Opinion
Dionne Warwick Response To Radio One’s Cathy Hughes
Dionne Warwick is responding to comments made by Radio One’s Cathy Hughes to Essence, criticizing Warrick for campaigning for the Performance Rights Act, which Hughes says could be a “tax” that prompts the death of black radio. “Nobody is playing Dionne Warwick. When was the last time she had an album,” Hughes said.
Warwick writes on the Huffington Post:
I was surprised when Radio One’s Cathy Hughes added my name to the list of African American artists and civil rights activists she’s attacked in her vicious campaign against fairly compensating musicians for their work. Then again, since smearing African American leaders to protect her profits has become Ms. Hughes siren song, maybe I shouldn’t be surprised at all.
Every time we buy a CD or download a song, the artist is paid for their work. You might not know that this isn’t the case when a musician’s work is played on the radio. That’s because corporate radio CEOs like Cathy Hughes are exploiting a legal loophole that allows them to play these artists songs without paying them for their work.
Read more on what Dionne had to say here.
It Hurts To Read Affidavit Of Chris Brown Attack
Sandy Banks of the Los Angeles Times shared her thoughts on Chris Brown’s alleged assault of girlfriend Rihanna after reading the search warrant affidavit filed by the Los Angeles Police Department. Banks writes:
The account describes Brown punching, choking and biting Rihanna and her cowering against the car door trying to block her boyfriend’s blows with her legs and arms.
It hurt to read, in part because Chris Brown and Rihanna have been a familiar presence in my house for years, favorites of my teenage daughters. Brown’s picture hung on one daughter’s bedroom wall; Rihanna was a fashion icon for another. I held them in my mind’s eye as the perfect couple.
Check out the entire commentary at latimes.com.
Silence Is Deafening In Reaction To Chris Brown’s Alleged Assault
National political consultant and commentator Jehmu Greene is weighing in on the uproar over the recent New York Post political cartoon in the African American community while there’s been relative silence and excuse making about Chris Brown’s alleged assault of his girlfriend Rihanna. Green writes:
A political cartoon is misinterpreted and African American organizations and their talking heads immediately see an opportunity to make noise. Meanwhile, a famous black woman is beat down by her equally famous black boyfriend and commentary in the black community centers around, “What did she do to cause it?” Why are some African Americans so cowardly when it comes to addressing black-on-black violence? There is no end to the activists’ displays of outrage when racism is perceived. Yet, the silence is deafening, drowned out only by the hypocrisy and ignorance when the perpetrator is black.
Rupert Murdoch may be public enemy number one for the progressive community, but he and his posse at the New York Post are not sanctioning the abuse and killing of black women. The beating Rihanna experienced at the hands of Chris Brown was tragic, but definitely not uncommon.
Check out the entire store at huffingtonpost.com.
Bonnie Fuller Tells Rihanna: Leave Chris Brown Now
Noted editor Bonnie Fuller writes in the Huffington Post that Rihanna should learn from the case of Tina Turner and leave her boyfriend Chris Brown for good as Tina did with her abusive husband Ike. Fuller writes:
Rihanna needs to ask herself “Do I want to spend years of my life, like Tina, trapped in a relationship so controlling that I could lose all my self-esteem and control over my own finances?” It could happen.
After Turner ran away, she spent years living on food stamps before being able to reignite her career. “My life…couldn’t have gotten much lower,” she told USA Today.
Unfortunately, there are reports that Rihanna, like many women in abusive relationships, isn’t ready to give up on her boyfriend yet.
Check out the entire commentary here.
Chris Brown’s Publicity Battle Has Just Begun
Toure of Rolling Stone weighed in on the battle Chris Brown is facing as his career is appearing to be in jeopardy due to the alleged assault of his girlfriend Rihanna. Writing before the image of a battered Rihanna emerged earlier today, Toure wrote:
Chris’s battle has just begun and it’s impossible to know how it’ll end. The comparisons to the Ike Turner situation fall short because Ike’s heavy-handedness wasn’t widely known about until years after his peak — the instantaneous national awareness of Chris’s situation and the modern multimedia echo chamber make this much more visceral. He’s shocked his young fans and destroyed his sweet loverboy image while inflicting pain on a rich, beautiful female star who no one can denigrate as a golddigger trying to exploit him for money. Some music industry people say he’s got no chance to come back — an artist for teenagers has nowhere to go after breaking fans’ hearts in this painful way. Others say there’s a chance for redemption because fans are less attached to people than to their sound so a few great singles from Chris will wash away the stain. That strikes me as naive — he’s going to have to somehow remove the cloud before we can dance to his music with a clear conscience. Ask Michael Jackson about that. And Chris’s also got to get the gatekeepers of music back on his side. Some radio stations have already banned his music.
Chris’s biggest worry is that the pictures police took of Rihanna after the fight will emerge. If we ever see them he might as well go off to college.
Check out the entire editorial here.
Sounding Off On Those Justifying Chris Brown’s Alleged Abuse
While reminding everyone the reports about Chris Brown beating girlfriend Rihanna remain allegations, Marc Malkin of E! sounded off on some of the people leaving comments at eonline.com trying to justify Brown abusing Rihanna. “What the hell is this all about,” Malkin wondered. “I don’t care what a woman does or doesn’t do, a man has no right to hit her. Period. The end. What is so hard to understand about this?”
Video at eonline.com has since been removed.
Is Ciara Trying To Be Like Beyonce?
Contributed anonymously:
I like Ciara don’t get me wrong. The girl can dance. But looks wise, doesn’t it seem like she’s trying purposely to remind us of Beyonce? Like at the BET awards for example she had the blonde hair, and of course you got change up the weave, but at the same BET awards Beyonce was wearing a brown weave and at the MTV awards a couple days ago Beyonce was wearing blonde again but Ciara had the same kind of weave Beyonce has been wearing (brown). Other things make me feel like she’s trying to emulate Beyonce, which I’m not hating, it’s just something I notice. Also (you know relationships aren’t meant to one up anybody so I’m not implying this at all) but her and bow wow to me are trying to be like a younger version of jay-z and Beyonce. Maybe this is not as good of an example, but I stand by my first one about the hair and the physical appearance. What y’all think?
R U Serious?
Jennifer Christman of the Arkansas Democrat Gazette joked about the ‘R U the Girl With T-Boz and Chilli’ UPN reality show in an article on reality TV. Christman writes, “R U serious? T-Boz and Chilli of the group TLC have said in interviews that they R not really looking 4 another member 2 replace Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes even though that is supposed 2 B the whole premise of this show? Then Y R we watching?” The full story at nwanews.com has since been archived.
Why Is Michelle Williams In Destiny’s Child?
Contributed anonymously:
Why on earth is Michelle Williams in Destiny’s Child? I would like someone to help me understand what I never understood. Its been years and compared to Beyonce Knowles and Kelly Rowland her dancing doesn’t measure up, her looks don’t measure up, her singing (isn’t bad but) doesn’t measure up, her confidence doesn’t measure up and I don’t see anything special or interesting enough about her for her to be thrust in to the lime light with the likes of Kelly and Beyonce. She is the eye sore of the DC experience over all. I am not trying to offend Michelle fans but every time I see a Destiny’s Child video or performance, Michelle falls short. She always makes me role my eyes. Had she auditioned for Diddy’s Making The Band, she never would have made it. So how did she get in to a group of THAT magnitude? Surely they didn’t hold auditions. They probably looked for someone they could run over and still not hear a peep from.
Hatin? Or Opinion?
Contributed anonymously:
I have only been a member to this site for a short time, so if I offend anyone (I don’t apologize)! It seems that there are some people who don’t understand the concept of a message board! Today there were approximately 4 stories on the front page that had something to do with Beyonce Knowles, and everyone had something to say. We have Beyonce haters we also have Beyonce lovers, but what’s the difference between the two? Nothing, besides your thoughts on Beyonce! I was asked in one of the posts why I wasted my time commenting on her if I did not care for her (big mistake)? The truth of the matter is celebrities are celebrities. We live in age where everyone can have an opinion and state it freely. Celebrities are the people we love to love or love to hate! It just so happens to be that Beyonce is the subject of most stories posted on this site (including this one)! So all I want to know is what is the difference between hatin’ and your opinion? Or can we decipher?
