page contents data-tablet-width="1100" data-tablet-small-width="840" data-mobile-width="640">
Log in

Whoopi Goldberg, Pat McGrath, Shonda Rhimes, Kim Kardashian, Shiggy, and more! [VIDEO] | What's The 411 News & Commentary - Ep. 129

Shonda Rhimes Lists 8 New Shows for Netflix; Living while Black; family of Duchess Meghan (Markle) trying to cash in; and Michelle Williams coping with mental illness

In this video, journalist Kizzy Cox, and comedian Onika McLean are discussing relevant stories of the week.

In Quick Takes, the duo is giving a rundown of the following news stories:

Kim Kardashian’s latest round of Kimoji fragrances—Kimoji Cherry, Kimoji Peach, and Kimoji Vibes—made $5 million in just five minutes. There’s no verification, but it’s Kim, so nearly anything is possible.

• Talking about the Black Girl Magic of Pat McGrath, we have learned that Black-owned cosmetics line, Pat McGrath Labs, which is a staple at Sephora, was recently valued at $1 Billion.

• ‘Love & Hip Hop’s’ Jessica Dime recently posted a photo of her 3-month-old daughter, Blessing Briel’ Williams, on Instagram for the first time, and she is beautiful.

• Showrunner, Shonda Rhimes, just released a list of eight shows to the NY Times, which includes The Warmth of Other Suns, and Pico & Sepulveda, a series set in Mexican California at the start of the Gold Rush in the 1840s.

• Comedian Shiggy, who came to fame impersonating, ESPN’s star host, Stephen A. Smith on Instagram, is back in the news in another video showing him pushing aside, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, a Super Bowl-winning quarterback at that, so he can take a photo with Ciara at the ESPYs. And, in case you don't know, Ciara is Russell Wilson's wife.

• Gospel singer Cissy Houston, is battling dementia, according to sources close to the Grammy winner. Cissy Houston is the mother of the late pop singer, Whitney Houston. We send our best wishes to the Houston family.

 

WHAT’S POPPIN – HEALTH

Recently, designer Kate Spade, and Anthony Bourdain, a celebrity chef and cultural curator, both committed suicide. Michelle Williams, formerly of Destiny’s Child, is choosing life and is taking another approach. For years, Williams has been coping with mental illness and decided to check herself into a mental health facility to get help.

Q. What do you think it will take for Americans, and particularly, Black Americans, to embrace mental health in the way that we embrace physical health?

 

WHAT’S POPPIN – POLITICS

Jeanine Pirro, a former Westchester County District Attorney, and now a Fox News host was on The View to promote her new book, Liars, Leakers and Liberals: The Case Against the Anti-Trump Conspiracy and things went left when Pirro told The View's host, Whoopi Goldberg, that she is suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome.

Q. Why do conservatives feel the need to call people names when they have a legitimate issue with Trump?

 

WHAT’S POPPIN – CULTURE

Rolling Out reported that a white woman in Berkeley, CA. started harassing a group of Black people, yelling at them saying you don’t belong here. When the police arrived, a white female witness backed up the black family’s account of the story. The police arrested the white woman not because she was harassing people, but because she had a parole violation.

Q. What is it going to take for law enforcement to take these complaints more seriously and for there to be more consequences?

 

WHAT’S POPPIN – FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS

The family of the Duchess of Sussex, better known as, Meghan Markle, is doing everything to extend its 15 minutes of fame. According to Page Six, Markle’s half-sister, Samantha Grant, is reportedly being lined up to appear on the British version of Celebrity Big Brother. The network is theming this summer’s reality hit as The Eye of The Storm and is expected to introduce housemates that have all been caught up in their own media controversies. Even her father is turning up on various television shows.

Q. Should Meghan Markle's family be in the business of trying to cash in on her royal status?

Phil Jackson to the New York Knicks, Would It Really Matter?

This might be the best bittersweet news of the entire year, if you're an avid Knicks fan and supporter. Reported first by Stephen A. Smith, a journalist and NBA insider for ESPN, the worldwide leader in sports, Phil Jackson was approached by New York Knicks management about a possible job offer that would give him the responsibilities as the next Head Coach of the Knicks.

Recent reports have been modified updating that report stating that the Knicks have offered Jackson a front office position as team president of basketball operations. I thought that was current GM Steve Mills job to lose? What about Assistant GM Allan Houston? But this is how Jim Dolan, President and CEO, Cablevision Systems and Chairman, Madison Square Garden company orchestrates his business. The business that we are most concerned with is the New York Knicks.

As of today March 3, 2014, the New York Knicks are well on their way to a disappointing and deflating representation of an NBA regular season, positioned 10th in the Eastern Conference standings, a 25-40 overall record currently enjoying a 4-game winning streak. A new episode of Marvel Agents of Shield premiered tonight on ABC-TV. If you were unaware, it's a pretty good show.

Let's get this Knicks stuff out of the way, because that's how hard it is to watch this team. That's how hard it is to fully invest your spirit into the Orange and Blue. Maybe the addition of Phil Jackson in a management arrangement could ease the pain and give us a substantial amount of faith even though it might not translate to wins on the court immediately. Maybe down the road we will see the fingerprints of what 11-world championships won as a coach and two championships won as a player could transition into as a talent evaluator and trader.

Maybe down the road we could see an entire franchise image make-over rivaling the San Antonio Spurs organization, minus the dynasty (it's too early) due to the insertion of one man. Maybe he could be exactly what we need. All of these predictions and future dreams could be a reality if Jackson indeed joins the Knicks organization and is given the space and opportunity to operate, only if Dolan keeps his hands to himself. Only if Dolan owns the team and does not get involved in basketball related ideas influencing management transactions and in that case he has done enough.

Donnie Walsh, remember him? Presently a consultant for the Indiana Pacers was the former President of Basketball Operations for the Indiana Pacers and the New York Knicks. He only drafted a Hall-of-Famer in Reggie Miller in 1987 and aided the construction of a team in the 2013-2014 Pacers who are the number one seed in the Eastern Conference. As of today, the Pacers are 47-17, the best record in the NBA. What Walsh did for the Knicks made him our messiah, as long as he was employed by the Knicks. In 2008, Walsh cleared $27 million off the Knicks payroll in trading players with large contacts for cheaper and durable pieces. He cleared cap space for the Knicks to have a chance at signing a max player among the summer free agent class of 2010, in which Lebron James, Chris Bosh, Dwayne Wade, Amar'e Stoudemire and Joe Johnson, were all available. He signed Stoudemire to a five-year $100-million dollar deal. The Knicks were back.

They were having a great season until some bumps in the road steered the Knicks off-track momentarily which prompted Dolan to don his basketball hat and command the pursuit of then Denver Nuggets star F Carmelo Anthony. Walsh obeyed his wishes sacrificing the punch of the team while mortgaging the future. Due to health, pride, and superior basketball knowledge Walsh resigned June 3, 2011.

As Walsh left, a man within the organization became his successor in Glen Grunwald, the former Vice President of the Denver Nuggets and Toronto Raptors. He only orchestrated a trade to acquire Vince Carter and drafted Tracy McGrady, giving the Raptors three consecutive playoff berths from 2000-02, which included a trip to the conference semi-finals. In 2012, Grunwald was promoted to general manager and executive vice president of basketball operations for the Knicks. He only gave us one of the best seasons to date. In the 2012-13 NBA season, Grunwald manufactured a Knicks team with veterans and role players built around the center-piece in Anthony to achieve a 54-28 regular season, which clinched their first Atlantic Division crown since the 1994 season and a trip to the second round of the 2013 playoffs.

Like Walsh, Grunwald was let go also following his success. This is all while Dolan has maintained his basketball hat. These moves illustrate that Dolan doesn't allow room to grow or develop, but space to do nothing as your General Manager job will be in Jeopardy if he doesn't approve. Now the Knicks General Manager responsibilities belong to a bright gentleman who has never operated Basketball Operations in his life, Steve Mills. The basketball hat is still on. This is the beautiful mind of Dolan at work. Those are his actions.

What does the potential arrival of Jackson mean?

Does it mean that Dolan will actually let the basketball people handle basketball related activities or, is it only a matter of time before he interferes and aides another exit of a great basketball mind.

The mere idea of pursuing Jackson while Mills, the man occupying the current GM position, which hasn't lasted an entire NBA season, says it all.

Dolan can't wait.

You would think he will leave his hands to himself because it is Jackson, the "Zen Master," a man inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach, but we don't know. I have faith in a coach who has won 11 world championships to have an idea in choosing the kind of players he suspects has the characteristics and skills that results in wins on the basketball court. Does Dolan believe so, or is this just to save face and throw someone else to the wolves of the general public and the media capital of the world.

It's interesting isn't it?

Subscribe to this RSS feed