T.I. Says Iggy Azalea Started ‘Acting Different’ After Finding Out White People Liked Her

T.I. took the time to carefully explain why he said that Iggy Azalea was a huge “blunder.”

The rapper appeared on “The Breakfast Club” to promote his podcast called “ExpediTIously” and addressed his controversial comments about his former protege.

“I feel like when she found out white people liked her and she didn’t really need black people to like her anymore, she switched up,” T.I. said.

“started acting different, made moves that I wasn’t proud of,” He continued, “that kind of put my reputation in the line of fire.”

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‘Young and the Restless’ star Kristoff St. John dead at 52, cause ‘deferred’

“Young and the Restless” star Kristoff St. John has died at age 52.

His attorney Mark Geragos confirmed the actor’s death, saying in an email: “Sadly we can confirm.”

The LA County Department of the Medical Examiner-Coroner Public Information Officer Sarah Ardalani said that St. John was pronounced dead at a home in Woodland Hills on Sunday.

The actor’s cause of death has been deferred “pending additional investigation” after an autopsy was completed Monday, according to the coroner’s official website.

Officer Rosario Cervantes, of the LAPD, said police responded to an incident Sunday in the San Fernando Valley area where a person was pronounced dead. She could not confirm the name of the deceased.

“We did respond yesterday at 2:05 p.m. on Morea Way for a possible alcohol overdose and that’s going to be a coroner’s case,” Cervantes said.

USA TODAY has reached out to the medical examiner’s office for more information.

St. John had played the character of Neil Winters since 1991 on the long-running CBS daytime soap opera.

CBS Television Network and Sony Pictures Television, the studio that produces “Young and the Restless,” released a joint statement about St. John’s death.

“The news of Kristoff St. John’s passing is heartbreaking. He was a very talented actor and an even better person,” they said in the statement. “For those of us who were fortunate enough to work with him on ‘The Young and the Restless’ for the last 27 years, he was a beloved friend whose smile and infectious laugh made every day on set a joy and made audiences love him. On behalf of the Y&R cast and crew, CBS and Sony Pictures Television, we offer our heartfelt sympathy to his family and loved ones, especially his two daughters, Paris and Lola.”

The actor was nominated nine times for Daytime Emmy Awards, and he won 10 NAACP Image Awards.

He also had roles in the 1990s on a variety of sitcoms, including “Martin,” “The Cosby Show,” “Living Single” and “The Jamie Foxx Show.”

St. John’s son, Julian St. John, died of an apparent suicide in 2014 while in a mental health facility.

On Jan. 21, St. John retweeted a tweet about the loss of a child that reads: “Grieving the loss of a child is a process. It begins on the day your child passes, and ends the day the parent joins them.”

He also responded to the tweet, writing: “Never a truer word was spoke. Thanks for posting this.”

Never a truer word was spoke. Thanks for posting this.— Kristoff St John (@kristoffstjohn1) January 22, 2019

The actor took a leave of absence from “Y & R” in October 2017 to undergo psychiatric treatment after a reported scare with regards to his mental health, according to Entertainment Weekly.

“No parent should ever have to bury their child, and for those who do, it is a nightmare that haunts you forever,” ex-wife Mia St. John said in a statement to Entertainment Tonight that month. “The death of our beloved son Julian, has taken a toll on both of us. He is an actor and while he may appear whole on the outside, his heart is broken. As a society we need to start taking mental health seriously and realize that no one is immune.”

St. John was set to be wed, announcing in September that he was engaged to model Kseniya Mikhaleva. He posted a photo of the engagement ring with the caption “She said yes.”

Mikhaleva joined St. John’s co-stars and other celebrities in grieving the actor on social media.

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Die Hard’ isn’t just a Christmas movie, it’s the best ever, according to 20th Century Fox

No matter where you fall in the debate, the statement from Twentieth Century Fox is unlikely to settle it.

The studio said this week that the Bruce Willis action flick “Die Hard,” which it produced 30 years ago, is not just any Christmas story but “The greatest Christmas story ever told.”

The studio made the claim in a new trailer it released for the film this week, with the holiday season in full swing.

The debate over whether “Die Hard” is a Christmas story has raged for years. What was perhaps once a tongue-in-cheek pushback to the G-rated fare the holiday season has typically been known for, has helped give the movie an indelible association with the holidays.

The film now plays in theaters around the country over the holidays. There is a corresponding illustrated book, “A Die Hard Christmas.” Bruce Willis has weighed in: (“Die Hard is not a Christmas movie. It’s a g–d— Bruce Willis movie” he said in July.) And news media articles now chronicle the debate every December. Google trends show that searches for “Die Hard” and “Christmas” spike every December.

The film was not released around Christmas; it came out in July. But it takes place during Christmas.

Hero John McClane begins the movie on a trip to California, to visit his children during the holiday and win back the affection of his wife. But the film’s villain, Hans Gruber, uses a holiday party as a setting to take hostages.

Steven E. de Souza, the film’s screenwriter, is firmly in the “‘Die Hard’ is a Christmas movie” camp. He told The Washington Post that the film’s producer, Joel Silver, had predicted the movie would get played at Christmastime for years.

De Souza also made a chart in an attempt to argue that “White Christmas” is not a Christmas movie if “Die Hard” isn’t.

The entirety of “Die Hard” takes place during the holiday, de Souza noted, not just the final reel, like “White Christmas.” It has three Christmas songs – “Let It Snow,” “Winter Wonderland,” and “Christmas in Hollis” – to two in “White Christmas.”

Academics and historians have weighed in.

“Christmas is a liminal ritualized period of carnivalesque inversion during which underdogs and the powerless are briefly elevated above hierarchical structures,” historian Greg Jenner wrote on Twitter. “John McClane is a classic Christmas underdog triumphing over selfish venality.”

Originally appeared in the Washington Post

‘Beautiful Boy’ sees addiction ordeal through a father’s eyes

(CNN) — Based on twin memoirs by father and son, “Beautiful Boy” is a grim fact-based account about the horrors of drug addiction, conveying the shame of the addict and, perhaps most forcefully, the guilt and frustration of his father. Anchored by Steve Carell and Timothee Chalamet, the story can’t entirely escape an old-fashioned TV movie feel — which isn’t bad, necessarily, but makes this one of those films that isn’t worth rushing out to see.

Journalist David Sheff (Carell) is understandably proud of his 18-year-old son’s accomplishments, which included getting accepted to multiple colleges. But young Nic (Chalamet) has been experimenting with drugs for years and has now become dangerously addicted to crystal meth, derailing those plans, despite one stint in rehab after another.

Director Felix van Groeningen (who adapted the script with Luke Davies) makes an interesting choice by essentially joining the narrative in the middle, with Nic already 18 and hooked. The movie then artfully flashes back to images of father and son when Nic was younger, conveying the whole range of flooding memories that the former experiences as he seeks to alleviate his kid’s pain and turmoil.

“Beautiful Boy” (the title of both David Sheff’s book and a John Lennon song, which is, indeed, used) isn’t just about those two characters, although they remain front and center throughout. Beyond an unflinching portrait at addiction — and how meth thwarts traditional treatment approaches — the movie plays as an awards-bait-y showcase for Carell, again amply demonstrating his chops as a dramatic actor; and Chalamet, who is having a moment and then some, after last year’s breakout twofer in “Call Me By Your Name” and “Lady Bird.”

There are lesser roles for Maura Tierney as David’s wife and Nic’s stepmother; and Amy Ryan — in a very different screen reunion with Carell, her former “The Office” co-star — as Nic’s mom, who can’t help second-guessing her ex, and vice versa. Timothy Hutton also has what feels like an appropriate cameo, given the similarities between this film and “Ordinary People,” which also dealt with the struggles of an upper-middle-class family through a troubled son and his confused parents.

Although slowly paced, the movie does convey a sense of tension and unease throughout, thanks to the gnawing uncertainty about when Nic will have his next lapse. The addiction, in a way, becomes something like the shark in “Jaws” — a lurking presence, made all the more unnerving because you never know when it’s going to rear its head.

“I don’t know how to help him,” David blurts out at one point, grappling with the realization that merely loving his son might not be enough.

To its credit, “Beautiful Boy” doesn’t reassure its audience with the false comfort of easy answers. But it still feels, ultimately, like an earnest and relatively minor wrinkle on a stark, emotional, all-too-familiar story.

“Beautiful Boy” opens Oct. 12 in the U.S. It’s rated R.

Source : CNN

Rihanna Created a Nude Lipstick to Look Good on Everyone

Fenty Beauty has a new lipstick you’re already on board, aren’t you? Fresh off of the Fenty Beauty anniversary celebration, Rihanna is back at it with a new shade of Stunna Lip Paint (her liquid lipstick) in “Uncuffed”. It’s described as a “pinky mauve” or nude-like color, and like fellow Stunna sister Uncensored, a red-blue, designed to be a universally flattering no matter what your skin tone. The Fenty Beauty Instagram released a video that shows what it looks like across four different models:

US Postal Service issues commemorative John Lennon stamp

The US Postal Service has paid tribute to the iconic status of the Beatles musician John Lennon – who was fatally shot in New York in 1980 – with a commemorative stamp.

Although he was born and bred in Liverpool, Lennon has an enduring legacy worldwide.

Bob Gruen, who took the photo on the stamp, said he hoped it could “bring a new generation to his music and his art” and his son Sean said his father “would have been thrilled to be accepted in this way”.

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Family, lifelong friends and even a US President ensure Aretha Franklin’s funeral is fit for a queen

Detroit (CNN) Family, friends and the many admirers of Aretha Franklin packed Detroit’s Greater Grace Temple on Friday to celebrate the life, legacy and music of the “Queen of Soul.”

It was a service fit for the Queen, who died earlier this month at the age of 76 after a battle with pancreatic cancer.

The funeral was full of mourning and laughter, of rousing gospel music and soulful hymns befitting of the first woman to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, who won 18 Grammys and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, among many other honors.

Ariana Grande performs during the funeral service for Aretha Franklin at Greater Grace Temple.

Singers like Ariana Grande, Faith Hill, the Clark Sisters, Chaka Khan, Fantasia Barrino-Taylor, Jennifer Hudson and Stevie Wonder rallied funeralgoers and brought them to their feet to dance and sing with Franklin’s “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” “I’m Going Up Yonder,” “Take My Hand, Precious Lord,” and “Amazing Grace,” to name a few.

Stevie Wonder performs at Franklin’s funeral on Friday. He began by playing the harmonica before singing “I’ll Be Loving You Always”.

Stevie Wonder gave the last performance before Franklin’s family exited the church. Whipping out his harmonica, Wonder played a musical rendition of the “Lord’s Prayer.”

“Were it not for God’s goodness, God’s greatness, we would’ve never known the queen of soul,” Wonder said after finishing with the harmonica. He ended with his 1976 song “As,” which brought people to their feet.

From left, Louis Farrakhan, the Rev. Al Sharpton and the Rev. Jesse Jackson attend Franklin’s funeral.

Spoken tributes and remembrances from religious and political leaders underlined the influence of a woman who stood on the front lines of the civil rights movement, with her music as a frequent anthem.

Rev. Al Sharpton, Rev. Jesse Jackson and former US Attorney General Eric Holder were among those who came to pay their respects and offer kind words and remembrances.

Ex-President Bill Clinton professes his admiration for Franklin at Friday’s service in Detroit.

Former President Bill Clinton fondly recalled the last time he saw Franklin, when she greeted him with, “How you doing, baby?”

It was a star-studded occasion, but it wasn’t about who was or wasn’t famous. Her former neighbor, Ron Moten, told the story of the time his friend Aretha gave a concert at his mother’s assisted living facility on her 90th birthday.

And fans around the world collectively followed the funeral for more than six hours, using the hashtag #ArethaHomegoing.

Pallbearers carry the casket out of Greater Grace Temple at the end of the funeral service on Friday

All those gathered had come to say their last goodbyes to a woman and an artist who profoundly impacted each of them, the city of Detroit and the world. “She gave us pride,” Sharpton said during his remembrance. “And she gave us a regal bar to reach, and that’s why we’re all here.

“We don’t all agree on everything,” he said. “But we agree on Aretha.”

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Marvel Artist Marie Severin dies at 89

Marie Severin, a comic book artist and colorist best known for her work on Marvel titles including The Incredible Hulk, Kull the Conqueror and the humor title Not Brand Ecch, has died at 89.

Severin’s death followed her move into hospice care following a second stroke his week; she suffered her first in 2007. Her death was announced on Facebook by longtime friend and former Marvel staffer Irene Vartanoff.

Severin, initially entered the industry as a colorist for EC Comics when her older brother, the late comic book artist John Severin, was working for the company and needed someone to color his pages. She would go on to color titles across the company’s line until it folded, before eventually ending up at the nascent Marvel Comics in the late 1950s, where she served as a production and paste-up artist and colorist before going on to pencil and ink stories in her own right. She served as Marvel’s head colorist until 1972, when she left the position to concentrate on penciling and inking.

In addition to her interior artwork, Severin also designed the original costume for Spider-Woman, and designed and illustrated merchandise for Marvel’s Special Projects division. In the 1980s, she was one of the core artists on the short-lived “Star Comics” line, aimed at younger readers.
Outside of her Marvel portfolio, she also contributed to titles for DC, Claypool Comics and Fantagraphics. She was named the Best Humor Penciler in 1974’s Shazam Awards, and won the Inkpot Award at 1988’s San Diego Comic-Con; in 2001, she was inducted into the Will Eisner Comics Hall of Fame.

Source: Hollywood Reporter

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame celebrates Michael Jackson’s 60th birthday

Fans around the world are remembering Michael Jackson, who would have turned 60 years old today. Celebrations include a free party in his honor at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, an event featuring Jackson family members in Las Vegas, a mural in Hamburg, Germany, and a Jackson-inspired jeweled crown sculpture in London’s Southbank.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is hosting the party on its plaza that includes dance performances and crowd tutorials, costume contests, a zombie transformation station and a plaza-wide “Thriller” dance. The party takes place from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. ET..

Meanwhile, the Estate of Michael Jackson and Sony Music will host an official Diamond Birthday Celebration at the Daylight Beach Club at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Michael Jackson’s children, Paris and Prince Jackson, are expected to attend, as are the singer’s brothers, Jackie and Tito, among other celebrities.

Michael Jackson’s lucrative legacy

In addition to being a legendary performer, Michael Jackson was also a songwriter, record producer and actor. He died at age 50 on June 25, 2009, of acute propofol and benzodiazepine intoxication after suffering from cardiac arrest. Conrad Murray, his personal physician, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Jackson’s death.

Boy whose Michael Jackson dance moves went viral receives “thrilling” gift from cop
Jackson’s “Thriller,” which debuted in 1982, was the best-selling album of all time until earlier this month, when The Eagles’ “Greatest Hits” album overtook the No. 1 spot.

Jackson was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame twice: as a solo superstar in 2001 and with his siblings in the Jackson 5 in 1997.

His father, Joe Jackson, who masterminded the careers of Michael Jackson and his siblings, died in June at age 89.

Matthew Polly: ‘Bruce Lee Wanted To Be The Next Clint Eastwood’

Polly discusses why he wanted to write the book, the connection between Lee and Steve McQueen and Lee’s early acting career as a kid.

DJ Sixsmith– How long have you been teaching your class at Yale?

Matthew Polly– Off and on for a couple of years. I started at the Singapore campus and then I do some stuff here in Connecticut.

DS– I can only imagine the reaction initially bringing this type of class to Yale, I’m sure it was pretty interesting.

MP– [Laughs] That’s right, actually the students, especially the Asian American students, really love it.

DS– I’m sure, so take me back a little bit, why did you want to write this book?

MP– I’m one of those kind of archetypal skinny bullied kids who saw Enter The Dragon when he was 12 and Bruce kind of jumped off the screen into my imagination and became my hero. I immediately rushed out and bought a nunchaku, spent an afternoon cracking myself in the skull with it – put that down and never studied that again [laughs]. But I took up the martial arts and ended up going to China to study Kung Fu with the Shaolin Monks. Really, the entire course of my life was changed by Bruce Lee for the better and I feel, in a way, writing this book was my way to payback that debt.

DS– I feel like there’s a lot of really interesting things about Bruce Lee that I didn’t realize. What did you learn about Bruce Lee from the hundreds of interviews you did for this project?

MP– I think it’s interesting that Bruce Lee is the only star of the 21st Century who died before he became famous. So his image was created completely posthumously and it was based on his movies, so many people didn’t know who Bruce Lee was. They couldn’t separate him from the characters they saw on screen.

What I found fascinating, or one of the biggest things, was watching the 20 movies he made as a child actor in Hong Kong – the fact that none of them were Kung Fu films lets you get that feeling that he was an actor first and foremost. He did comedies, he did tragedies, he did melodramas – he had that acting skill and then later in life he became obsessed with Kung Fu and then merged those two passions and that’s what made him a star was that he synthesized two aspects of his obsession and love.

DS– What was the most interesting interview you did?

MP-Betty Ting Pei was quite remarkable. She’s the woman, in whose bed he died and for about 40 years everybody’s been pretending that he went over there for a business meeting. Most people will realize that was not what happened, most actors don’t go to other actor’s apartments for a business meeting. But she finally decided to fess up and she just said to me directly, “I was his girlfriend,” and we’d all been waiting for years and years and years to hear that.

DS– How about this whole Roman Polanski subplot. Why did Polanski think Bruce killed Sharon Tate?

MP– Yea, that’s amazing. So two of Bruce’s closest friends were Jay Sebring and Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski was one of his students. In the Manson murders Tate and Sebring were killed and at the scene of the crime, one of the murderers left a pair of horn-rimmed glasses and Polanski came to believe that he could find the killer by finding out who had lost the pair of glasses.

Then one day just randomly while he was training with Bruce, Bruce had mentioned that he had lost his pair of glasses and for a short brief moment Polanski was terrified and he says to him, “Let’s go to the optician store and I’ll buy you a new pair of glasses.” So for the entire ride Polanski is thinking, ‘Could it be Bruce? He has the skills to do it, it might have been him.’ Then they get to the store and Bruce orders his glasses and the prescription is not the same and Polanski breathes a sigh of relief and never tells Bruce of his suspicions.

DS– Very interesting. I know that Bruce and Steve McQueen had a complicated relationship. What happened there?

MP– So, Steve McQueen was one of Jay Sebring’s clients – Jay Sebring cut his hair and that’s how Bruce met all of his celebrity students because he was friends with Jay. Steve McQueen was one of Bruce’s favorite students, they had very similar personalities they were kind of street tough guys who didn’t mess around. Bruce really wanted to make a movie with Steve. He was hoping he could make the first Kung Fu martial arts movie in Hollywood. He was hoping Steve McQueen would be the A-list actor who would get it green lit, but they ended up falling for the same actress, Sharon Farrell, and so they had a love triangle between the two of them. Steve ended up deciding he wouldn’t do the movie Silent Flute and Bruce was furious with him and he vowed that one day he would be a bigger star than Steve McQueen.

DS– Wow, that’s a pretty crazy story. You mentioned before that so much of Bruce’s legacy was shaped after he was gone – what do you think his legacy would have been if he had lived longer?

MP– I think, while he wanted to be a bigger star than Steve McQueen, he modeled his career after Clint Eastwood. He went to Hollywood in the same way Eastwood went to Italy to make a few cheap movies to prove his bankability to Hollywood and he thinks he would have done what Clint Eastwood did. He would’ve acted for a couple more decades in various films and then gone behind the camera. I think his reputation today would have been a former action star who’s a great director. We wouldn’t think of him just as a Kung Fu guy, I think we would have thought of him as a film maker and artist.

DS– When you teach your class at Yale, what is the biggest thing that you want your students to take away about Bruce Lee?

MP– I think the most important thing for them as young people is to realize that, it’s a cliche, but every once in a while you can do what you set out to dream. Bruce’s main accomplishment was to become the first Asian American male actor ever star in a Hollywood movie and at that time he faced insurmountable odds. He didn’t quit, he never gave up and through sheer will and ambition he achieved that dream. It cost him his life, but he managed to do it and that’s something I hope anyone takes away from that including my students.

Source: chicago.cbslocal.com

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