Entertainment
Ice Cube’s ‘Historic’ $5 Million Offer to Caitlin Clark Exposes Double Standards in Treatment of Two College Stars Ahead of Their Rematch
Women’s college basketball continues to attract national attention. Interest in the game peaked last yr, especially with the rise of athletes like Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark.
While it needs to be noted that South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley’s impressive run in Columbia, which has resulted in two championships to date, has helped spur the game’s newfound popularity, much of the credit goes to stars like Reese, Clark and Student USC freshman JuJu Watkins. in your unprecedented attention.
Some have even argued that girls’s college basketball has surpassed the lads’s game. The second round of the NCAA Division I women’s basketball tournament concluded on Monday, with a median of greater than 800,000 viewers watching the primary two rounds of play. According to data compiled by Sports Business Journal, these viewership numbers represent a 108% increase over last yr’s viewing figures.
Earlier this month, Clark became the all-time leading scorer in NCAA Division I men’s and ladies’s basketball and continues to break virtually every college basketball record. She led the Iowa Hawkeyes to one other stellar regular season and is widely viewed as the best women’s college basketball player of all time.
Iowa and LSU won their separate Sweet 16 games against Colorado and UCLA, respectively, on March 30, organising each teams for an intriguing Elite Eight rematch in the 2023 NCAA Championship Game.
Clark racked up name, image and likeness (NIL) deals and attracted an unprecedented amount of attention to Iowa City.
But amid her success on and off the basketball court, some seem to forget that Reese led the LSU Tigers to victory over Iowa in last yr’s national title game on April 2. named MVP of the NCAA Tournament last season and in addition received unanimous All-American honors.
Overtaking Clark and the Hawkeyes in the championship game took Reese, also often called “Bayou Barbie,” to recent heights. She currently boasts 2.7 million followers on Instagram and has gotten a tattoo surety agreements with fast food chain Raising Cane’s and Caktus AI technology, to name a number of.
Angel Reese’s on-court behavior has come under heavy criticism
However, Reese’s rise to fame was not without controversy. During the fourth quarter of last yr’s championship game between LSU and Iowa, Reese was seen waving his hand in front of his face. The move seemed to be an ode to wrestler John Cena, who popularized the “You Can’t See Me” gesture and catchphrase.
Reese looked toward Clark, pointing to her ring finger to symbolize the championship ring LSU would soon receive.
Angel Reese talks trash and mocks Caitlin Clark👀👑🏆🔥🦾 Call me 💍😂😂😂 #Turn it off #COUNTRY CHAMPION #LSU pic.twitter.com/t076qKPamj
—HarrietEve9 (@HarrietEve9) April 2, 2023
Some disagreed with Reese’s actions, with some arguing that Reese’s harsh criticism seemed to be based on her race and gender.
“I don’t fit this narrative. I don’t fit into the box you all want me to be in. “I’m too hoody.” “I’m too ghetto” – Yall has been telling me this all year, but when others do it, you don’t say anything. This is for girls who look like me,” Reese said at a news conference after LSU’s win.
Former sports and political broadcaster and current podcaster Kieth Olbermann didn’t hesitate to call Reese an “idiot” during his time on social media. Other social media users said Reese’s gesture was “classless.”
It needs to be noted that the response Reese received apparently didn’t keep in mind the undeniable fact that Clark did something eerily similar during Iowa State’s victory over Louisville in last yr’s tournament. However, it seems that marketing executives and enormous corporations were quicker to embrace Clark, a white woman from Des Moines, Iowa, but were more cautious when it got here to Reese.
The Black community actually honors Reese as she has turn out to be a cultural icon, but Middle America wasn’t entirely on board. Reese’s comments about her refusal to adhere to certain “narratives” speak to the double standards that Black athletes face – even those that are amongst the very best in their sport.
Reese also faced criticism throughout the current NCAA Tournament on March 24. She was accused of taunting Anastasia Boldyreva, a middle Tennessee player, by waving goodbye after Boldyreva was sidelined.
Did I just see Angel Reese flop, get fouled, after which start laughing and waving?
— Kirk’s evil twin (@tory4heisman) March 24, 2024
Cailtin Clark’s seven-figure Big3 offer
Hip-hop artist, actor, film producer and Big3 co-founder Ice Cube recently raised eyebrows when he made a “historic offer” to Clark in an attempt to persuade her to join the favored 3-on-3 league.
“But I won’t deny what already exists: BIG3 made a historic offer to Caitlin Clark. Why wouldn’t we? Caitlin is a generational athlete who can achieve great success in the BIG3.” Cube wrote on X.
TMZ initially reported that Big3’s offer was for as much as $5 million. Cube didn’t deny the reports when he appeared on ESPN’s “Pat McAfee Show” on Wednesday.
The $5 million figure could be significantly higher than any base salary Clark could earn in the WNBA. According to Spotrac data, the utmost salaries of the 12 teams in the league are an estimated $1,463,200 per team entering the season. No women currently play in the Big3 basketball league.
While Cube accurately rates Clark as a “generational athlete,” Cube’s criticism of Cube’s offer to Clark appears to be less about who’s less talented than who is perhaps viewed as the very best American college athlete.
So if Clark was invited to play in the Big3, the query stays whether Reese, Watkins and other black college athletes received the same offer.
Reese, Watkins and other Black female athletes deserve recognition
You can actually argue that Clark’s background has created a somewhat built-in level of privilege that Reese and other black players don’t profit from. However, it appears that evidently the aforementioned Watkins is taking advantage of the trail set by Reese.
The 18-year-old broke nearly every University of Southern California women’s basketball record this season and helped bring the Trojans program back to life. Watkins has averaged 27 points per game this season, second in the nation behind Clark’s average of 31.7. (Reese’s season average of 18.7 points per game ranks forty fifth in the country).
USC’s resurgent season has attracted a protracted list of superstar athletes and Hollywood stars, from LeBron James to Kevin Hart. Reese’s success on the court and her decision to be an unapologetic black woman likely gave impetus to emerging black athletes.
Entertainment
Brian McKnight’s son Niko steps into the ring after Tyrese claims Rickey Smiley broke the man’s code by speaking out about McKnight’s failed relationship with adult children
Rickey Smiley desires to be a gift and male figure in the lives of Brian McKnight’s estranged biological children.
Over the past 12 months, the “Back at One” singer has faced unforgiving backlash for speaking openly about his breakdown in communication with his sons, Brian Jr. and Niko, in addition to daughter Briana.
Brian Sr. shares his sons with ex-wife Julie McKnight, who has been vocal on social media in the past about their father abandoning them. He also has a daughter from a separate relationship and one other son, Clyde, with one other woman.
Recently, a famous singer said that his offspring will not be from God. Responding to criticism for using biblical passages in his defense, McKnight said, “God wasn’t talking about children being the result of sin, which they are,” and that “I didn’t raise them; their mothers did it.”
In 2017, McKnight remarried to his current wife Leilani Mendoza. She has two adult children, Julia and Jack McPhee, from a previous relationship. In 2022, the couple welcomed their first child, a son named Brian Kainoa Makoa Jr. In 2023, the “Love of My Life” singer legally modified his surname to the surname of his youngest son.
In the May 6 video, Smiley invited the recording artist’s children. He said he was “completely stunned and horrified” to listen to the singer’s justifications for denying his own flesh and blood while warmly embracing his stepchildren as his only children.
“I just want to tell Brian McKnight’s children – all his children – the ones he said were born into evil, born from evil… whatever he claims or whatever – that you have a lot of support here,” the radio host said.
I need adult children #BrianMcKnight who was #overtaken know that they’ve quite a lot of support here. You’re not kicked out.#RickeySmiley pic.twitter.com/rAtO1IH7aL
— Rickey Smiley (@RickeySmiley) May 6, 2024
Smiley went on to inform the three young adults that they were all the time welcome in his home state of Alabama: “Where there are men and uncles, and there are a lot of people in Birmingham who take in children abandoned by their fathers. I’ve seen a lot of it.”
Moreover, the veteran comic said: “If you ever feel any way or feel unloved and you would like male figures, father figures, there are people like me here. (…) You will not be thrown away, you will not be trash, you might be loved, you belong respect you.”
He continued, “We’re not here to try to switch your father, which is unimaginable, but we might be something for you. Just remember to step into maturity and live your life and get the help and therapy you would like so you may move on because words hurt. And such things hurt lots. You know, whenever you say things like that, it is a bell that cannot be called off.
Brian McKnight exposed by his eldest son for calling them “products of sin”.
Everything you and your children do and take notes might be used against you in the future. Now I understand why his ex-wife left him. Children of any age mustn’t clean condoms. 🤦♀️ pic.twitter.com/HEaiENpIvJ
— Yetunde Folarin (@xxyettymamaxx) April 24, 2024
Speaking more on to the songwriter, he noted that “you is likely to be positive with your latest wife and all that, but she won’t find a way to offer you a kidney. She probably won’t find a way to offer you a chunk of liver, organ, or blood.
Smiley told McKnight to get off his “high horse… thinking you were doing something.” It can have to be one in all your children who can have to step in to avoid wasting your life.
Fans applauded his kind words, which got here a 12 months after his oldest child, Brandon Smiley, died of an accidental overdose at the age of 32. Singer Tyrese, nonetheless, stated that “in my opinion as a grown man, it’s unfair” for Smiley to speak about one other man’s family dynamics.
“I’m not addressing Brian or his wife, it’s none of my business. I’m just responding to Ricky Smiley’s comment,” the “Baby Boy” actor said. He then defended Brian Sr. by saying that your children will hurt you, making the relationship “toxic” and “unstable.”
“There are a lot of things that have been said and done over the years that are nobody’s business that have contributed to where they are,” Tyrese continued.
Although he admitted that he knew his musical peer personally, he said that they never talked about the disowned children or his exes.
Tyrese doubled down on his support when he said moms can corrupt a toddler’s perspective on their father by “brainwashing” and alienating a co-parent. He also revealed that his logic was influenced by his own struggles with the moms of his two daughters. Like Brian Sr. who was dating response.
“Rickey Smiley recently lost his oldest son. Life is such that you cannot afford to give up your children! Rickey Smiley supports them from a different place/perspective in his heart. @tyrese just learn to SHUT UP sometimes,” we read in one in all the comments. Someone else declared: “Defending Brian McKnight’s behavior is crazy.”
A 3rd person wrote: “Narcissistic people love to insert themselves into situations where they can play the victim.”
Tyrese has since deleted videos of himself defending Brian Sr.’s actions and words.
In a move to “cancel” him, he fled to Europe for a romantic getaway with his wife. While traveling, Brian Sr.’s concert in Detroit, originally scheduled for June 9, was canceled because fans complained about him and his approach to parenting.
After watching the entire discussion, Brian’s son Niko spoke out a couple of weeks after his father claimed his mother blocked him for offering support while battling cancer.
“When I used to be a child, Tyrese slept under our pool table. I do know the blood of the ’90s RnB fraternity is thicker than the rest, but you must wait it out, champ,” he wrote on his IG story, captured by Shadow Room. “You have relationships by which you may repair your individual children and your past decisions that you just made in the name of p…s and power. Allegiance to those two things keeps you from seeing that in the end, family is the only thing that matters. Real men cannot see beyond bulls… Vol.
He finished: “But let me stop. That 46-hour shot of chemo prepared me for Jody’s disappearance. It’s not like that.”
Entertainment
Whoopi Goldberg reveals her shocking struggle with homelessness and drug addiction
Whoopi Goldberg is one of the crucial recognizable and respected Americans on this planet. A multi-millionaire, movie star, Broadway legend, comedian, producer and talk show host, Goldberg seems to have her life found out.
Despite her success, Whoopi’s life wasn’t at all times perfect. In his recent memoir, “Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother and Me,” he shares his struggles. Set to premiere on Tuesday, May 7, the EGOT winner reveals her cocaine addiction within the Nineteen Eighties.
One of the events she mentions within the book took place in a New York hotel, where the hostess caught her snorting a drug.
“I screamed, she screamed, she backed away and looked like she was going to run away,” she wrote. “I needed to get to her quickly and attempt to calm her down. While I used to be talking, she was gazing my face,” the 68-year-old then said of the worker: According to he took it!
Only after that the “Sister Act” star looked within the mirror and understood why the lady was surprised. She didn’t realize that her face was covered in white powder.
The View co-host believes she was a “very high-functioning drug addict” on the time. This perspective gave her insight into Charlie Sheen’s highly publicized addiction during a 2011 episode of Goldberg’s show.
Whoopi Goldberg, writer of the brand new memoir “Bits and Pieces”, recalls moments from the start of her profession alongside Mike Nichols and Steven Spielberg and what the Oscar for “Ghost” meant to her: “I have reached a peak that I had always hoped for as a little child ” pic.twitter.com/6gdwZ34d1m
— The View (@TheView) May 5, 2024
Sheen’s addiction got so uncontrolled that producers wanted him to go to rehab and take a break from his hit show “Two and a Half Men.” He didn’t do that, believing he could film by modifying his drug habit.
When the subject got here up on her ABC talk show, she had to clarify the complex psychology of an addict to her co-hosts.
“He is an alcoholic, a drug addict. He knows he has a lot of people he is responsible for (on the show),” he says commonadding, “Being a drug addict, I feel like I can say that.”
“I was a functioning addict,” she told her co-hosts and their tens of millions of viewers. “I showed up to work because I knew a lot of people would be out of work and I wouldn’t get the check I needed to buy medicine.”
Whoopi then described to the panel considered one of her worst moments during her addiction.
“I ended up sitting in bed for three or four days, afraid that there was something under the bed,” she recalled. “I wet the bed, I pooped… I used to be very scared. I hit all-time low. I did it an extended time ago.
With this understanding of the depth of addiction, she said, “It’s not a call for the producers (to make). Until Charlie decides that he’s ready and willing to stop what he’s doing… he is not there yet.
Cocaine wasn’t the one drug Whoopi admitted to using.
“I was young, homeless and addicted to heroin. I dropped out of high school and got into drugs. Simple,” she told The Sunday Telegraph, Digital Spy reports.
“I was a child of the 1960s, so I took as many mind-altering substances as I could. It was a rite of passage,” she said uninterruptedthen added: “And when I confessed, I was convinced that I wanted to become an actor.”
With nearly 4 a long time of sobriety, Whoopi is one of the crucial recognized characters on television and in movies. He has produced over 150 movies. She can be a producer on movies and on Broadway. Now he adds the writer to his prestigious album.
Whoopi, the primary black woman to win an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony, still appears on her talk show daily. The recent book will give fans an excellent closer take a look at her life, see her resilience and draw inspiration from her, showing that anyone with talent and commitment can succeed.
Entertainment
Snoop Dogg sponsors the Arizona Bowl with the Gin & Juice brand
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) – Snoop Dogg is putting his name on the Arizona Bowl in the alcohol brand’s first partnership with a university bowl game, the rapper and media personality announced Monday.
The “Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl presented by Gin & Juice By Dre and Snoop” is scheduled for December 28 at Arizona Stadium and can feature teams from the Mountain West Conference and Mid-American Conference.
Barstool, a digital media company, was already a bowl sponsor.
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Gin & Juice, named after Snoop’s 1994 hit, is the first product from Snoop Dogg and Dr.’s latest premium spirits company. Dre.
“College football fans are exhausted with constant NIL talk, conference realignment, coaching movement, the transfer portal and super conferences,” Snoop Dog said in a social media video. “So it is time to get back to the roots of what college football was all about – the universities, the players, the competition, the community, the fan experience and the spectacle. Being a fan, coach and supporter in any respect levels of the game, I even have sent many players through my (Snoop Youth Football League) to high schools and the NFL, so it was good for me to step in and help fix it.
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