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UPDATE: T.I.'s road to redemption has hit a roadblock.
The rapper and his wife were arrested in West Hollywood late Wednesday after cops busted them with pills suspected to be Ecstasy, a police source told the Daily News.
The newlyweds were pulled over on Sunset Blvd. after their Maybach made an illegal U-turn, the source said.
"It was a regular traffic violation. Then deputies smelled marijuana emitting from the car, and that's when the narcotics investigation ensued," Sheriff's spokeswoman Nicole Nishida said.
"They found pills resembling Ecstasy. The pills are being tested."
T.I., whose real name is Clifford Harris Jr., and wife Tameka Cottle were booked and released on $10,000 bail.
SOURCE to continue reading
TMZ Reports: Law enforcement sources tell us L.A. County Sheriff's deputies pulled over the multi-platinum selling rapper and his wife in a Maybach on Sunset Boulevard around 10:30PM. Deputies say they smelled marijuana, and after searching the vehicle they arrested T.I. and Tameka.
The couple just got married on July 30 in Miami, and T.I. -- real name Clifford Harris Jr. -- is on probation after doing seven months in prison on federal weapons charges.
We're told T.I. and Tameka are in custody right now. Bail amount is $10,000.
SOURCE
Andrew Young responds to arrest of T.I..
Grammy Award winner T.I.'s arrest in Los Angeles for drug possession has bewildered former Atlanta Mayor Andy Young, who counseled the performer on his "road to redemption" after the rapper pleaded guilty to federal drug charges.
The news of the arrest hurts his heart, said Young, who officiated T.I's South Beach wedding in July.
"He not only has a successful marriage going for him and some wonderful children but his new movie is a big hit," Young told the AJC.
T.I., whose real name is Clifford Harris Jr., and his new wife, Tameka Cottle, were arrested Wednesday night in West Hollywood when T.I. made an illegal U-turn. A Los Angeles deputy said he smelled marijuana coming from inside his luxury Maybach automobile. According to the entertainment Web site TMZ , the deputy then found drugs, reported to be in the same class as methamphetamine and ecstasy.
T.I.'s publicist declined to comment.
"There's another culture in L.A. that I don't understand," Young said. "Most people in Los Angeles would wonder why he was stopped ... I don't know why they should have been stopped ... When a black man is stopped and not speeding ... you call that driving while black."
Young noted a bit of symmetry between T.I.'s life and the role he plays in his just-released movie, "Takers."
"I didn't particularly like him doing the movie," Young said, explaining that the message was wrong. "Part of my hope was he would have a cultural shift as well as a personal shift."
In the movie, which the 29-year-old produced, T.I. plays a career criminal and gang member named "Ghost" who has just been released from prison. "Ghost" almost immediately starts planning a bank heist that is bigger than the one that previously sent "Ghost" to prison.
When he was stopped Wednesday night, the father of five had only been out of prison a few months and was still on probation for the 2007 crime that sent him to federal prison.
SOURCE to continue reading.
Diddy being sued for age discrimination.
P. Diddy is being sued for age discrimination.
Francesca Spero - who claims she launched the hip-hop mogul's career - is suing him for $12 million, alleging she was sacked by his firm Bad Boy for being old and disabled, after she was laid up with hip surgery in 2008.
According to the 51 year old's legal claim, Diddy - real name Sean Combs - was "unsympathetic to her condition" and tried to push her out of the company.
In March 2010, she was fired and replaced by a woman much younger who "lacked the skill set and experience Spero brought to the position".
Her lawyer Laurie Berke-Weiss said: "Francesca Spero opened the door for Combs' career and, now that she's 51, he showed her the door at Bad Boy."
Spero says she first met Diddy in 1998, but didn't start working for him until 10 years later when she helped him sign new song writers, get music clearances for corporate endorsements, execute Bad Boy's $38 million deal with Warner Brothers and produce the MTV reality show 'Making the Band'.
SOURCE to continue reading.
*With reports of Tiger Woods moving in to a New York City apartment being disputed, TMZ is reporting that the golfer took out a $54.5 million mortgage for the mega-mansion he's building on Florida's exclusive Jupiter Island.
The website says it obtained legal documents filed in Martin County on Aug. 27 -- four days after his divorce from Elin Nordegren was finalized.
According to the documents, Tiger lists himself as a "single man" and agrees to pay back the loan by January 15, 2016.
The docs also state that the property spans across three parcels of land and will include a tennis court, oxygen therapy room, multiple pools and a state-of-the-art fitness center.
SOURCEFantasia speaks on the effect on her African features.
Prior to her suicide attempt Fantasia Barrino naturally faced a barrage of negative press surrounding her affair with Antwaun Cook and the lawsuit his wife Paula filed against the former American Idol.
But does she think her African and more ethnic features had anything to do with the sometimes mean-spirited tone of the coverage she received about her personal life? Say, versus the media's nearly mute opinions on the controversial love lives and choices of other female entertainers like Alicia Keys or white singers like LeAnn Rimes or Britney Spears?
"Yes, I do. I really feel like it does," she says. But the Fantasia For Real star says the negative tone of the press wasn't a surprise. She's says she's gotten subtle backlash because of her looks since her Idol days.
"I've battled and have had to deal with that before. Lord forgive me and I don't want to offend anybody," she says, "but when [I did Idol] it seemed like everybody there was Barbied out. Slim, long hair, light eyes, light-skinned. And here I come with my dark skin, full nose, short hair and full lips -- it was hard."
Fantasia says she even believes she's passed over in the red carpet coverage spreads of many popular magazines for the same reason. "They never put me in those magazines [featuring] the red carpet. Everybody there has long hair and everybody is bright-skinned, and I was like, 'But wait a minute. They never gave me that.' That bothered me,'" says the singer whose new album, Back To Me debuted as the number two pop album and number one R&B album in the country. "And then I tried hard to find people to dress me and they still would not put me there [in those magazines]."
But she says she's since made peace with her beauty's place in the industry. "One day I was like, 'that's okay', but I had to get to that point," says Fantasia. " I am a dark-skinned, full-lipped sister and it's all right." --Ronke Idowu Reeves
When we last heard from R. Kelly, he was warbling the "Sign of a Victory," the official FIFA World Cup anthem. He's gone from the macro to the micro.
With his new single and video, "When a Woman Loves," R. Kelly is going old school, conjuring up the spirits of Sam Cooke and Otis Redding and even further back to the Platters. The soul ballad, about the power of a good woman's love, is a bit one-note but it's so smooth, you just glide along with it, swept away by Kelly's spot-on vocals.
"When a Woman Loves" is the first single from Kelly's 11th studio album, "Love Letter."
*Ron Isley sat down with Vibe magazine to discuss his 37-month federal prison sentence for tax evasion, plans for a new album featuring the likes of Lauryn Hill, T.I. and Aretha Franklin, his relationship with R. Kelly and more...
VIBE: How'd you bide your time while you were incarcerated?
Ron Isley: My job was to work in the chapel. I sang for them every Monday and I was watching all kinds of spiritual movies and singing for the guys. I had high respect for anyone there.
Was it a recognition thing?
Yeah. When I came there, what Johnny Cash meant to the authorities is what I meant to [the inmates]. But it was a camp. It wasn't a prison with a wall around it or nothing. You could get in your car, drive off and go home [but] you would get in a lot of trouble for leaving without permission. They had other rules where you couldn't have a cell phone but everybody did.
So despite being held there by law, it was a breeze considering where you could have been?
Oh yeah.
Word on the street is that your fly young wife was coming to visit a lot.
Oh yeah. She was there four times a week with my baby. It was regular visits from 9am to 3pm and on all the holidays - Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. My daughter and my brother came to visit too. That made it go real fast for me.
A lot of black artists went to jail in the 60s, did you ever get locked up then?
Nah, never. This is the first time where, it wasn't jail but it was the first time I ever been locked up somewhere where couldn't come home.
How, after all these years, did you fall behind on tax payments?
I had a case against the government so they had a case against me. They wanted me to drop my case and I didn't drop it and they won. They won because I couldn't take the stand. I had gotten sick and I don't want to say they won because of that. They win because they can win. Everything was stacked against me but that's over with now.
SOURCE to continue reading.
*Ron Isley sat down with Vibe magazine to discuss his 37-month federal prison sentence for tax evasion, plans for a new album featuring the likes of Lauryn Hill, T.I. and Aretha Franklin, his relationship with R. Kelly and more...
VIBE: How'd you bide your time while you were incarcerated?
Ron Isley: My job was to work in the chapel. I sang for them every Monday and I was watching all kinds of spiritual movies and singing for the guys. I had high respect for anyone there.
Was it a recognition thing?
Yeah. When I came there, what Johnny Cash meant to the authorities is what I meant to [the inmates]. But it was a camp. It wasn't a prison with a wall around it or nothing. You could get in your car, drive off and go home [but] you would get in a lot of trouble for leaving without permission. They had other rules where you couldn't have a cell phone but everybody did.
So despite being held there by law, it was a breeze considering where you could have been?
Oh yeah.
Word on the street is that your fly young wife was coming to visit a lot.
Oh yeah. She was there four times a week with my baby. It was regular visits from 9am to 3pm and on all the holidays - Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. My daughter and my brother came to visit too. That made it go real fast for me.
A lot of black artists went to jail in the 60s, did you ever get locked up then?
Nah, never. This is the first time where, it wasn't jail but it was the first time I ever been locked up somewhere where couldn't come home.
How, after all these years, did you fall behind on tax payments?
I had a case against the government so they had a case against me. They wanted me to drop my case and I didn't drop it and they won. They won because I couldn't take the stand. I had gotten sick and I don't want to say they won because of that. They win because they can win. Everything was stacked against me but that's over with now.
SOURCE to continue reading.
Trailer for T.I.'s new movie "Takers" (video).
A seasoned team of bank robbers, including Gordon Jennings (Idris Elba), John Rahway (Paul Walker), A.J. (Hayden Christensen), and brothers Jake (Michael Ealy) and Jesse Attica (Chris Brown) successfully complete their latest heist and lead a life of luxury while planning their next job. When Ghost (Tip T.I. Harris), a former member of their team, is released from prison he convinces the group to strike an armored car carrying $20 million. As the "takers" carefully plot out their strategy and draw nearer to exacting the grand heist, a reckless police officer (Matt Dillon) inches closer to apprehending the criminals.
Who is the guy with the hat on the red carpet?
CLICK THIS LINK FOR "TAKERS" SHOWTIMES.
Tyler Perry... "Not Guilty".
*Tyler Perry has been officially cleared of any plagiarism claims. On Monday, Aug. 23 at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the judge ruled against a woman, Donna West, who claimed Perry stole her idea for a movie - "The Diary of a Mad Black Woman." However, the judge ruled that no improper conduct occurred on the account of the filmmaker.
West attempted to get Perry caught up back in 08 in a Texas court, but the judge concluded she lacked evidence that supported her claim. She said the movie was taken from her play, "Fantasy of a Black Woman."
The playwright launched an appeal against the verdict but on Monday, August 23, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled there was no improper conduct in the trial, according to the Associated Press.
*Like all strange pairings, there is a purpose for Queen Latifa and Dolly Parton's hook up. The two will co-star in an upcoming studio production "Joyful Noise," a gospel film to be released by Alcon Entertainment.
While Latifa's acting career has been on fire lately, with her recent role in "Just Wright," she is set to play the part of a mother of two and new choir directress after the former director dies. Parton on the other hand will play the choir's widow who wants to take the previous role of her dead husband as directress.
The film will center its story on an unlikely partnership between these two female characters who are forced to work together to save a small town gospel choir after budget cuts threaten to shut them down.
The Jordan brothers are generating national attention for their recent Twitter updates from Las Vegas.
Marcus and Jeff Jordan, sons of NBA legend Michael Jordan and current UCF basketball players, visited Las Vegas during their weekend with UCF junior point guard A.J. Rompza.
Jeff Jordan posted on his Twitter account that the Knights flew to Las Vegas with Michael Jordan for his fantasy basketball camp at the Mirage Resort Casino that cost between $13,500 and $15,000 per person.
Marcus Jordan later posted on his Twitter account about the players' visits to Haze Nightclub and Liquid Pool Lounge at Aria Hotel and Casino City Center.
"Last night was stupid," Marcus Jordan wrote on his Twitter account. "... 35k at Haze... Totals 50k something the whole day.. Damn!! Going to the pool again today.. Gotta relax!"
While Jeff Jordan and Rompza are older than 21, Chicago Tribunearchives confirm Marcus Jordan is 20 years old.
Celebrity websites TerezOwens.com and TaintedVegas.com posted updates about the Jordan brothers spending $56,000 in Las Vegas in one day.
Two weeks after Fantasia Barrino overdosed on aspirin in an attempt to take her life, the 26-year-old singer opened up in an exclusive interview on what drove her to her breaking point.
"I think I was just overloaded with everything, with carrying six years of so much," Barrino said on "Good Morning America." "I always take a licking and keep on ticking...it just became heavy for me to the point that I just wanted to be away from the noise."
The 2004 "American Idol" winner said that feelings of hurt, pain, loneliness and trust issues had built up over the years and overwhelmed her.
"There's so much that people don't understand. They just see the glitz and the glamour, and they feel like life is so perfect, but we're human and we go through things," she said, listing the loss of her career and management among the major blows.
SOURCE to continue reading.
Tiger Woods woke up a single man today, one day after finalizing his divorce from wife Elin Nordegren, but at least one of his former mistresses is reportedly ready to change his bachelor status.
Woods' divorce caps nine months of embarrassing details about his sex life and poor performances on the golf course. Most of the details of the divorce were kept private, including custody of their children and any financial agreements.
But court documents obtained by ABC News show that Nordegren hired eight attorneys from three cities and London while Woods employed just one. Nordegren has also formally returned to using her maiden name.
The actor and entertainment mogul who is the creative force behind TBS sitcoms "Meet the Browns" and "House of Payne," may soon take up residence in north Fulton County. Perry is the new owner of Dean Gardens, a 58-acre estate on Old Alabama Road in Johns Creek, according to a person with direct knowledge of the deal.
The $7.6 million property sale was completed in late July, according to FMLS, the local real estate listing service, but the buyer was not named. The house, most recently assessed at $6.5 million, took more than four years to build. Off and on the market for 15 years, it was to have been the dream home of the former property owner Larry Dean and his former wife, Lynda, but they separated not long after construction was completed.
Perry's publicist did not respond to e-mails for comment.
"There is a buzz around town," said Mike Bodker, mayor of Johns Creek. "I've not officially heard, but if it is true, I'm sure the citizens of Johns Creek will gladly and openly welcome Mr. Perry."
SOURCE to continue reading.
Jasmine Guy joining Atlanta's True Colors Theatre as Producing Director.
Kenny Leon and True Colors Theatre Company are proud to announce the addition of award winning actress Jasmine Guy as a full time member of the True Colors team.
Guy will fill both an artistic and an administrative role with True Colors, working to further True Colors mission on both the local and national fronts. During True Colors 2010-2011 season, Guy will be featured in the Regional Premiere of Nathan Louis Jackson's comic drama, Broke-ology directed by Kenny Leon; she will direct George C. Wolfe's The Colored Museum and will star in Sam Shepard's haunting story of obsession Fool for Love.
True Colors Artistic Director, Kenny Leon lauds the addition of Guy to the True Colors team and says, "We are fortunate to provide an artistic home for one of America's great artists. On behalf of our Board of Trustees and True Colors staff we are looking forward to adding Jasmine's collaborative nature, intellect, and vision to the True Colors team and we are sure that she will contribute to True Colors' core values of boldness, respect, abundance and laughter".
Fantasia's boyfriend, Antwaun Cook, is speaking out against his estranged wife's claims that the singer was responsible their marriage ending.
"Antwaun would be remiss not to address the criticism and judgment he has received," Cook's lawyer, Nicole Sodoma, said Wednesday in a statement to Access Hollywood.
The statement went on to attempt to remove the singer, who was hospitalized last week after a medication overdose, from the couple's marital drama.
"[Paula and Antwaun] expected their marriage to stand the test of time. Unfortunately, like many marriages, it did not turn out as planned," the statement continued. "In late summer 2009, after years of discussion, the parties separated with the intention of no longer being married... the failure of his marriage can in no way be blamed on anyone except the two people that were a part of the union - Paula and Antwaun."
SOURCE to continue reading.
Only 3 original Real Housewives of Atlanta remain.
AJC Reports: Phaedra Parks and Cynthia Bailey, as noted months ago, are the new cast members.
I can't embed the code but here's a link to Bravo's website with a juicy two-minute trailer for the upcoming season featuring plenty of potentially fun plot elements.
In the trailer, you see NeNe Leakes struggling with her marriage with Gregg denying she was cheating on him. ("I have never done you wrong," she yells at him. "Never!") She also tries out some entertainment reporting with WXIA-TV, whose anchors pop up. ("These things can ruin your career," anchor Karyn Greer tells NeNe, likely referencing her relationship issues.
According to the press release Bravo released at 3:04 p.m. Kandi Burruss recovers from A.J.'s death last fall and rebuilds her relationship with her cancer-stricken father. Her Capitol Records deal had fallen through so she had signed with a new label and is working on her album. Kim Zolciak works with Kandi on her music career and tour. ("Kim has one single and she's acting like Lady Gaga," Kandi notes in the trailer.) Sheree Whitfield pursues acting after her She By Sheree fashion efforts died and dates a doctor.
SOURCE to continue reading.
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