Category: News

If you’ve spent a good amount of time on social media within the last few months, you’ve probably heard of Clubhouse. The up and coming voiced-based social media app has become the new wave in the world of online communication and has also become a great way for folks to engage in social interactions of all kinds in the midst of a pandemic. While the app has made headlines recently for the things celebrities have said on it, today’s news is thanks to some every-day, yet very talented, people on the app.

Led by marketing executive and event producer Noelle Chesnut Whitmore, a live rendition of The Lion King musical has made its way to Clubhouse. The musical is well-produced as many of the cast members, all who auditioned last month for the more than 40 roles in the musical, flawlessly performed their respective roles, sang, and played instruments with little to no delay or lags on the app.

In a press release, Whitmore revealed that the idea to bring The Lion King to Clubhouse came after she met Chris “Boogie” Glover, a user on the app, and was impressed by his distinct voice, one she quickly realized would be perfect for the role of Mufasa. After hearing him recite a few lines, the idea for the musical was put into motion.

Whitmore is the director and executive producer for the Clubhouse edition of The Lion King while Kam Dela and Bomani X, the latter whose face is depicted on the Clubhouse app icon, are musical directors. Award-winning actor Myles Grier voices Simba and Nala is voiced by Mir Harris. Other actors notable names in the show include Gina Belafonte, Dr. Victor, Minh Do, Brandon Rainey, Tunde Sho, Dai Thompson, Felicia Brathwaite, Aja Monet, and Shannon Yang. Despite the app’s limiting capabilities, the crew changed their profile pictures frequently (an act referred to as “PTR” or pull to refresh) to update the “scenery” as the musical progressed.

The first show for the Clubhouse edition of The Lion King musical began on December 26 at 3PM EST. At the time of this post, 5,000 individuals joined the room to watch the cast reenact the undeniable classic. As a result, #TheLionKingCH hashtag began to trend on Twitter and it currently sits as the second-highest trending topic in the United States. Fans took to Twitter to express their excitement and appreciation for the musical.

One listener said, “Black people are so fucking creative! I love us. Only ~we~ could’ve orchestrated an audio-only production of The Lion King and still make it interesting, captivating, immersive & heart-wrenching.” Another blown-away fan said, “There Is is nothing that Black Creatives can push themselves to accomplish. This is really a amazing way to utilize clubhouse. Brings out your imagination in the most beautiful way.” They added, “Feels like you are watching it without watching it.”

A second show of The Lion King musical on Clubhouse will take place on Saturday at 8PM EST. Scroll down to see more reactions from listeners.

At the end of November, Lil Baby proclaimed that he made $1.5 million off his summer single, “The Bigger Picture,” and rather than keep it all to himself, he wanted the money to “go [where] it’s needed.” Well, just a little over a month later, the My Turn artist has taken a new step to fulfill that promise.

As a part of his initiative, Lil Baby has committed some of the funds from “The Bigger Picture” to help orchestrate a coat giveaway set to occur on December 28 in Birmingham, Alabama. The event has been dubbed the Winter Warm Wishes Coat Giveaway and here, the rapper will give 1,000 coats to both children and adults in low-income families. Speaking about the giveaway, Birmingham City Councilor John Hillard praised the rapper for the initiative.

“I’m so excited that rapper Lil Baby has chosen to support Birmingham’s District 9 communities,” Hillard said in a statement. “With COVID-19’s critical impact on our communities, I find it honorable that someone with his influence would provide such an essential resource to our residents. He is setting an amazing example for our youth. I want to thank him for his willingness to come to Birmingham and spread kindness during these unprecedented times.”

This isn’t the first action Lil Baby has taken as a part of his “The Bigger Picture” initiative. Earlier this month, he used some of the money he made through the song to give Gianna Floyd, the daughter of the late George Floyd, a party for her seventh birthday.

The college football world is in a state of morning, as the University of Utah has announced that freshman running back Ty Jordan passed away on Saturday. He was 19 years old.

Jordan, a three-star recruit from Texas who went to Salt Lake City and became the Pac-12 Offensive Freshman of the Year, is believed to be the victim of an accidental, self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to a statement given to ESPN by the Denton Police Department out of Texas.

The Denton (Texas) Police Department told ESPN that its officers responded to a shooting call at 10:38 p.m. ET Friday. Officers discovered a gunshot victim who had been shot one time. After life-saving measures were applied, the victim was transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

“Following a preliminary investigation, we do believe that this was an accidental shooting, where the victim accidentally shot himself,” Denton Police Department public information officer Allison Beckwith told ESPN.

While the Utes entered this season with questions in the backfield due to standout back Zack Moss graduating and leaving for the NFL, Jordan stepped in and did not miss a beat. On the year, Jordan ran for 597 yards with six touchdowns on 83 carries in five games. In a statement following the news of Jordan’s passing, Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said, “Ty’s personality and smile were infectious and he made a huge impact on our program in the short time he was with us. He leaves an indelible mark on each of us and our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends. From the bottom of our hearts, all of us in the Utah Football Family want to say we love you Ty and may you rest in peace.”

On some Christmas Days you get a present you weren’t expecting. That’s what happened to San Franciscans when they awoke on Friday, only to discover that they were the latest place to be gifted with a giant, mysterious monolith, which have over the last month and change appeared in Utah, Romania, and Atascadero, California. The big difference: This one was made of gingerbread.

AB7 in Los Angeles reports that the monolith appeared first thing in the morning at the top of Corona Heights Park, in the very heart of the California metropolis. Not only was it made of the holiday foodstuff, but it was also decked out in frosting.

No one has yet to claim responsibility for the monolith, nor is it known if it is connected to past monoliths, which have thus far been made of metal. The monoliths in 2001: A Space Odyssey, meanwhile, appear to be made of some kind of stone. What’s more they appear to be able to trigger a massive evolutionary leap, whereas these monoliths simply trend on social media.

When local station KQED reached out to Corona’s Recreation and Parks Department, they were told they was no rush to remove the monument. “Looks like a great spot to get baked,” General Manager Phil Ginsburg said. “We will leave it up until the cookie crumbles.”

(Via ABC7 and KQED)

After spending five years on the market, Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch property — which was renamed to Sycamore Valley Ranch after the late singer faced sexual abuse allegations and lawsuits — has sold for $22 million. According to The Wall Street Journal, billionaire and co-founder of the investment firm Yucaipa Companies Ron Burkle, who was also a former associate to the King Of Pop, purchased the property for what was a relatively cheap price, at least compared to the $100 million for which it was initially listed back in 2015. In the years following, the ranch was repeatedly forced to lower its asking price, with last year’s listing a mere $31 million.

Jackson originally purchased the Neverland Ranch for $19.5 million back in 1987. Soon the property, which is located 40 miles from Santa Barbara and spans about 2,700 acres, boasted a number of attractions for children, including a railroad, an amusement park, and a zoo. The ranch was shut down in 2006 and two years later, the pop singer defaulted on a loan that was backed by the ranch’s co-owners, the real estate investment trust Colony Capital. The property’s title later became a joint venture between Jackson and Colony Capital, after the latter bought the note for the loan.

Speaking to The Wall Street Journal about the purchase, a representative for Burkle said the purchase was “a land bank opportunity” for him to add to his California property portfolio. The Neverland Ranch acquisition also comes after the pop singer’s estate won a court appeal over HBO’s Leaving Neverland documentary, which claimed the film broke a nearly three-decade-old non-disparagement clause.

(via The Wall Street Journal)

James Harden is still a member of the Houston Rockets. Despite the fact that he wants out of dodge to go compete for a championship somewhere, the Rockets have held firm, making it clear that they will not make a bad deal just to part ways with a player who is under contract through next season.

Harden has apparently made clear he’d accept a trade to any number of teams, and yet he’s still with the Rockets. The reason, as Adrian Wojnarowski made clear on ESPN’s Hoop Streams, is that Houston has a handful of offers for him on the table, they just don’t like any of them, and they are willing to wait for something right.

“The Rockets know that, to make a James Harden trade, they’ve got to get maximum value back in the trade market,” Wojnarowski said. “They don’t need to rush this contract — obviously they have him under contract for two more years. They don’t want this cloud to hang over them, it is a difficult situation in Houston right now for them to function, but I think as an organization, they know that they can’t do a bad deal. And right now, the deals that they see out there in the marketplace feel like they’re not good enough, and I think that they hope that those offers will improve as teams get into the season and teams, maybe they’ve overestimated the group they had. Maybe they start to feel a little pressure to really, dramatically improve their team, offers improve in that way.”

Reporting has indicated that Houston both has a high asking price and is “willing to get uncomfortable” with Harden, who has certainly challenged them in recent weeks by going to public events without a mask on. Still, he’s a member of the Rockets and appears set to be for a while … unless, of course, one of the other 29 teams decide to go all-in.

Taylor Swift has had a great 2020. The year produced two albums — Folklore and Evermore — in the span of four months, both of them debuting at No. 1 on the album charts. But now some bad news: Fans are extremely confused and disappointed that the singer was removed from an iconic mural in the city where her music career began. According to TMZ, Swift was removed from a legendary Nashville mural, which is positioned at Legends Corner on Lower Broadway. The report says that Swift’s face was replaced by Brad Paisley, who will join other notable icons, including Reba McEntire, Willie Nelson, and Dolly Parton.

Swift’s followers did not take the news well. One person wrote, “Taylor swift did not become the first woman to be awarded the pinnacle award and contributed so much to country music only to be replaced on a Nashville mural, utter disrespect.” Another wrote that her removal from the mural left them “at a loss for words,” adding, “She expanded the boundaries of country music and brought so many fans to the genre that wouldn’t have listened otherwise … Country music would not be as popular as it is today were it not for Taylor Swift.”

The news also caused the phrase “young Taylor ran country” to trend on Twitter.

(via TMZ)

The New York Knicks have been the butt of jokes since — [does quick maths] — the dawn of time. Being the team that plays in New York City in any sport will, inevitably, open you up for a bunch of opportunities to get dunked on, but particularly over the last decade or two, the Knicks’ frequently being among the worst teams in the NBA makes it a little easier.

They’re no strangers to getting made fun of in forms of media that have nothing to do with basketball (see: this clip from Family Guy), but we got a new one this week courtesy of the fine folks at Disney. Soul, the latest release by Mickey Mouse and Pixar, hit Disney+ on Christmas Day, and thanks to Taylor Rooks, we were made aware of a joke made at the Knicks’ expense. Make sure you stay until the end of the clip — which shows the lead character, Joe, entering the Great Beyond — on this one.

As it turns out, the person behind this joke was Kemp Powers, one of the film’s writers and, as he explained on Twitter, “a diehard, lifelong Knicks fan.”

Let this be a lesson to everyone who prods the Knicks: no one is willing to go farther to make jokes at the team’s expense than Knicks fans.

The majority of music by the late singer Aaliyah has long been unavailable on streaming services, but it looks like that’s finally coming to an end — sort of. The singer’s estate announced on Christmas that they secured control of her official account on YouTube, promising they would drop her music on there at some point in 2021.

But this is just the beginning. A few months ago, Aaliyah’s estate announced it was in talks with other streamers. “To our loyal fans: We are excited to announce that communication has commenced between the estate and various record labels about the status of Aaliyah’s music catalogue, as well as its availability on streaming platforms in the near future,” the post read. “Thank you for your continued love and support. More updates to come!”

Aaliyah’s three albums, which have influenced some of today’s biggest names, have long been long been AWAL from online services. However, the fight to get them to digital platforms has been a long and hard one. Blackground Records, which houses the singer’s full-length releases and was founded by her uncle Barry Hankerson, is no longer operational, and it is believed that Hankerson is mostly responsible for blocking her music from streaming services. But it appears things will change in 2021.

More than two decades after Mariah Carey released her Christmas classic, “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” the song continues to dominate the holiday season. This year was another good one: As per TMZ, the song now owns the all-time record for the biggest, single-day stream in Spotify history, tallying a shocking 17.223 million streams on Christmas Eve alone. The previous champion was Ariana Grande’s “7 Rings,” which was streamed 14.966 million times on the first day of its release in January 2019.

After hearing the news, Carey shared her excitement in a tweet. “WOW,” she wrote, followed by a trio of enthusiastic emojis. “I know people think I’m making ‘coin’ (lil’ secret: artists make very little from streams) but the real reason I’m sitting here in astonishment & gratitude is seeing the joy this little song I wrote brings to people.” She added, “THANK YOU & MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!”

The new Spotify record comes just over a week after Carey’s song topped the Billboard singles chart for the second time in as many years. The track also anded the No. 1 spot last December, albeit for the first time in the song’s 25-year lifetime. With its return to the top once this year, it’s clear that this could become a Christmas tradition.

(via TMZ)