Scientists discovered four new species of sharks that walk
So — some sharks walk. Just not the scary ones. While great whites haunt the deep, walking sharks are content to scuttle in the shallows.
They’ve been walking, or something close to it, for at least 9 million years. They’re evolutionary superstars, too: Walking sharks could be the most recently evolved shark on Earth. That’s according to findings published this week in Marine and Freshwater Research.
Shark scientists spent years sampling the DNA of the only known walking shark species to estimate when they evolved. They found four new species while they were at it.
The youngest species might’ve evolved less than 2 million years ago. And by evolutionary standards, that’s recent — and a major contradiction to the widely held belief that sharks are slow to evolve. “The discovery proves that modern sharks have remarkable evolutionary staying power and the ability to adapt to environmental changes,” said Mark Erdmann, the paper’s co-author and Conservation International Vice President of Asia-Pacific marine programs. Sharks are older than dinosaurs, dominating the seas for as long as 400 million years (the oldest dinosaur fossil is thought to be about 240 million years old, by comparison). So the fact that sharks continue to evolve as recently as 399 million years later is pretty remarkable.
How they walk and where they do it
Walking sharks, also called “epaulette” sharks for their spots that resemble the military decor, “walk” on their muscular fins to forage for small fish along shallow reefs and sea grass. It’s a behavior partially driven by changing sea levels and shifting landscapes, which ultimately influenced where most of the nine known species settled — eastern Indonesia and neighboring islands, New Guinea and parts of Australia. Based on differences in the sharks’ DNA, scientists created estimated evolutionary timelines. They found walking sharks started to split off from their evolutionary relatives around 9 million years ago.
This walking shark, which resides in a shallow ocean off New Guinea, uses his fins to “walk” along the sea floor in search of food. During mass extinction events, carpet sharks, the group that includes walking sharks, were among the “most affected” animals, researchers wrote. Sea levels rose and ocean temperatures dropped, pushing the sharks to migrate to warmer waters. Sharks off the coast of Australia “hitched a ride” on moving tectonic plates all the way to New Guinea, researchers said. When the plates stopped shifting, the land settled, creating barriers for species to migrate. This might be why the sharks’ habitat rarely overlap, they wrote.
Hope for walking sharks’ future
Erdman said the group hopes their research could encourage conservationists to add a few of the sharks to the IUCN Red List, a global inventory of threatened species, based on how little is known about them. “A global recognition of the need to protect walking sharks will help ensure they thrive providing benefits for marine ecosystems and to local communities through the sharks’ value as tourism assets,” he said. “It’s essential that local communities, governments and the international public continue working to establish marine protected areas to help ensure our ocean’s biodiversity continues to flourish.”
Article via CNN
Don Lemon’s assault accuser says CNN anchor a ‘liar and hypocrite’ with #MeToo coverage
The man suing CNN host Don Lemon for assault says his claim isn’t being taken seriously because it doesn’t fit the mainstream media’s #MeToo movement narrative.
Dustin Hice filed an explosive lawsuit against Lemon – who is openly gay — last year, accusing the “CNN Tonight” host of a sexually charged assault.
Hice told Fox News the alleged “vile, disgusting, lewd and inhumane” attack would be treated much differently if he were a woman.
“[Lemon] put his hand down the front of his own shorts, and vigorously rubbed his genitalia, removed his hand and shoved his index and middle fingers into Plaintiff’s mustache and under Plaintiff’s nose,” according to the lawsuit, filed Aug. 11, 2019 in Suffolk County Court.
Lemon offered a six-figure settlement before talks broke down and the formal complaint was filed, according to Hice.
“I’m not doing this for notoriety or fame, I’m doing this because I’m standing up for myself and what I believe in,” Hice told Fox News. “I’ve grown a new respect for people dealing with mental health issues because stress, depression, anxiety, those are all very serious things. It consumed my life.”
CNN did not respond to a series of questions from Fox News, including a request for comment regarding Hice’s claim that Lemon offered him a six-figure settlement.
Lemon was served with the complaint Wednesday. The case was moving to discovery, according to a source close to Hice’s legal team.
CNN did not immediately respond with a comment regarding the complaint being served.
Lemon, through CNN, previously vehemently denied Hice’s allegations, and has continued to host “CNN Tonight.”
“I’ve grown a little skeptical of the news after what’s happened to me, nobody acknowledges it anymore,” Hice said. “The hypocrisy, he is a black, gay, liberal and supposed #MeToo advocate but when it doesn’t fit their narrative, or it’s one of their own, they don’t even address it.”
Lemon allegedly asked a crude question about Hice’s sexual preference during the physical confrontation, leaving him “shocked and humiliated,” according to the suit. The alleged incident occurred at Murf’s Backstreet Tavern, in the prestigious Hamptons area east of New York City in July 2018.
CNN initially denied Hice’s account and said Hice seemed to bear animosity toward the cable news network. But, Hice said he didn’t watch much CNN, with the exception of “Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown,” before the alleged incident and had no reason to trash the network.
Last year, the New York Post cited a “source close to Lemon” who said Hice asked for $1.5 million in exchange for not filing the lawsuit. Hice admitted that $1.5 million was a figure discussed during settlement talks but said it’s only part of the story.
“They painted me as trying to extort $1.5 million from him but they never mentioned that he offered many times over six figures to settle. He tried to make payments on that and I said, ‘No thank you,’” Hice said. “I think that when he went to CNN and [denied the accusations], he probably failed to mention that he offered me well over six figures in the settlement process.”
While Hice wasn’t particularly opinionated about CNN before the alleged incident, he has since paid close attention to Lemon’s show.
“I don’t want to see his face on the news anymore because he’s a blatant liar and hypocrite,” Hice said, pointing to a Sept. 2018 segment when Lemon discussed the various ways victims of sexual harassment dealt with the aftermath and trauma.
“It was only two months after he assaulted me,” Hice said. “This is something that I’m going to be healing from and recovering from for the rest of my life.”
Hice said he didn’t want to take the spotlight away from female victims of abuse and said he developed a strong sympathy for anyone going through similar struggles.
“The media has labeled me as an ‘accuser,’ as opposed to a ‘victim,’ just because I’m a male,” he said. “I’ve been struggling, but there is a lot of people that have gone through a lot worse things than somebody rubbing their genitals and putting it in your face, as disgusting and vile as that is. There are people that have been raped and worse.”
Hice said he took a polygraph test with a former FBI profiler to prove to people close to him that he’s telling the truth.
“I passed with flying colors, this guy hooked me up to this whole machine, it was nerve-wracking but I just wanted to prove that I’m not lying,” Hice said. “Witnesses saw this happen. The whole town of Sag Harbor knew.”
Last year, when the suit initially was filed, Fox News spoke with George Gounelas, one of the witnesses named in the suit who was Hice’s boss at the time of the alleged incident.
Hice approached Lemon to strike up a conversation but the newsman declined, according to Gounelas, who said he and Hice then offered to buy Lemon a drink, which the CNN host also declined.
Hice told Fox News he simply wanted to be able to share a story of taking a shot with the CNN host and was not hostile, confrontational or looking for trouble.
“He took offense to it, or took it as me flirting, and that’s when he decided he’s above the law and can do whatever the hell he wanted,” Hice said.
Gounelas said that a few moments later, Lemon came up to them.
“Don Lemon has now come around the corner and is standing face to face with us. There is a beam, a pole, in the place. Don’s standing up against the pole, face to face with Dustin, I turn around and I’m standing right there between the two of them,” Gounelas said. “He’s saying, ‘So, you like me? Is that why you’re bothering me?’”
Gounelas told Fox News he couldn’t recall what Lemon said verbatim, but it was “along the lines of, ‘Do you like me? Is that why you’re bothering me, because you wanna f— me?’”
Gounelas said Lemon appeared “pretty drunk” when he confronted the duo.
“He put his hands down his pants, inside his board shorts, grabbed his [genitals], and then came out with two fingers and, like, clipped Dustin’s nose up and down with two fingers asking ‘do you like p—- or d—?’” Gounelas said.
Gounelas also said he laughed during the alleged incident and immediately mocked Hice as “gross” because of Lemon’s alleged actions – but Hice didn’t think it was a laughing matter.
“Dustin was in this shock mode, saying, ‘Bro, did that just happen? That was disgusting,’” Gounelas said, noting that the story followed Hice. “Every time we went out, every bartender offered him a lemon drop shot, making fun of him. He got some sh– for it.”
“The plaintiff in this lawsuit has previously displayed a pattern of contempt for CNN on his social media accounts,” a CNN spokesperson told Fox News in a statement when the suit was first filed last year. “This claim follows his unsuccessful threats and demands for an exorbitant amount of money from Don Lemon.”
“Don categorically denies these claims and this matter does not merit any further comment at this time,” the CNN spokesperson added last year.
Article via FOX
Tyra Banks Declares It’s ‘Payback Time’ In Passionate Video About The Dark Side Of Modeling
Tyra Banks has long fought against the cookie-cutter beauty standards of the fashion and modeling industry, but in 2020 the model is fed up. The 46-year-old released a passionate video where she shouted out all the things she hated about the industry, and every pain she had felt over her 28 years in the industry. The model encouraged her fans to do the same, and to make videos shouting at whoever caused them pain in order to turn it into strength. The video was released to promote Tyra’s new venture “ModelLand,” an inclusive model-themed interactive entertainment park that is set to open in late 2020.
Annabella Sciorra Testifies That Harvey Weinstein Raped Her: ‘My Body Shut Down’
Article via YahooNews
Annabella Sciorra said in court testimony Thursday that Harvey Weinstein raped her more than two decades ago.
Called as a witness for Weinstein’s rape trial in New York, the actor — at times visibly very upset and crying — recalled the incident shortly after she appeared in Miramax’s “The Night We Never Met,” released in 1993. After a dinner in New York in ’93 or ’94, Weinstein dropped her off at her Gramercy Park apartment. He unexpectedly showed up at her door, pushing it open, and started to unbutton his shirt.
“I realized that he thought in his head that he wanted to have sex,” Sciorra said. “I started to back up because I thought I could make it into my bathroom. I told him to leave because it was not going to happen… I was not going to have sex with him.”
Weinstein then grabbed Sciorra around her collar above her chest, the actor testified, and he shoved her onto the bed. She said she was wearing a nightgown and did not have underwear on. “I was trying to get him off of me, I was punching him, I was kicking him,” she said. “I was just trying to get him away from me… He put my hands over my head to put them back and he got on top of me and he raped me.”
“He put his penis inside my vagina and he raped me,” Sciorra continued. “I was trying to fight but I couldn’t fight anymore because he had my hands locked. At a certain point he stopped, and he came out of me and he ejaculated on top of me on my leg in the nightgown.”
At that point, according to Sciorra, Weinstein said, “I have perfect timing,” and then “he proceeded to put his mouth on my vagina,” before which he said, “This is for you.”
“I didn’t have very much fight left inside of me at that point. I said ‘no, no’ but there was not much I could do at that point. My body shut down,” Sciorra testified. “And then it was just so disgusting that my body started to shake in a way that was very unusual,” she said, describing it as “like a seizure or something.”
Sciorra said she doesn’t remember a lot of what happened the rest of that night. “I know that I woke up. I’m not sure if I fainted or fell asleep or blacked out, but I woke up on the floor with my nightgown kind of up and I didn’t know if something else had happened.”
Sciorra said she did not call police to report the incident “because he was someone I knew,” she testified. “I would say I felt at the time that rape was something that happened in a back alleyway in a dark place” and committed by a stranger.
On cross-examination, defense attorney Donna Rotunno challenged that version of events, suggesting that Sciorra must have known what rape was at the time.
“Ms. Sciorra, you were 33 years old at the time?” she asked.
Rotunno also questioned various decisions Sciorra said that she made that night. She asked why Sciorra had opened the door to Weinstein without knowing who it was, and asked why she hadn’t tried to get to her phone to call 911.
“It happened very fast — very fast,” Sciorra said.
Rotunno highlighted Sciorra’s training as an actor, suggesting that her job is to pretend to be someone she is not.
Sciorra told the jury that a few weeks after the incident, she was in a restaurant where she saw Weinstein. “I confronted him about what happened in my apartment. I tried to talk to him about what happened and I told him how I woke up and then I blacked out and fainted and he said, ‘That’s what all the nice Catholic girls say,’ and then he leaned into me and said, ‘This remains between you and I.’ It was very menacing… and I thought he was going to hit me right there. And it was threatening and I was afraid.”
The actor testified that she wasn’t drunk on the night she alleges Weinstein raped her, and she said she had stopped taking Valium prior to the incident. “I realized I was addicted to the Valium. I was taking it during the day a lot and at nighttime and I also knew it wasn’t good for me, so I found homeopathic treatment at the pharmacy so I started to wean myself off,” she said.
Following Weinstein’s alleged rape, according to Sciorra, she began to drink heavily and cut herself. “I cried a lot. I had a lot of what I know is called dissociative experiences. I spent a lot of time alone,” she said. “I didn’t see very many people. I didn’t want to talk about what happened. I disappeared… I began to drink a lot. I began to cut myself a lot.”
In 1997, when Sciorra was at the Cannes Film Festival to promote Miramax’s “Cop Land,” Weinstein showed up unannounced at her hotel with a bottle of baby oil in his hand, she testified — at which point she pressed “every single call button” on the hotel phone. Since then, Sciorra testified, she recalled seeing Weinstein only once more, at an event. “Suddenly I felt a hand on my back, and as I turned around, it was the defendant and he immediately took his hand off and went away,” Sciorra said.
Sciorra said she first met Weinstein in either 1990 or 1991 when her agent took her to a party in Los Angeles at someone’s house. “There was a lot of people there, and at a certain point, my agent introduced me to Harvey Weinstein,” she said. Asked if she was familiar with Weinstein at that point, she said, “No, I had never heard of him.” Sciorra joined Weinstein in a car ride home to Malibu from the party, during which Weinstein handed her his business card and said that if she came across any scripts, she could reach out.
Sciorra said that following their initial meeting, she approached Weinstein about the script for “The Night We Never Met,” a rom-com in which she co-starred with Matthew Broderick. According to Sciorra, Weinstein said he wouldn’t produce the movie if she was not in it and he pushed her to start the shoot on the heels of two other movies she was in.
Weinstein sent Sciorra, who was living on Central Park West at the time, a plastic bag of Valium and a collection of his recent movies with a note saying “Enjoy these movies,” along with some licorice, popcorn and a bottle of wine. Later, Weinstein delivered another care package to her: “He sent me a box of chocolate penises,” she testified. “I thought it was disgusting and inappropriate.”
Prosecutor Joan Illuzzi, in her direct examination, asked Sciorra if it’s typical in the entertainment business to take meetings with producers and directors in hotel rooms, to which Sciorra responded: “Yeah, all the time.”
Illuzzi also queried Sciorra about whether she had any romantic relationship with Weinstein ever in her life. “No,” the actor replied. “To this day, have you ever had a romantic interest in Harvey Weinstein?” the prosecutor asked. “No,” Sciorra said.
Previously, Weinstein’s defense team had sought to block Sciorra’s testimony, arguing that her allegations were past the statute of limitations and represented a violation the Constitution’s prohibition on “ex post facto” laws. Prosecutors asked the court to allow Sciorra’s testimony to show that Weinstein is a repeat sex offender and a judge allowed her as a trial witness in a ruling last fall.
At the beginning of her testimony, Sciorra talked about her background growing up in Brooklyn. She said she graduated American Academy of Dramatic Arts high school at 17, and wanted to pursue a career in entertainment professionally — despite her mom’s disapproval. Sciorra is known for her roles in “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle” and “Jungle Fever” and earned an Emmy nomination for her part in HBO’s “The Sopranos.”
In New York, Weinstein is facing five counts of predatory sexual assault, rape, and criminal sexual acts. If convicted, he faces a potential life sentence. He also faces four charges in Los Angeles for allegedly raping one woman and sexually assaulting another in 2013, which carry a sentence of up to 28 years in prison. Weinstein’s criminal trial began Jan. 6 at the state Supreme Court in Manhattan.
Weinstein, who has been suffering health problems, hobbled into the courtroom Thursday without his walker, and was holding onto his PR rep.
Pictured above: Annabella Sciorra arrives to testify as a witness in the sexual assault trial of Harvey Weinstein at New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan on Jan. 23.
Hillary Clinton & others break their silence on Harvey Weinstein+ My thoughts on the hypocrisy!
Jessica Simpson goes public with addiction to alcohol and pills: ‘I was killing myself’
Jessica Simpson is sharing long-held secrets in her upcoming memoir, Open Book.
People magazine has the first look at the book, which is chock-full of revelations, including that the singer and actress turned fashion mogul was sexually abused as a child. It also revealed her quiet struggle with addiction — and how she got sober in 2017.
The sexual abuse started when she was 6, when the Simpsons would visit the home of family friends and Jessica would share a bed with their daughter.
“It would start with tickling my back and then go into things that were extremely uncomfortable,” the 39-year-old recalled.
Simpson kept silent about the abuse — and blamed herself, explaining, “I wanted to tell my parents. I was the victim but somehow I felt in the wrong.”
When she was 12 she finally shared her secret with her parents, Tina and Joe Simpson, while on a family road trip. She said her mother reacted by yelling at her dad and slapping him, saying, “‘I told you something was happening.’”
Simpson’s dad, a Baptist minister, who later went on to manage her career, didn’t take his eyes off the road “and said nothing,” she wrote. “We never stayed at my parents’ friends house again but we also didn’t talk about what I had said.”
The star said that the pain from the sexual abuse — coupled with stress of her career and anxiety — led to her self-medicating with alcohol and pills during her time in the spotlight. She got help for her addiction in late 2017 and has been sober since.
“I was killing myself with all the drinking and pills,” wrote Simpson, who was told by her doctor that her dependency was putting her life in danger.
She said her rock bottom was at the annual Halloween party she and husband Eric Johnson hosted in 2017. (Around that time, there were tabloid stories about her drinking “spiraling out of control,” made worse by the anti-anxiety medicine she was taking.) Whatever happened that night led to her telling her closest friends, “I need to stop. Something’s got to stop. And if it’s the alcohol that’s doing this, and making things worse, then I quit.” She said her friends responded by embracing her in a group hug — and supporting her as she got sober.
Getting control of her addiction involved a team of doctors, therapy twice a week and the support of her family, she revealed.
“Giving up the alcohol was easy,” Simpson wrote. “I was mad at that bottle. At how it allowed me to stay complacent and numb.”
What was harder was therapy, she admitted. However, “With work, I allowed myself to feel the traumas I’d been through.”
Reflecting on that time, she wrote, “When I finally said I needed help, it was like I was that little girl that found her calling again in life. I found direction and that was to walk straight ahead with no fear.”
She added, “Honesty is hard but it’s the most rewarding thing we have. And getting to the other side of fear is beautiful.”
Simpson — who welcomed her third child, 10-month-old Birdie, after getting sober — calls her new life “a continual gift.”
Open Book goes on sale Feb. 4 and will also detail her rise to stardom and her relationships, including with first husband Nick Lachey. She also recorded the audiobook, which will include new songs she says are inspired by her memoir.
Article via Yahoo
Kanye West Says He’s Running for President in 2024, Along With an Unlikely Competitor
Kanye West, the husband of Kim Kardashian West and a highly-successful rapper, has a knack for grabbing headlines whether that’s from his outlandish behavior or his decision to wear a MAGA hat, a nod to support for President Donald Trump. Just recently, the musical artist considered changing his name to Christian Genius Billionaire Kanye West, citing a religious awakening that has been reflected in the newest music he’s released, if that’s any indication of the volatility he’s capable of. So, given his seemingly impulsive behavior, many are wondering if he still plans on running for president in 2024 after be claimed he would several years ago. If so, he might have some unlikely competition.
West first announced that he would be running for president in 2024 during an interview he had with Vanity Fair. And for the rapper, he was being completely serious. “I didn’t approach that because I thought it would be fun… No, the exact opposite,” he said. “I sit in clubs and I’m like, wow, I’ve got five years before I go and run for office and I’ve got a lot of research to do, I’ve got a lot of growing up to do.”
The jury is still out on if West was able to do a ‘lot of growing up’ but the rapper did double down in an interview in November of 2019 stating, “When I run for president in 2024, we’re gonna definitely…” For West, though, no one in attendance took him seriously and laughter erupted throughout the room. He would go on to set the record straight for those who were doubting him, though.
West Double Downs on Statement to Run
After the laughter had subsided over Kanye’s comments about running for president in 2024, he became very solemn and serious, asking the crowd, “No, what y’all laughing at? Again, the audience burst out in laughter, as if West was filming a standup special and was simply going along with one of his jokes.
But remaining serious, the rapper looked the audience dead in the face and stated, “When I run for president in 2024, we would’ve created so many jobs that I’m not gonna run I’m gonna walk.” So, from the look for things, West is seriously going to run for president, come the 2024 election, at least as of now.
Akon Considering a 2024 Presidental Run Amid Philanthropy Efforts
If Kanye does, in fact, plan to run, which is very possible, he may have an unlikely competitor in fellow rapper, Akon, who has also said he is considering a run for the highest office in the country. This would likely be bad news for West as Akon has many of the experiences and qualities that seem to be absent from Kanye’s resume.
Specifically, Akon, who doesn’t do much rapping these days, has been heavily involved in multiple philanthropies over the years in Africa. He’s even developed his own cryptocurrency, called the AKoin, which can be used in various countries throughout Africa as a stable currency in the midst of the ever-changing regimes and governmental entities. Some people have stated that Akon has done more for Africa in one year’s time than charities have done in many years, altogether.
Akon’s Experience with Philanthropy and Business Development
Akon also got a chance to speak with Vanity Fair, and appropriately, was asked about running for president in 2024, given his past experiences with philanthropy, building businesses, and ultimately, living the American Dream.
The Soul Survivor artist responded in a way that is sure to attract some voters, should he pursue the presidential election in 2024. “I think if you’re going to run for office, you are serving. And I think that’s a little bit different from a job,” he said. “I’ve kind of experienced everything that a U.S citizen can experience – being an entrepreneur, understanding growth and building companies.”
“I can also say the same thing from a business level and then from a political standpoint. I’ve been, literally, advising presidents from everywhere. I mean, like over 15, you know, countries in Africa – all throughout the world.”
Article via Yahoo News
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Fans Are Calling Out Beyoncé and Her New Ivy Park Collection for Not Being Size-Inclusive
Fans have been anticipating the release of Beyoncé’s Ivy Park x Adidas collection for months. When the pre-sale kicked off on Jan. 17, they rushed online to stock up on their favorite items. But some weren’t able to get their hands on anything, as much of the merchandise did not come in sizes beyond XL. Many of them took to social media with their concerns, calling out Beyoncé and Adidas for failing to include a broader range of sizes.
What is the Ivy Park x Adidas collection?
Beyoncé announced the collection with a series of Instagram posts shared in December 2019. The line features sneakers, jumpsuits, cargo pants, tops, hoodies, dresses, biker shorts, coats, backpacks, and leggings. The items follow a maroon, solar orange, and cream color palette.
“My team has worked hard with the Adidas team in bringing my vision to life for this first collection and I am grateful and proud,” Beyoncé said in a news release. “From the accessories to the clothes and footwear, I wanted to design and re-imagine pieces that serve as favorite armor for anyone who acknowledges the strength in their individual style and lives freely and boldly.”
In ELLE‘s January 2020 issue, Beyoncé described the collaboration as gender-neutral and noted that she designs Ivy Park items with “everyone in mind.”
The launch of the Ivy Park x Adidas collection
A day before the official launch, fans got the chance on Jan. 17 to buy some items early. After logging online, some people were disappointed to see that the items were not available in their sizes. According to reports, the pieces only come in XS to XL.
So, they took to websites such as Twitter to express their disappointment.
One woman tweeted that while she loves the singer and is a “noted member of the Beyhive,” it is “incredibly disappointing that a woman who has made inclusion a part of her brand willfully excluded plus-size people from her athleisure line.”
Another said, “I stan Beyoncé, but it’s disappointing to see that this collection only goes up to an XL, especially because Adidas recently started selling size-inclusive activewear as well.” (Adidas launched a size-inclusive collection with the plus-size brand, Universal Standard in late 2019.)
Someone else tweeted to Beyoncé: “[It’s] sad you left your millions of plus size fans out. WE LIKE TO LOOK [GOOD] TO!!”
Even those whose sizes are available spoke out against the line, with one woman saying that while she can fit the XL, she’s still “very surprised Beyoncé herself didn’t make sure plus sizes were included… hurt actually.”
Others, however, took different stances.
“Love Beyoncé but I had no plans on purchasing Ivy Park so I’m not even mad at the lack of plus size pieces,” one person said.
Another tweeted: “We all love beyoncé. it’s okay for her plus sized fans to be upset about the ivy park size range. accountability is how people improve.”
As of writing, neither Beyoncé or Adidas has commented on the criticism. It’s unclear whether Beyoncé intends to expand the Ivy Park sizing in the future.
It’s not the first time Beyoncé has faced this kind of backlash
The Lemonade singer also faced criticism after a 2016 Ivy Park launch. The items also only came in sizes XS to XL.
“Funny thing about this Beyoncé #IvyPark collection is she wants people to be FIT but the only size she offers is FIT sizes already, so….” one person tweeted at the time.
Another called it “Absolutely disgusting.”
Beyoncé’s fans come in all shapes, so it’s understandable why people were hoping that the line would have had a broader range of sizes. Hopefully, Bey will take these concerns into consideration and will release something more inclusive next time.
Article via CheatSheet
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Mo’Nique’s New Film “Mother Trucker” & Showtime Comedy Special 2020
Mo’Nique is set to star in a new action-adventure film titled “Mother Trucker” a period piece set during the impeachment hearings of Nixon. In an effort to provide for her daughter, “Mother Trucker” discovers the real reason her husband died, which sets her on a path of revenge to find his racist killers.
“Mother Trucker” is an independent film (and directorial debut) written by J. Oyer Tomas. Mo’Nique and Tomas met in 2014 on set of “Bessie”, the HBO film that earned Mo’Nique a Primetime Emmy Award Nomination for her amazing performance as Ma Rainey in 2014.
Mo’Nique to Variety”
‘Never in my 30 years of being in entertainment have I seen a film with a badass black woman that has the balance of funny, drama, and action while addressing the challenges women of color face everyday, like ‘Mother Trucker”
Variety also reports that Mo’Nique is currently working on a comedy special for Showtime to air this 2020. Mo’Nique’s last comedy special “Something Different” was released on Amazon produced by Mo’Nique and her husband Sidney Hicks.
In 2019 Mo’Nique became the first Black Woman to headline her own comedy residency in Vegas called; “Mo’Nique Does Vegas” at the SLS Las Vegas Hotel. Amidst the controversy around her suing NETFLIX, being black balled in Hollywood for not playing “the game”, and being one of the only Women in Hollywood history to call out powerhouse companies, and people for racism, gender bias, and bad business. It looks like 2020 is piping up to be Mo’Nique’s come back year!
Article via theblackmedia
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Los Angeles teachers sue Delta after jet fuel dump over schools, playgrounds
“Students began screaming and crying because their eyes and skin were burning. Fear, dread, panic, and helplessness ensued,” according to a teacher.
Four Los Angeles teachers sued Delta Airlines less than a week after a China-bound plane dumped fuel over playgrounds and schools, citing emotional anguish and distress and accusing the pilot of failing to follow protocol.
The teachers, who have not been identified, say the airline was negligent by allowing the plane to depart in the first place.
In their suit, the teachers from Park Avenue Elementary School in south Los Angeles County, some 17 miles from Los Angeles International Airport, said they could feel fuel on their clothing, skin and eyes. The exposure caused the women to feel dizzy, nauseated and sick, attorney Gloria Allred said. Young students screamed and cried, she said.
“They also suffered severe emotional distress from the knowledge that they had involuntarily ingested toxins,” Allred said in a statement Friday. “Their severe emotional distress includes the reasonable fear that the exposure to and ingestion of jet fuel might produce serious health consequences in the future.”
The teachers are seeking compensatory damages.
Delta Airlines did not respond to a request for comment Friday, but has previously said the fuel dump was “required as part of normal procedure to reach a safe landing weight.”
On Tuesday, Delta Flight 89, which was headed to Shanghai, experienced engine trouble shortly after takeoff. The pilot declared an in-flight emergency and notified air traffic control personnel that the plane needed to return to LAX. The pilot did not inform the control tower that the plane would need to dump fuel to lighten its load, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
The teachers’ lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleged that the Delta pilot “was specifically asked” by air traffic control personnel if he needed to dump fuel and the pilot allegedly replied “negative.”
“We’ve got it under control,” the pilot said, according to the lawsuit.
Allred said that if the pilot had properly alerted air traffic personnel on the ground, the flight would have been directed to a safe location and altitude from which it could dump fuel without posing a risk to the general public.
The pilot dropped fuel at around 2,000 feet, hitting several schools in its path.
One of the teachers in the suit said her fifth-grade students initially thought the jet fuel was rain. The children looked up “only to have noxious liquid then overwhelm [their] eyes, mouths, noses, lungs and skin,” the teacher said in a statement.
“I immediately began to rush my students indoors, as the fumes were stifling,” she said. “Students began screaming and crying because their eyes and skin were burning. Fear, dread, panic, and helplessness ensued.”
Article via NBCNews
Tyler Perry Has Always Hated Playing Madea & Can’t Wait To Hang Up His Wig
It’s a wrap for Mabel Simmons.
Article via HotNewHipHop
She may have helped Tyler Perry build a $2 billion franchise, but Mabel Earlene “Madea” Simmons is a character that the media mogul can’t wait to see in the rearview mirror. For years, Perry has shared that he was giving up his beloved Madea character to work on other projects, but after fans publicly expressed how she impacted their lives, Perry continued on with the character.
However, all good things must come to an end, and Madea’s final days are quickly approaching. In an interview with Level, a publication geared toward men of color over 30, Perry was asked if he misses Madea. “Nope. I don’t,” he said matter-of-factly. The interviewer wanted to know if there was even a little part of Perry that wanted to revive his character for one more ’round. “No. We have a few more weeks of the Farewell Tour and then I’m done.”
Madea may have brought in the laughs—and a good-sized bankroll—but she was never a favorite of Perry’s. “It was never something I enjoyed doing,” he said. “My hand to God. I hated the costume, the wig, all of it.” The only reason Perry even thought of doing a female impersonation in his act was because of the successes of another comedy actor.
“I was scared to death!” he said of creating Madea and donning the wardrobe for the first time. “I watched Eddie Murphy and how he did his female characters. I said I’ll try it once and that’s it.” The rest is history. Are you a Madea fan?