‘Surviving R. Kelly’: Singer’s former ‘student’ Keke Palmer vows to ‘stand by my sisters’
Actress and singer Keke Palmer was once a big fan of R. Kelly, but that changed after she watched Surviving R. Kelly, the Lifetime docuseries that details the allegations of sexual and emotional abuse that multiple women, some of them underage, have brought against him.
Kelly has denied the allegations.
But Palmer, who’s long been friends with him, was greatly upset by the women’s accusations.
While she once admired Kelly for overcoming obstacles to become the “musical genius he is today,” Palmer said Kelly has “slapped God in the face by his actions towards these women.”
She said she would “stand by my sisters.” Her lengthy post ended with a broken heart emoji.
Palmer once talked about Kelly giving her career advice. “When I was younger, I always felt like I had to separate [singing and acting],” she told Billboard in September 2017. “But I spent a lot of time working with R. Kelly and one thing that he told me, he was like, ‘Keke, you don’t need to shy away from your acting. You bring that to a part of your music. You make that take your music to the next level.’”
Kelly also documented some of their time hanging out together.
Since Surviving R. Kelly debuted on Jan. 3, the singer has been denounced by John Legend, Jada Pinkett Smith, Chance the Rapper and Meek Mill, among others. Kelly is also being investigated for sexual misconduct in Georgia.
Article via YahooNews
Dame Dash Shuts Down Nick Cannon’s Questions About Jay-Z & Foxy Brown Rumors
“It sounds like you got a question for Jay … ask him.”
Nick Cannon‘s been releasing short clips of his podcast “Cannon’s Class” on Instagram over the past few days. The first episode with Dame Dash was published earlier today. Cannon shared a clip of the two discussing Aaliyah‘s relationship with R. Kelly yesterday, but in the full episode, Cannon attempted to ask Dash about Jay-Z’s relationship with Foxy Brown.
There have been rumors floating around for a while about Jay-Z and Foxy Brown having a relationship when she was underage. Cannon attempted to get some answers from Dash about Foxy Brown’s age when she signed to Roc-A-Fella. “I wasn’t paying attention to Foxy Brown … I didn’t sign Foxy Brown,” he told Nick Cannon. When Cannon said that he thought Brown was 16 when she signed to Jay-Z, Dash quickly fired back, telling Cannon to say what’s on his mind.
“I thought Foxy was 16, that’s all I’m sayin’,” Cannon said. He later said that he thought there was “something between her and Jay.”
Dash told Cannon, “It sounds like you have a question for Jay. Ask him.” Adding, “You keep asking me questions y’all want to ask him ’cause he ain’t here. Ask him, I ain’t got shit to do with that and I don’t even know nothing about that.”
Peep the clip and full episode below.
Article via HotNewHipHop
Dr. Bernice King Weatherman Who Said ‘Martin Luther Coon King’ Should Not Have Been Fired
Martin Luther King Jr.‘s daughter thinks the meteorologist who used a racial slur while saying her father’s name deserves a shot at redemption … but only after some rehabilitation.
Dr. Bernice King tells TMZ … the recent firing of Rochester, NY weatherman Jeremy Kappell went too far. If you haven’t seen it, Kappell referred to a park named for MLK … “Martin Luther Coon King Jr. Park” while he was on air last week.
Shocking, but still … Bernice believes there’s a better way to handle the situation than 86ing the guy.
Bernice says, in this instance, Kappell’s racial slur seems to be a one-time flub … so the station should have cut him some slack. She agrees there needs to be repercussions — along with an apology — but suggests it doesn’t do anyone any good to just fire the guy.
She told us what she think the better course of action would have been.
As for Kappell, he issued a public apology with his wife on Facebook, insisting he accidentally jumbled his words and didn’t do it with malice. He also criticized the TV station for letting him go and not supporting him, adding … “I would never intend harm that way to anyone.”
Speaking of intent, we asked Bernice about that too, and she tells us someone who says “coon” publicly has probably heard it frequently in private or even said it in the past, which is why rehabilitation is so important.
And, for what it’s worth — maybe the most famous meteorologist, Al Roker, is on Jeremy’s side.
Article via TMZ
Police ID remains of fifth child of adoptive mother who drove family off California cliff
Devonte Hart’s Neighbors say they reported his parents before they plunged off the cliff
(CNN) – A fifth child from the Hart family, killed when their intoxicated adoptive mother drove the family off a California cliff last year, has been identified with the help of the girl’s biological mother, police say. She has been identified as 16-year-old Hannah Hart, the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office said in a Wednesday news release. One child, Devonte, 15, remains missing. “The most likely scenario is that he, too, perished in this incident, but the case remains open and active,” the sheriff’s statement said.
Hannah’s mom comes forward
Jennifer and Sarah Hart, both 38, adopted two sets of siblings: Devonte was brother to Jeremiah, 14, and Ciera, 12, while Hannah was the sister of Abigail, 14, and Markis, 19. Devonte hugged a cop and went viralAfter Jennifer — by all indications, intentionally — drove the family off a cliff along US Highway 101 on March 26, authorities quickly identified the mothers, along with Markis, Jeremiah and Abigail. Two weeks later, Ciera’s body was found on a beach north of the cliff.
The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office received a report May 9 that human remains — part of a foot in a shoe, entangled in jeans — had been found on a beach, but the crime lab could not immediately identify them. “In October of 2018, a woman who identified herself as the mother of Markis, Abigail and Hannah Hart contacted the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office and indicated she had heard of this incident via a family member,” the sheriff’s statement said. The woman provided a DNA sample, and on Tuesday, the crime lab informed investigators that the remains were those of Hannah.
An elaborate ruse?
Jennifer and Sarah Hart presented as the ultimate hippie moms, but in the weeks after their deaths, officials in Oregon, Washington and Minnesota, as well as people who knew them, said the homeschooling, organic food and music festivals were merely cover for their twisted philosophy on child rearing. Among the allegations were that the Harts denied their kids food and forced them to lie on the floor for hours. Sometimes, punishment was meted out for behavior common among children, such as laughing at the dinner table.
The details of what preceded the family’s fate are not completely clear, but Bruce DeKalb, one of the family’s neighbors in Woodland, Washington, said the family moved to the area between mid-2017 and early 2018. They were “very private,” he said. Shortly after they moved in, DeKalb said, one of the girls came to the DeKalbs’ door at 1:30 a.m. requesting protection because her parents were mistreating her. “We ended up getting her back to her parents … and then I went over there the next morning and just checked on things, and everything seemed normal, and we let it go from there,” he said.
Prelude to a tragedy
Days before the family’s SUV was found at the bottom of the cliff, Devonte came over asking for food, saying his mothers had refused to feed him, as a form of punishment. Devonte continued coming over — at first, once a day, but later as often as three times a day — and the DeKalbs said they called Child Protective Services on March 23. No one answered the door when a social worker dropped by, DeKalb said, and the family was gone the next day. Police found evidence they were in Newport, Oregon, and Fort Bragg, California, on March 24.
The last sighting of the family came March 25, police said, when Jennifer Hart was seen on surveillance footage shopping at a Safeway in Fort Bragg. After discovering the family’s SUV, investigators said that Jennifer Hart’s blood-alcohol content was over the legal limit to drive. Sarah Hart and some of the children were sedated when Jennifer got a 70-foot start and accelerated off the cliff without braking. There were no skid marks at the scene, police said. “The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office is poised to follow up any viable investigative lead but has not received any indication of Devonte being located elsewhere,” the department said Tuesday.
Article via CNN
Florida Woman, 86, Kills Husband With Walking Stick
A “confused” 86-year-old Florida woman was arrested this week on suspicion of murdering her 89-year-old husband with a walking cane, police said.
In a Monday press conference, law enforcement officials from the Santa Rosa Sheriff’s Office confirmed cops were called to a home in Pace, Florida, at around 10:30 a.m. Saturday.
Upon arrival, deputies found a man, later identified as Francis Lund, deceased on the property with blunt force trauma to the head. The murder weapon, it appeared, had been a cane.
“We have got a warrant signed for manslaughter, $250,000 bond, for Ramona Maxine Lund, the 86-year-old spouse,” Santa Rosa County Sheriff Bob Johnson said during the briefing. He said it was likely the oldest murder suspect the department had ever had to investigate.
As reported by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, officials said the suspect may suffer from dementia. “It’s clear that she’s confused,” William Eddins, a Florida state attorney, said.
“It’s important that, while we are going to focus on the mental confusion and that aspect, it is important to remember and be reminded that she is charged with a very serious crime that resulted in the loss of a human life,” Eddins added.
According to the Pensacola News Journal, a Santa Rosa news outlet, police were called to the elderly woman’s home by a neighbor who spotted the man’s bloody body on the home’s front porch. The neighbor tied to resuscitate the victim while waiting for emergency services. The suspect had reportedly been seen “standing over” the victim’s body at the residence.
The newspaper reported, citing the police, that the suspect had “blood on her hands and feet” when found. Her walking cane and nightgown was also covered in blood, officials noted.
Eddins conceded it was unusual for the prosecutors to be working with the public defender’s office to conduct a competency evaluation on the suspect, as they are doing in this case. He said: “It is my obligation to seek justice and it became clear…that this woman had significant indications of confusion and I felt it was important to my office to take an unusual approach.”
Sheriff Johnson said the suspect was treated at the jail infirmary. “We’re dealing probably with someone’s grandmother now,” he said as the briefing came to an end. “It’s not something that happens every day.”
Bruce Miller, defending the suspect, told the Pensacola News Journal he will now evaluate the defendant’s competency to stand trial and state of mind. “If someone suffers from dementia, they are not going to become competent,” he commented. “They are going to stay that way.”
The shutdown is about to bite
The very ones who voted for TRUMP are effected the most.
The government shutdown “is abstract for most Americans,” writes Axios’ Mike Allen, but it’s about to get very real very quickly. In the markets, nothing’s going to get SEC approval while the shutdown is in effect. That means no IPOs, just for starters.
What’s happening: The government also attempted to halt bankruptcy proceedings at a nursing-home chain, blaming the shutdown. Both debtors and creditors agree that would put patient health at risk. As Mike says, crunch time is coming. The shutdown will impose real hardship on the nation and its economy.
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Most government workers’ first payday without pay is fast approaching.
Food stamps for 38 million Americans could be reduced or even run out entirely.
Taxpayers who expect a tax refund want to file their taxes early. But with no IRS workers issuing refunds, that’s not going to help them. The absence of tax refunds, in turn, is going to remove a formerly reliable boost to America’s winter economy.
Our thought bubble: Mike thinks media coverage of those hardships could end up forcing the president’s hand.