Entertainment

Janelle Monáe released the song “Hell You Talmbout” Thursday as an ode to the Black Lives Matter movement.  She posted a message on Instagram explaining how the song is a “vessel” to express the grief experienced by those communities that are subjected to excessive police force and vigilante violence. “This song is a vessel. It…

Will Smith and his production company, OverBrook Entertainment, are reportedly up to things. Good things.  Word on the street, courtesy of TVLine, is that he and his cohorts are in the early stages of developing a sitcom that will be a reboot of the 1990s sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. The show catapulted Smith’s acting…

This video, if nothing else, shows how difficult it is for chocolate-complexioned women to walk into a cosmetics store and trust any ol’ body to beat their face. However well-intentioned and highly trained makeup artists may be, some of them don’t know what they’re doing when it comes to dark-brown complexions. Fashion model Nykhor Paul…

Remember the classic scene from 2001’s Training Day, when Denzel Washington, in his award-winning performance as Detective Alonzo Harris, said, “SHU program, n—ga”? Well, Hollywood has decided to give us more Training Day, but this time a television version of the gritty cop drama. CBS is currently developing a series that will take place in present-day…

The Wiz Live! is wrapping up its casting announcements, and Common and Ne-Yo will join Hairspray star Elijah Kelley as part of the ensemble, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Common, who recently won an Oscar for his song that is featured in Selma, will play the Bouncer, the gatekeeper to Emerald City and the nemesis of Dorothy and her fellow travelers. …

Marvel is giving black comic book fans something to look forward to with a reimagining of a short-lived 1978 comic.  Devil Dinosaur was a comic about a red Tyrannosaurus rex and his cavemanlike friend, Moon-Boy. But in Marvel’s new comic, Devil Dinosaur will be joined by a little girl named Lunella Lafayette, aka Moon Girl. According to Entertainment Weekly, Lunella isn’t…

When you appear on the cover of Vogue’s coveted September issue, it’s going to come with a lot of critiques. And it doesn’t even matter if you’re Beyoncé. But if you’re going to critique the Queen Bee—and, of all things, a black woman’s hair—you better be prepared for the backlash. Enter Megan Garber. Garber wrote…

TMZ caught up with Lamar Odom to get the scoop on what happened between him and his soon-to-be ex-wife during a recent confrontation. But it’s what Odom had to say about how the gossip site covers black men and rappers that’s more telling.  “I know what your company is about. I know what they’re doing…

Taraji P. Henson put a lot of thought into playing Cookie Lyon on Empire because she didn’t want the character to be stereotyped as just another African-American working-class woman whom people could disregard or prejudge.  During an interview with People magazine, Henson explained how there’s a lot more to Cookie’s larger-than-life personality, and she took the…

People itching to see a black James Bond in this lifetime may see their dream come true sooner rather than later. British-Nigerian actor David Oyelowo (he played Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma) will use his voice to play Bond in a new audiobook called Trigger Mortis, The Guardian reports. At first glance it doesn’t…