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Lil' Rel Knew His Bestie Tiffany Haddish Would Have a Successful Career
Comedians Lil’ Rel Howery and Tiffany Haddish are besties. While both of their stars are shining brighter with each new role and opportunity, things were always this golden for the both of them. The two comedic counterparts often think back over their struggles and laugh at Tiffany’s almost broken down Geo Tracker, their tiny apartments,…
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Smart, Funny and Black: Amanda Seales Has Created the Blackest Game Show Ever
Amanda Seales is a lot of things: comedian, intellect, actress, opinionated Instagram commentator, among many other labels. But did you know she’s also the host of one of the best game shows the world has ever seen? Seales created Smart, Funny and Black, the blackest game show ever, that tests the bounds of some of…
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Judge of Characters: Confronting Racism Does Not Make You Racist
The Root is a platform that unapologetically confronts racism. But it seems that the racists we call out often attempt to flip the script on us—specifically me and Judge of Characters—by labeling me a racist. For a year now, I’ve been writing and producing the series, Judge of Characters to shine light on the things…
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When the Beat Drops Proves That Bucking Started With Black Women and Thrived in Atlanta's LGBT Community
Imagine it’s the early 1990s and you spot an audition in the newspaper to be a dancer in Michael Jackson’s iconic “Remember the Time” video. So, at a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed 17-years-old, you show up to the audition and nail it. You get the gig. There’s nowhere to go but up from there, right? Wrong! Well,…
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What is a Fuckboy and How Does One Avoid Them?
One of Amanda Seales’ best and most reliable qualities is her ability to tell it like it is. The actress (Insecure), comedian and creator of the Smart, Funny and Black traveling game show has this delightful talent of jumping on a topic, giving her opinion and then shaping thought-provoking conversations about said topic. If you…
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Will Packer's What Men Want Is More Than a Mel Gibson Reboot With a Black Woman
What Women Want was a rom-com that came out in 2000 and starred Mel Gibson as this deplorable single playboy who was given the gift of hearing women’s thoughts. Fast forward 18 years later and there’s a reboot of the classic, What Men Want, starring Taraji P. Henson and now, she’s got the gift of…
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Taraji P. Henson Has It All: Dishes on New Role, Wedding Plans and Almost Being Cast in Girls Trip
Taraji P. Henson has landed herself another leading lady role, and this time, it’s a rom-com. You’ve probably seen Mel Gibson in What Women Want back in 2000. Well, this version takes a #BlackGirlMagic spin and gives Henson the gift and the curse of hearing men’s inner thoughts, out loud. When asked if she would…
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'I Did It and So Can You': OWN's Star Entrepreneur Mahisha Dellinger Wants You to Mind Your Business
Mahisha Dellinger is a study in self-sufficiency. Growing up in the Sacramento, California neighborhood of Meadowview, dubbed “Danger Island” due to its high rates of crime, Dellinger learned early on how to take care of herself. With her mother often working and her older brother entangled in gang culture, Dellinger decided her own destiny early…
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Soledad O'Brien Wants Journalists to Stop Playing Games and Call a Racist a Racist
There’s a lot of people out here, namely, journalists who refuse to call out Donald Trump as a racist. One seasoned newsperson, Soledad O’Brien, ain’t having it! O’Brien has built her career as a storyteller and also as a truth-teller. “I often on Twitter talk to journalists because I feel like they dropped the ball at…
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BlacKkKlansman Allows You to Laugh at the Ridiculousness of White Supremacy, Then and Now
“With the right white man, you can do anything,”John David Washington says as Ron Stallworth—the black Colorado Springs, Colo., police officer who went “undercover” in the Ku Klux Klan—in Spike Lee’s latest joint, BlacKkKlansman. This sentiment is also an entire mood. Oh, AmeriKKKa. Stallworth’s tale of infiltrating the Ku Klux Klan might be set in…