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The ESPY Awards commemorated a breakthrough year for women’s sports, with black women taking center stage

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Led by host Serena Williams, the ESPYS celebrated a milestone year for women’s sports. Thursday night’s honorees included Simone Biles, A’ja Wilson, Caitlin Clark, Dawn Staley and JuJu Watkins.

Staley, the coach of the national champion South Carolina women’s basketball team, received the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance. Her friend, Tennessee star Nicki McCray-Penson, died of breast cancer, and Staley’s sister was diagnosed with leukemia.

“I have to admit that I feel a little unworthy of this honor. Previous Jimmy V Perseverance Award recipients have faced incredible challenges and proven to be true warriors,” Staley said. “I was merely a spectator of such incredible courage and resilience.”

Staley’s Gamecocks won the Best Team award.

Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces won within the categories of best female athlete and best WNBA player.

“It’s crazy to think that a young girl who didn’t even want to play basketball is now up for even one ESPY Award,” she said in a taped speech.

The best male athlete was Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. He was also named the NFL’s best player.

“I’ve been around this kid for a few years now, and watching him grow as a player, as a teammate and as a leader has been phenomenal,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said of accepting the offer on Mahomes’ behalf, “but most of all, watching him grow as a father and a husband has been the best part.”

Biles earned the title of best comeback athlete just weeks before her performance on the Paris Olympics. The most decorated gymnast in history withdrew from the team competition on the Tokyo Games to prioritize her mental health.

Clark, of the Indiana Fever, also won two trophies: for her record-breaking achievement of becoming the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer, and for essentially the most collegiate female athlete for her basketball profession at Iowa State.

“I’m a little busy in Indianapolis,” Clark said on video. “It’s been a special year in women’s sports.”

Watkins won the breakthrough athlete category, taking home the highest award after the show began half-hour late as a consequence of President Joe Biden’s news conference.

The Southern California basketball star had a stellar freshman season, leading the Trojans to the NCAA Tournament semifinals for the primary time in a long time.

“It’s crazy,” Watkins said. “I want to thank all the amazing, powerful women who came before me and made this possible.”

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Williams joked during her monologue on the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, and later sang after Ciara opened the show with a musical performance. Williams’ older sister, Venus, got here out and joked about being asked to host, and the siblings engaged in a mock argument.

“You may wonder why I do this,” said fashionista Serena. “Any chance I get to wear 16 outfits in three hours, I’ll take it.”

The ABC broadcast returned from a business break in the ultimate minutes and commenced repeating the presentations of the 2 earlier awards. Williams’ farewell was also cut, as were the closing credits. ABC said a technical failure in the printed affected the live broadcast within the Eastern and Central time zones. It was to be corrected in an effort to delay the tape transmission within the Western portion of the show.

Prince Harry received the Pat Tillman Award for Service, and mentioned the mother of a deceased soldier who criticized ESPN for honoring a member of the royal family.

To a standing ovation by his wife Meghan, the Duke of Sussex accepted a trophy from three veterans who had been wounded in service. Harry served within the British Army for 10 years, including two tours in Afghanistan as a helicopter pilot.

In 2014, he founded the Invictus Games, a multi-sport Paralympic Games for wounded soldiers and veterans.

“This award belongs to them, not me,” Harry said.

Tillman’s mother, Mary Tillman, criticized ESPN’s number of Harry, saying there are honorees working within the veterans community who could be more appropriate. Harry thanked Tillman’s widow, Marie, for her presence and likewise recognized Mary Tillman.

“Her advocacy for Pat’s legacy is deeply personal, and I honor that,” he said. “The bond between mother and son is eternal and transcends even the greatest losses.”

Retired NFL player Steve Gleason was honored with the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage. He was diagnosed with ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease, in 2011. His nonprofit organization, Team Gleason, helps people with ALS live their lives to the fullest by providing programs and support services.

Gleason received a standing ovation as he entered the stage in a motorized chair and was kissed by former New Orleans Saints teammate Drew Brees. Gleason’s voice was audible through special technology. His young son, Rivers, stood next to his father, holding the trophy.

“For me, this honor represents a certain encouragement and triumph for families currently living with ALS, for anyone living with a disability or other illness,” he said. “I suppose if you’ve never experienced fear, isolation or suffering, you can roll your sacred ass out of here.”

Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers was named the MLB MVP; Connor McDavid of the Stanley Cup runner-up Edmonton Oilers was named the NHL MVP; and Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks was named the NBA MVP.

Montverde (Florida) Academy point guard Cooper Flagg and Ventura (Calif.) High School track and field athlete Sadie Engelhardt won the Gatorade National Players of the Year award.

The three-hour ABC show was delayed because Biden’s nationally televised news conference began late and ran half-hour before the tip of the show.

This article was originally published on : thegrio.com
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Power Book II: Ghost Season 4 Episode 7: Dirty Diana Dares to Do Wicked Deeds… and More

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thegrio.com, power book ii ghost, starz

I won’t hold you to it, but “Power Book II: Ghost” is frustrating me. We’re three episodes away from the series finale — not the season finale, but — and as a substitute of solving problems and taking Aaliyah’s (RIP) advice in regards to the need for an answer, our most important characters are finding trouble to get themselves into.

Hey Panama, what are you talking about?

I’m glad you asked.

So dirty cop Det. Lewis (who’s Felicia on this episode; I’ll be switching back and forth) beats up Diana on the road in New York, causing Diana to lose her baby. Of course, Diana wants revenge. This is similar Diana, remember, who spent the higher a part of several seasons telling us she wanted NOTHING to do with the sport. It is smart for her life; the life Monet forced upon her family cost her father, brother/cousin, friends, and sanity. Diana wanted to go to Spelman; as a substitute, she got stuck in Stansfield and got pregnant with Tariq St. Patrick, who literally jumped out of the frying pan. But the cop hurt her, so she wants revenge. Except Diana sucks at hardcore life; as a substitute of shooting Felicia like she must have done outright, she had to do this thing where you explain to the person you are going to kill why they are going to die. So as a substitute of shooting her, Diana gets right into a fight with Felicia and then hits Felicia in the pinnacle multiple times with a cast-iron skillet.

Task completed. New problems arose.

Of course, as you may imagine, the entire episode is in regards to the Tejada family and Tariq trying to kill this cop who’s involved in Detective Carter’s task force. Yo, Detective Carter is literally the worst boss ever. So he ropes in a few of his guys to let drug dealers sell drugs and then kill other guys. But also, Detective Carter kills Congressman Rashad Tate’s brother, Detective Kamal Tate, and then blames the murder on individuals who couldn’t have done it, causing just a little little bit of friction in his own camp.

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Yo, let this be a lesson to anyone who has to work their way up through a pyramid scheme; the home of cards all the time collapses, which is clearly what’s going to occur here. I actually have little question that Detective Carter will likely be killed by someone, I just do not know who will do the killing.

By the time I get to Dru Tejada, I can already see the top in sight. Felicia (Detective Lewis), who sent Diana to kill Zion within the last episode, got a recording (so silly) of Tariq and Brayden killing him. Diana after all blamed Tariq for the murder so Diana would not have to. Anyway, because it happened in a police secure house, Detective Lewis has the entire thing on camera. Detective Carter didn’t know she blamed Diana OR that she stomped on her, so he’s rightfully pissed. Oh well, he sees the recording and keeps it. I think this little plot device will come back to bite Tariq and Brayden within the ass eventually. I think Tariq will kill Detective Carter, but not before the recording results in the hands of the police, sending Tariq to prison for all times. Although on this twisted world let’s fast forward and see that Councilman Tate is now president and finds out that Carter killed his brother (Tariq) and pardons Tariq who then opens a series of automotive dealerships in upstate New York, but I’m getting just a little ahead of myself.

Monet is a large number. Blah blah blah. Let’s speak about Dru Tejada. When this show began, Dru was an excellent kid from a foul family who, despite wanting to join the family business, really wanted to be an artist and love his different faces. In the course of who, Monet turned Dru right into a future franchise assassin. Seriously, forget Jason Bourne and Jack Reacher, we’d like a Dru Tejada franchise where he’s an antihero who kills drug dealers in an attempt to defeat the demons his mother has fed him since he was a baby. Dru is here, killing people in prison like a professional. He’s also doing it so tactically – Dru definitely has a future within the mercenary game if he makes it out alive. In fact, Dru and Cane could do a buddy-murder movie and spend the identical period of time fighting one another. I’m just saying that to me, it’s crazy how Dru Tejada’s character arc is. Everyone else is just about the identical as they were at the start of the show, just in numerous situations. Dru is the just one who has transformed into the version of herself she least wanted to be. I hate that about him, but could we get a Dru spin-off? Probably not.

Effie is finally going to Stanford, if she doesn’t die first. Hurray, success story…possibly.

We’ve got three episodes left, we’d like to start eliminating the vital bodies ASAP – NOT ALL of them will make it to the top alive.


This article was originally published on : thegrio.com
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Maya Rudolph Wins No. 6 Emmy of Her Career, Angela Bassett Wins Her First Emmy in Creative Arts

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Angela Bassett, wins creative arts Emmy, theGrio.com

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Maya Rudolph won her sixth profession title Emma On Saturday night, she took home the trophy for Best Character Voice Acting for her work on Big Mouth on the Creative Arts Emmy Awards, while Angela Bassett won her first award for narrating the National Geographic show Queens.

A former and future “Saturday Night Live” star, Rudolph is nominated for 3 consecutive Emmy Awards. Her voiceover work as Hormone Monstress in the Netflix animated series “Big Mouth” earned her 4 Emmy Awards.

“I’m really proud to be a part of this show,” she said. “It humanizes being human.”

She became moved as she spoke in regards to the privilege she has of with the ability to do what she loves in life.

“I’m crying because I’m going through menopause,” Rudolph said.

She won the primary of the two-day Creative Arts Emmy Awards, which honor artistic and technical achievements in television and are a precursor to the foremost award (*6*)Emmy Awards ceremony, hosted by Dan and Eugene Levywhich is able to air on September 15 at 8:00 PM ET on ABC.

Bassett apparently took home the award for Best Narrator, a category that is frequently star-studded but in which the winner, like last 12 months’s Barack Obama, rarely appears.

“Oh my god, wow, my first Emmy,” Bassett said with emotion. “I couldn’t be more excited and grateful.”

Bassett said backstage that she was drawn to the wildlife documentary project because of its all-female production team, a rarity in the medium.

“It just touched my heart,” she said. “So I said yes.”

Bassett has been nominated for an Oscar twice and received an honorary Oscar earlier this 12 months.

Other winners included the recently retired Pat Sajakwho won the award for Best Game Show Host for his final season on “Wheel of Fortune.” It was his fourth win in the category and first since 1998.

“Saturday Night Live” found success in the craft categories, winning six awards, including those for makeup and production design.

Rudolph won two Emmys as a solid member and was nominated for 2 more for her work hosting the sketch institute last season. The Emmys can be presented Sunday.

She will return in the autumn to play the vice chairman. Kamala Harris on the fiftieth season of “SNL” just a few weeks before the election.

“I feel like I’m somehow connected to an amazing time in this country and an excitement I haven’t felt in a long time,” she said backstage Saturday.

She can be nominated on the foremost Emmy Awards for best actress in a comedy for her Apple TV+ series “Loot.” Her probabilities of winning the award are slim, with Jean Smart for “Hacks” and Ayo Edebiri for “Bear” which takes first place in the comedy category with 23 nominations.

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Ron Howard’s documentary “Jim Henson Idea Man” won 4 times, while “Welcome to Wrexham” won thrice, including best unstructured reality show. “Shark Tank” won best structured reality show. In an awards crossover, the Oscars telecast won 4 Emmys, including best live special.

Dick Van Dykewho turns 99 next month, could have stolen the show when “Dick Van Dyke 98 Years Of Magic” won for best pre-recorded variety program.

Van Dyke did a brief dance and announced “this hurts” later. As the winners were played offstage, he said, “I’d like to take this opportunity to invite you to my memorial. I don’t have a date yet, but I don’t feel great.”

Van Dyke became the oldest person to win an Emmy for a daytime television show when he accepted the award in June for his appearance on “Days of Our Lives.”

The highest nominated in all the season, “Shogun” scored a victory of sorts Saturday when the team that creates the post-show footage won an Emmy. The FX series itself is nominated for 25 Emmys. Seventeen of those can be presented Sunday, with the series specializing in scripted television.

Many big names, including Oscar winners, will compete in the Creative Arts Emmys on Sunday Jamie Lee Curtis AND Da’Vine Joy Randolph and nominated for an Oscar Ryan Gosling.

This article was originally published on : thegrio.com
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Morris Chestnut Previews Final Episodes of ‘Reasonable Doubt’ Season 2: ‘Lots of Twists’

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Morris Chestnut reveals what viewers can expect from the ultimate five episodes of Reasonable Doubt’s second season.

In the recently aired episode titled “Primetime,” fans watched as Jax’s friend and Corey’s client, Shanelle Tucker, unpacked the start of her abusive relationship together with her husband, JT, whose murder Shanelle was accused of. The episode also featured Shanelle’s first televised interview from prison, the top of Corey’s relationship with a renowned television journalist, and a pregnancy announcement that would impact the Stewart family.

That may appear to be loads of shocking stories, but Chestnut says there are more.

“We’re shooting a lot of stuff. I’m not sure how much of it there will be, but there will be a lot of twists and turns in the show,” the actor shares. “I think that’s one of the things I realized while shooting the show. I didn’t know exactly how everything was going to end, what was going to happen, and none of the crew knew either. We’re always guessing. I’d say probably 95 to 98 percent of people were wrong about what was happening, and I love that.”

Morris Chestnut attends the Peacock premiere of “The Best Man: The Final Chapters” at Hollywood Athletic Club on December 7, 2022 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

“I love taking those scripts and reading them in terms of the episode and saying, ‘Oh, wow, what happened next?’ So what can you expect? Lots of twists and turns, and things might not go the way you expect them to.”

This season of Reasonable Doubt not only explores Jax and Corey’s legal challenges, but in addition gives viewers a more in-depth have a look at intimate partner violence and abuse. The series explores how gaslighting, emotional manipulation and escalating violence contribute to the physical abuse victims can experience. Corey, from Chestnut, is a defense attorney who focuses on such cases, defending women who acted in self-defense against their abusers.

“I personally always like to have a little compassion in everything I do, depending on the role,” Chestnut explains. “But in this case, it’s something I draw from because it’s what I really feel. I mean, it’s a very real issue that affects more people than we realize because people don’t always talk about it. Especially the victims who go through it, they’re going to be silent for a long time.”

Chestnut praises showrunner Raamla Mohamed, who she says “puts (the issue of domestic violence) on the table.” She highlights how “Reasonable Doubt” shows National Domestic Violence Helpline phone number (1-800-799-SAFE) and website address at the top of each episode, offering victims who could also be viewing the show a way out.

“That was huge for me,” Chestnut says of being included. “I just have such genuine sympathy for anyone who has to go through that. I felt like I was doing my part to help in any way I could, and sometimes that’s what art does. That’s sometimes the benefit of being an actor, of being on a show like that, that can have a positive impact on someone’s life who might have had a tragic, negative experience.”

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“Raamla and Emayatzy are the leaders of this set, and it’s literally one of the best sets I’ve ever been on,” Chestnut gushes. “They have such a working machine there. I was excited. It was easy to get my footing. Being on a TV show and in a production, you become like a family. You spend so much time with everyone there. (The cast) welcomed me with open arms. Everyone was so nice and friendly. It was really easy for me to come in and be a part of it.”

New episodes of Reasonable Doubt might be available on Hulu every Thursday through October 17.

This article was originally published on : thegrio.com
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