MercuryNews
Elfen’s Neo-Soul New Music Tuesday James Vickery Until Morning EP
There’s one thing I’ve learned If you want to hear good music in any genre you have to look for it. And this week I have been listening to to a dude who lives all the way in south Lundon named James Vickery. His new album Until Morning (EP) Estended Play has clear smooth romantic lyrics. James can sang! The musical composition is fresh. Track 3 Tonight could easily be a U.S club banner if given a chance. Hell this album would even be Grammy nominated for best album of the year. #clickplay and TRUN IT UP Neo-soul fo’ LIFE!! See you next week for more Neo-Soul goodness!
Grooms-To-Be Hope To Convince Mattel To Create A Barbie Same-Sex Wedding Set
Two Arizona men say they’re planning to meet with Mattel in hopes of convincing the toy manufacturer behind Barbie to include same-sex couples in their offerings.
Matt Jacobi and Nick Caprio of Scottsdale, Arizona, told “Good Morning America” they wanted to surprise their niece, Natalie, on her 8th birthday with a gift that would get her excited about being a flower girl at their 2019 wedding. So they decided to buy her a Barbie Wedding Set ― normally featuring Barbie as a bride and Ken as a groom, along with two flower girls and a cake ― and swap out Barbie for a second Ken so the toy would resemble their forthcoming nuptials.
“We have a wonderful, loving and caring Italian family,” Jacobi said. “Everyone is so excited for our big day, especially my two nieces. They have been talking about our wedding all year long and have been raised to understand and only know that love is love!”
The uncles presented Natalie with the doll set Dec. 8. Later that day, Jacobi snapped a photo of the gift and posted it to his Instagram as an open letter to Mattel.
The image caught the eye of someone at Mattel, and Jacobi says the company has reached out to him and Caprio about setting up a meeting in Los Angeles, to be held later this month or in early January.
When contacted by HuffPost, a Mattel spokesperson confirmed that the company had been in touch with the couple.
Both men say they’re overjoyed with the response.
“My nieces only knows that only Uncle Matt loves Uncle Nick and Uncle Nick loves Uncle Matt,” Jacobi told Out magazine. “Kids are taught to hate, they’re taught to have negative feeling about those who don’t fit the social norm. It’s time that we bring positive examples into the commercial market. … Toys are tools for teaching.”
Mattel has made a number of inclusive gestures with Barbie in recent years, introducing curvy, tall and petite dolls into the brand in 2016.
And Barbie ― who will turn 60 in March 2019 ― has even taken a stance on marriage equality in the past. In 2017, two photos posted to the doll’s official Instagram page showed her wearing a “Love Wins” T-shirt and posing alongside a doll created in Los Angeles-based fashion designer Aimee Song’s likeness.
If a same-sex Barbie Wedding Set is created in the future, Caprio is hopeful that parents will view it as another example of the brand shifting to represent modern life as opposed to a political message.
“It’s going to come up in your family no matter what,” he said. “As more same-sex couples are having kids, your kids are going to have kids in the class that have gay parents and things like that, too, so it’s not this huge shock anymore.”
via: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/barbie-same-sex-wedding-doll-set_us_5c17a0a9e4b05d7e5d8418e3
I was beat up in McDonald’s — and the employees just watched
She went in for a cheeseburger and fries and ended up McPummeled at a Manhattan fast-food joint owned by polo-playing scion Bruce Colley.
Elizabeth Storelli says in a new lawsuit that workers at Colley’s McDonald’s at West 71st Street and Broadway failed to help her when she accidentally bumped into a woman in the crowded eatery and was severely beaten.
“I thought I was going to die,’’ Storelli, a 49-year-old nurse, told The Post.
Storelli said she was headed home from a bar, where she’d had a couple of glasses of wine with girlfriends, around 10:30 p.m. July 24, 2015, when she stopped at the Mickey D’s.
The Upper West Side joint is owned by the man who famously broke up Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s marriage to Kerry Kennedy and whose elderly mother was found murdered at his family’s Westchester County estate in November 2015.
“I hadn’t eaten a lot, so I went in there and ordered some fries and a cheeseburger,” Storelli recalled.
“There were a lot of people in there, and a girl bumped into me and things just escalated from there. She called me a ‘white b—h,’ and that’s when a guy came over and poured the soda over my head,” Storelli said.
“I was in shock. I did swear. I was like, ‘What the f–k?’
“The next thing I know, I saw a group of people coming toward me.”
Storelli said she fled the restaurant, but an unruly group of customers followed her outside, and the next thing she knew, “Once I got out of the McDonald’s, they had me down on the sidewalk, and guys and girls were just surrounding me and punching me on the head and kicking me.”
Not a single McDonald’s employee came to her aid, the woman said.
“There were probably three [McDonald’s workers] at the registers. I remember seeing a manager on the floor walking around,’’ Storelli said. “Nobody got involved at all. They were just watching.’’
Even a Manhattan Supreme Court justice who recently green lighted the woman’s 2016 suit said, “Once soda was poured on her head, defendants had a duty to take protective action.’’
A good Samaritan finally came to Storelli’s rescue and cradled her head until cops arrived.
Storelli suffered a concussion and broken rib in the attack.
Two women, Joselin Santos, 16, and Annie Figueros, 33, were charged with assault and harassment in the case. But they ended up with no criminal records, and their cases are sealed.
Storelli is suing franchise owner Colley for unspecified damages.
Her lawyer, Joseph Napoli, said the eatery had security protocols in place instructing employees on how to deal with violent incidents, but they weren’t followed.
Napoli said there is surveillance video from inside the eatery but that McDonald’s told him the cops took it, and he can’t get it from them.
Colley told The Post in an email, “Our biggest priority is always the safety and well-being of our customers and employees. Due to pending litigation it would be inappropriate for me to comment further.’’
via: https://nypost.com/2018/12/17/i-was-beat-up-in-mcdonalds-and-the-employees-just-watched-suit/
Violent Altercation Between Brothers Ends With Florida Father Fatally Shooting Son
A sheriff says a Florida father is “absolutely shattered” after fatally shooting his 30-year-old son who’d gotten into a confrontation with his younger brother over a game of pool.
Martin County Sheriff William Synder told a news conference that Joseph Maloney got into a violent struggle early Sunday with his brother, 26-year-old James Maloney.
Synder says Maloney had his sibling in a choke hold with one arm while holding knife with the other. The incident followed a long night of violence at the home in Stuart.
Snyder says the father, John Maloney, hasn’t been charged because the shooting is considered an act of protecting his other son from great bodily harm or death.
The family told investigators Joseph Maloney had been under a great deal of stress from a 2015 DUI manslaughter case.
‘Adulting Day’ at Kentucky School Teaches Teens How to Pay Bills, Cook and Change a Tire
What life skills will teens need to know when they get out into the real world?
A high school in Kentucky was hoping to help answer that question when they held an “Adulting Day” last week.
According to Louisville, Kentucky, television station WAVE, seniors at Bullitt Central High School in Shepherdsville were taught how to cook when they get to college, how to change a tire, and how to pay bills.
“I think that the idea occurred to me, originally, I saw a Facebook post that parents passed around saying they needed a class in high school on taxes, and cooking,” Christy Hardin, director of the BCHS Family Resource & Youth Services Center, told WAVE.
The day also consisted of students getting one-on-one time with members of the community such as police officers who told them how to act during traffic stops. Other guest speakers included members of the Army.
South Carolina Pastor Denies Using Church Funds to Buy Lamborghini for Wife
“You light my fire, let this Lamborghini light your fire, baby.” So said Pastor John Gray when he gave his wife a Lamborghini Urus last Sunday—a gesture that sparked some criticism of his spending habits, the Houston Chronicle reported.
But Gray, an associate pastor at Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church in Greenville, South Carolina, is defending the $200,000 buy.
“God helped me to make my wife’s dream come true,” he wrote on Instagram, per the Chronicle. “Why not? She’s made mine come true!”
In a Facebook Live video, he also denied using any church funds, saying a reality TV show on the Oprah Winfrey Network, savings and investments, and book deals paid for the flashy vehicle.
“The stories that I hear, and I’ve tried to not listen to it, but one of them is, ‘pastor buys his wife, you know, this expensive car,’” says Gray. “First of all, it wasn’t a pastor that bought the car. It was a husband that bought the car.”
Not to mention that he preaches about God’s desire for human beings to get wealthy and give to the church—and that his wife has his back: “MY HUBBY IS A HARD-WORKER, HE WORKED HIS WHOLE LIFE AND HE SAVED TO BLESS HIS WIFE!!!” writes Aventer Gray on Instagram.
So-called “prosperity preachers” like Osteen (who lives in a $10.5 million mansion) have taken heat for their lavish lifestyles, but Gray tells the Greenville News that “if you work hard and pay your taxes, then you should be able to live where you are able to afford.” (One televangelist told followers to help him buy a $45 million jet.)
via: https://ktla.com/2018/12/17/pastors-lamborghini-purchase-has-jaws-dropping/
Deer Poacher Ordered to Watch ‘Bambi’ Repeatedly as Part of Sentence
A judge ordered a Missouri poacher to watch the Disney classic ‘Bambi’ repeatedly as punishment for his role in one of the largest poaching busts in state history, according to the Springfield News-Leader.
David Berry Jr. “is to view the Walt Disney movie ‘Bambi'” at least once each month during his confinement at the Lawrence County Jail, starting Dec. 23, according to court records. Berry Jr. was sentenced to one year behind bars, as well as a concurrent 120 days for a felony firearms probation violation.
Prosecutors said Berry Jr., along with his brother and father, illegally slaughtered bucks for their heads. Berry Jr. was the only one the judge ordered to watch the classic Walt Disney movie.
“The deer were trophy bucks taken illegally, mostly at night, for their heads, leaving the bodies of the deer to waste,” Prosecuting Attorney Don Trotter said in a Missouri Conservation Department news release.
The busts followed a multiyear investigation called Operation Game Thief, which involved roughly 100 state, federal and Canadian wildlife officers working in multiple states.
“It is unknown how many deer the main group of suspects has taken illegally over the past several years,” Lawrence County Conservation Agent Andy Barnes said. “It would be safe to say that several hundred deer were taken illegally.”
Investigators say they caught another one of David Berry Sr.’s sons, Eric Berry, using a spotlight in 2017. Deer often freeze when the light is shined into their eyes, making them easier to kill.
David Berry Jr. and David Berry Sr. lost their Missouri hunting, fishing and trapping privileges for life, according to the Missouri Department of Conservation. Eric Berry and Kyle Berry lost their licenses for 18 years and 8 years, respectively. A fifth man Jerimiah Cline, who helped the Berrys, won’t be allowed to hunt for five years.
The Berrys collectively have paid $51,000 in fines and court costs.
via: https://ktla.com/2018/12/17/deer-poacher-ordered-to-watch-bambi-repeatedly-as-part-of-sentence/