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“Power of the Dream” Offers an Intimate Look at the 2020 WNBA Season – Andscape

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The racial reckoning that gripped the country with Black Lives Matter protests in the summer of 2020 set the stage for the WNBA to hitch the fight against social injustice.

New Prime Video documentary directed by Dawn Porter gives viewers an intimate look at the 2020 WNBA season. While isolated in a bubble – affectionately often known as the Wubble by fans – at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, it provides an exclusive look at how 144 WNBA players handled the coronavirus pandemic as they prepared to begin the season, advisable for girls who died after encounters with police that directly impacted the 2020 election. To say the story was gripping could be an understatement.

“When they started describing what it was like, I thought, ‘Sure, why wouldn’t I want to talk about how the WNBA helped save democracy?’ So that’s how it started,” Porter, who directed award-winning documentaries about civil rights activist John Lewis and the assassination of presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, told Andscape.

After a yr of production, archival materials and a movie of a retired American soccer star Megan Rapinoeon a cell phone, the documentary shows viewers the first meeting with the future US senator Rafał Warnockprinting Vote Warnock T-shirts and intense collective meetings about whether postpone matches following the August 2020 shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Andscape recently sat down with Porter to debate the impact of the WNBA and the impact of the film.


Why was it so necessary to detail the origins of the WNBA and its history of support on this documentary?

This is a extremely necessary query that goes to the heart of this film. When you bring latest fans to women’s basketball, you desire to be certain that folks understand the struggle that helped bring women’s basketball to where it’s today in terms of respect, but in addition understand what it took to get so far in advocacy. Supporting yourself and the sport in the name of respect. Everyone likes to say that fighting for things is in our DNA. They do not have the luxury of people assuming they’re unbelievable top-level athletes. They must demand respect. As a bunch, they at all times worked collectively because that they had to work together to extend their pay (and) get travel support.

When all these social justice crises were happening in the United States, there was no intention to stay silent. They said, “We fought hard for this platform, but as individuals we are people who care about people who look like us.” And they weren’t going to sit down idly by while people were being murdered in the streets.

What exclusive behind-the-scenes content should loyal WNBA fans who follow the motion continue to exist Wubble expect?

The mobile phone footage (Megan Rapinoe) is just a few of the footage we’ve got to make use of in the film to indicate what the conditions were like, what their protest meetings were like and the way they coped. Not everyone feels the same. Not everyone was convinced that they needs to be collective, but they worked through it to succeed in group consensus. So all this could be seen in the film. How they got here up with the idea of ​​wearing these T-shirts after which saw them printing them. You see this meeting with Raphael Warnock and also you see how their support began long before lockdown was introduced. You see the history of what they have been doing all along and also you see that their support during the pandemic has been an extension of what they have been doing consistently.

Given the divisive media controversies which have plagued the league a lot this season, how do you think that this film offers greater insight into the league’s players?

(Sue Bird) emphasizes that the league is far more about supporting one another, but each teams are competitors. They play physical and I feel individuals who have not watched them play may need been surprised. I do not know what they expected. Basketball is a physical sport they usually are playing a physical game. They’re competitors. But this doesn’t indicate hostility or anger. People impose this narrative on others. I feel while you look at what (the WNBA) has done collectively and consistently over so a few years, that to me is who they’re. That’s why I feel the video will help. We’ve been doing this for over a yr. So that is how we preface all this controversy, it wasn’t like we desired to tell a selected narrative. We just told the narrative that was already there.

What did you study WNBA players during the filming process?

I used to be moved, inspired and proud of these women. They are intelligent, strategic, persistent, fearless and honest. It would begin to get really hard for them and at some point Layshia Clarendon, who was on Dream at the time, said: “I have to step back for a moment – it’s too much.” Then Sue Bird stepped in. You see them saying that is what I want and you then see people coming and helping.

So I definitely think you see a story of collective motion that’s so mature, mature beyond the years, beyond their years. All this – asking, in search of, begging and persuading. They put all their energy and skill into working to elect a Democratic senator, who then, by the way, flipped the Senate, put Democrats on top of things, and was in a position to vote for (Supreme Court Justice) Ketanji Brown Jackson.

What do you hope latest and seasoned fans alike take away from this documentary?

I hope they’ll see a unique dimension of the league. But I also hope they understand it. We have some really cool sequences where we’re just watching great basketball. So we do not lose basketball for activism. Basketball is there. So I hope people can have an even deeper respect for the W that comes out of this. They can have come for the game, but I feel they’ll come out for the women. So I’m really excited for people to learn just just a little bit more about who some of these other players are. (People) start talking about ‘Say Her Name’ and I feel they’ll mention a couple of more names.

Mia Berry is senior HBCU author at Andscape, covering every part from sports to student-led protests. She’s from Detroit (What’s up, Doe!), a protracted-suffering Detroit sports fan and Notre Dame alum who randomly shouts “Go Irish.”

This article was originally published on : andscape.com
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Jada Pinkett Smith has sparked health concerns with her unrecognizable appearance in rare public appearances since going private on Instagram

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Oscar winner Will Smith (56) and his wife Jada Pinkett Smith (53) were recently spotted having fun with an evening out in Calabasas, California.

The Hollywood couple has been open about their marriage over the past few years, and the “A Different World” actress announced while promoting her memoir “Worthy” that the couple had been separated since 2016.

But despite the fact that each Smith and his queen didn’t follow a standard marriage style, they served as steadfast support systems for one another, appearing at such major events because the Philadelphia native’s box office mega-hit “Bad Boys: Ride or Die” – which is now his eighth the highest-grossing film of the 12 months in the world, According to to Box Office Mojo.

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 13: Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith attend the 27th Annual Critics Choice Awards at Fairmont Century Plaza on March 13, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Critics Choice Association)
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 13: Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith attend the twenty seventh Annual Critics Choice Awards at Fairmont Century Plaza on March 13, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Critics Choice Association)

Their date night was the primary time they’d been seen together in public since the motion movie premiered in May. Many people suspected that perhaps something was incorrect between them because she didn’t send a “Happy Birthday” tribute to Smith on September 25 on his birthday.

However, the pair looked as if it would enjoy one another’s company, occasionally cuddling, E! On the Internet reportedwhile dining at Crossroads Kitchen, a venue co-owned by Travis Barker, on Thursday, November 7.

The “Jason’s Lyric” star wore a gold Gucci jacket and oversized boy jeans. The “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” was also dressed casually, wearing a gray jacket, a classic white T-shirt and a few pants. Paparazzi caught them with life coach and former monk Jay Shetty, whose podcasts have featured each Will and Pinkett Smith over the past few years.

But looks will be deceiving for a lot of Daily Mail readers zonal about how they think there’s something incorrect with the “Matrix” actress.

One person mentioned she had pseudoalopecia, an autoimmune disease in which the body’s immune system attacks hair follicles and causes baldness. Photos from the evening show a bald Pinkett Smith, looking even smaller than usual.

Another commented on her slender figure: “She doesn’t look good.”

“I’m sorry but he looks like her guardian,” read one comment, which used the colloquial term for guardian, before adding: “I hope she’s okay.”

A 3rd commenter thought she may not be sick and wrote: “She looks pretty AF.”

While it’s unclear whether Pinkett Smith was affected by some type of illness, was drained, or was “high,” the couple’s date night is testament to their relationship.

The “Girls Trip” actress has repeatedly shared with the world that she will’t imagine she and her husband ever completely breaking off contact.

In October 2023, while on tour for her newly released book, Jada told the Today Show that she talked about their decision to separate made in 2016, years before her relationship with August Alsina went public.

“Why it broke is numerous things. I believe by the point we got to 2016, we were just exhausted from trying. “I think we’re both stuck in our fantasies of what we think the other person should be like,” she said.

Adding: “I promised there would never be a reason for us to divorce. We’ll do all the pieces we are able to, and I just couldn’t break that promise.

Smith is just as committed to his promise. He joined her around the identical time on a panel about her book tour he told the audience“Jada is the most effective friend I actually have ever had on the planet. I plan to support her and support her for the remainder of my life,” The Baltimore Banner reports.

At least that is what fans thought until Jada shared a photograph of her and one other man, who was clearly not Will Smith, on a jet ski in the water.

Jada Pinkett Smith’s cryptic post about her heart blooming is resulting in speculation a few recent man in her life amid rumors of an impending divorce from Will Smith. (Photos: @Jadapinkettsmith/Instagram.)

Twelve days before her last birthday, the Baltimore resident took to social media to share her thoughts on what others take into consideration why men and girls stay in relationships.

“A man can CHOOSE to belong to someone. And if he does… he is considered noble,” she wrote in part, adding: “A woman is told that she MUST belong to someone or else… she is not worthy.”

She continued: “We, mere mortal women, are worthy simply because we exist! And those of us who’ve cultivated our Kingship in our inner realm and have a deep connection with the Great Most High.

“If we CHOOSE a bond with someone from this space… we are going to construct a monument of affection and provides birth to treasures. We do not have to unite in fear. You… are… greatness, she finished that thought.

The couple got married on December 31, 1997, after several years of dating. They have two children together: Jaden Smith (26) and Willow Smith (24). Smith also has an older son, Trey Smith, born in 1992, from his previous marriage to Sheree Zampino. A blended family often comes together to support one another’s successes.

Most recently, Willow famous her brother’s release of a brand new EP, which he dedicated to his past relationship with his girlfriend Sab Zada.

The project is known as “2024: A Case Study of the Long-Term Effects of Young Love” and appears on the depression he feels after breaking up with his social media influencer girlfriend after he was caught cheating on him during his summer vacation in Europe.

Building family relationships will be complicated, but they never surrender. Seeing Smith and Pinkett Smith proceed to support one another suggests that everybody in the family has hope of finding love, or a minimum of friendship, despite life’s ups and downs, for richer and poorer, in sickness and in health.


This article was originally published on : atlantablackstar.com
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How Quincy Jones died fighting Michael Jackson’s ‘ungrateful’ family over unpaid royalties

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The entertainment industry lost a legend on November 3, 2024, following the death of music producer Quincy Jones on the age of 91.

Jones worked with many musicians throughout his profession, including Dizzy Gillespie, Ray Charles, and influenced the careers of Frank Sinatra and Aretha Franklin. He also produced the late Michael Jackson’s classic albums “Off the Wall,” “Thriller” and “Bad.”

Quincy Jones entered right into a lengthy legal battle against the estate of his longtime musical partner, Michael Jackson, before the long-lasting producer’s death in November 2024. (Photo: recordacademy/Instagram; michaeljackson/Instagram)

Before his death, Jones was reportedly embroiled in a $30 million legal dispute with Michael Jackson’s estate over his share of royalties. RadarOnline.

After MJ’s death in 2009, the Jackson Estate allegedly negotiated with Sony Entertainment for a bigger share of the profits from his music, which might have resulted in Jones being excluded from the deal.

Jones was offered a $3 million settlement, significantly lower than the $30 million the Chicago-born composer claimed he was owed.

“Quincy thinks the Jacksons cheated him and he’ll pay them for it. He deserves higher treatment from those ungrateful Jacksons!” – the source said in 2013.

The insider also claimed that Jones saw himself because the “genius” behind Michael’s skilled success and the “Thriller” album, which made him thousands and thousands as a “superstar.”

Jones filed a breach of contract lawsuit against the Jackson Estate in 2013 after allegedly being “frustrated” with the matter for years. The grievance also names Sony Music Entertainment and Epic Records.

In 2017, a jury in Los Angeles awarded the “Secret Garden” composer $9.42 million in damages for using Jones-produced songs in Michael Jackson’s concert film “This Is It” and two Cirque du Soleil shows.

The subject of the civil case were two contracts signed by Jackson and Jones in 1978 and 1985. “Off the Wall” was released in 1979 and “Thriller” in 1982.

High-profile interview from 2018 Vulture Jones said: “I hate to enter this publicly, but Michael stole numerous stuff. He stole numerous songs.

However, in 2020, California’s Second Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the 2017 decision because the unique trial judge allowed the jury to misinterpret Jones’ contract.

The appeals court found that the jury improperly awarded Jones money from royalties and remixes of Jackson’s master recordings. After the appeals court ruling, Jones received only $2.6 million of the initial $9.42 million.

“While we disagree with portions of the Court’s decision and are evaluating our options moving forward, we are pleased that the Court affirmed the jury’s decision that MJJP did not pay Quincy Jones more than the $2.5 million it owed him,” the lawyer said Quincy, J. According to the then Michael Hennigan Related press.

Jackson family attorney Howard Weitzman said: “Quincy Jones was the last person we thought would attempt to benefit from Michael Jackson by filing a lawsuit three years after his death, asking for tens of thousands and thousands of dollars to which he was not entitled. “

Before Off The Wall, Jones and Jackson co-created the 1978 film The Wiz. Jones helped create the songs for the Sidney Lumet-directed musical by which Jackson played the Scarecrow.

“He knew how to do his homework, whether it was Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly or whoever, James Brown. He also copied a little bit of Elvis,” Jones said Hollywood reporter in 2021 about being around Jackson on the set of “The Wiz.”

Four years after the discharge of “The Wiz”, “Thriller” was released, which spent 37 weeks at the highest of the Billboard 200 album chart. Jackson’s sixth studio album won eight trophies on the twenty sixth Annual Grammy Awards in 1984, including Album of the Year.

What’s more, the Epic Records-backed masterpiece has been certified 34x platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, making MJ’s sixth studio album one in all the best-selling albums in U.S. history.

The world was mourned when it learned that Jackson died on June 25, 2009 on the age of fifty. The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiners and Coroners ruled his death a homicide.

Conrad Murray, Jackson’s personal physician, was convicted of manslaughter in November 2011. Murray administered a lethal dose of propofol to the 13-time Grammy winner, causing his death.

“Michael Jackson was a special form of artist. In some ways he was a man-child, a beyond skilled and dedicated man,” Jones wrote of MJ in a 2009 eulogy published in The New York Times. Los Angeles Times.

Jones also added: “There shall be so much written about what happened in Michael’s life, but to me it’s all just noise. I promise that in 50, 75, 100 years we’ll remember music.

As of this writing, Jones’ reason for death has not been publicly released. The music industry icon suffered two brain aneurysms in 1974, on the age of 41.

Jones also struggled with type 2 diabetes and in 2015 fell right into a diabetic coma. Facebook“By the grace of God I was able to do it, but not without having to make BIG adjustments.”


This article was originally published on : atlantablackstar.com
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Kim Kardashian ready to become lawyer against Kanye West if he moves to Tokyo amid sexual assault allegations

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Kim Kardashian is reportedly preparing to protect her 4 children from ex-husband Kanye West amid his recent legal troubles and disturbing rumors about his potential move to Asia.

The Grammy winner is currently facing serious allegations, including multiple sexual assault allegations and a wrongful termination lawsuit filed by his former adviser, Lauren Pisciotta, and is rumored to be hiding out within the Far East to avoid some legal problems…especially since at the least one is connected to Sean “Diddy” Combs.

The allegations against West come at a difficult time for Kardashian, who’s delicately dividing custody of her children.

An alleged informant, apparently close to the family, revealed told Radar Online that “there are rumors” about Kanye’s plans to move to Tokyo and renegotiate custody arrangements with Kim.

Sources say Kim Kardashian is willing to “work on the lawyering” if her ex-husband Kanye West moves to Japan and needs a custody arrangement that might require the youngsters to legally visit him within the Asian country. (Photo: Neil Mockford/GC Images; James Devaney/GC Images)

“(He may want to) renegotiate custody arrangements with Kim because he will want their four children to travel there frequently once they get settled,” the person said, adding that these plans would introduce “all sorts of complications and challenges due to logistical point of view, and Kim is worried about what the future holds if it goes forward.”

Fans responded on social media with their thoughts.

“His (sic) on the run because of the Diddy case” – one person he wrote within the comments section on In Touch Weekly’s Instagram.

Another person asked: “Why? Now he barely sees his children? He has full custody and a lawyer, and may sign a clause stating that he won’t give you the chance to take the youngsters out of the US without her consent.

The third comment was in regards to the kids’ desires and skim, “Oh Kim’s kids will choose him.”

The reality star and SKIMS owner have been keeping track of her public image since their 2021 divorce.

She appears to be heavily involved in raising her children, even reportedly checking to be sure that Ye’s recent wife, Bianca Censori, doesn’t dress inappropriately in front of their sons. Now she is reportedly concerned in regards to the possibility that West’s legal problems and international travel plans could disrupt their co-parenting agreement.

“She will get a lawyer and probably fight him every step of the way if necessary,” the insider revealed.

According to the insider, Kardashian’s anxiety in regards to the future is growing because the seriousness of the cases against Kanye is taken into account.

Pisciotta’s civil lawsuit filed against West details harrowing accusations she faced while she worked for him in 2021-2022. Pisciotta claims that as her boss, Kanye bombarded her with inappropriate content, including sexually explicit texts and pornographic videos.

She also alleges that, prior to her hiring, West assaulted her after he allegedly gave her a drink during a Santa Monica studio session, which was allegedly attended by the Bad Boy founder, who’s in prison awaiting trial on various federal charges, including fraud racketeering and sex trafficking.

This disturbing narrative echoes recent statements from singer-songwriter Niykee Heaton, who shared her own experiences with West and Combs.

During an Instagram Live session in June 2024, the 29-year-old singer alleged that her friend was drugged and that she was attacked within the studio with the 2 hitmakers when the singer was 19 years old.

She mentioned that she felt uneasy when she was offered a drink that she suspected was sweetened, and remarked, “There’s something damn regal about that drink.”

She described a scene where she was left alone with West, Combs and their associates.

“This is the part that I will never forget for the rest of my life,” she said. “It’s not actually about sexual assault. That’s not what haunts me… It’s when these two grown men were groping me, trying to take off my clothes, that I take a look at this man for help, I literally mouth the word “Help” and we come together and he looks away” – she tearfully recalled in the recording. “Nobody the hell can save me today and that is once I got really scared.”

Her account adds to conversations that the Yeezy founder is criminally dangerous.

West’s apparent retreat to Asia, where he stayed for an prolonged period, aroused suspicion.

Another source told the Daily Mail tabloid that Kanye could also be distancing himself from the United States to avoid intense scrutiny over his current legal situation.

“Kanye is concerned that this new lawsuit will bring him down to Diddy’s level,” the person continued, hinting that the Chicago native is closely watching Combs’ legal battles unfold.

While West stays overseas, Kardashian is reportedly monitoring the situation closely and has growing concerns about how a possible move to Japan could affect their children. It stresses her out too.

“Kim’s head is spinning because of this and she has an obligation to figure out the situation,” the alleged source said he said within the weekly In Touch. “But to say he finds it sleazy and stressful is an understatement.”

As she considers taking legal motion to protect her family’s future, one thing is evident: the law school graduate is ready to defend her children and be certain that Kanye’s legal problems don’t impact their well-being.


This article was originally published on : atlantablackstar.com
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