Diddy Wants To Testify At Upcoming Trial, Gets Hit With 12th Lawsuit Alleging Sexual Abuse
'I don’t know that I could keep him off the stand,' his attorney, Marc Agnifilo, said. 'I think he is very eager to tell his story.'
Sean “Diddy” Combs is currently incarcerated after being arrested on charges of sex trafficking, racketeering, and transportation to engage in prostitution. According to TMZ, his attorney, Marc Agnifilo, has stated that Diddy wants to testify at the upcoming trial.
The media outlet has produced another documentary that follows “TMZ Presents: The Downfall of Diddy,” which debuted on April 27. In the second installment, “The Downfall of Diddy: The Indictment,” Agnifilo has gone on record saying that he doubts he can keep the mogul from testifying as he wants people to hear his story.
“I don’t know that I could keep him off the stand,” Agnifilo said. “I think he is very eager to tell his story.”
The documentary can be viewed on Tubi.
“I think he will tell every part of his story, including what you see on the video, so I expect it’s going to be explained by the both of us,” Agnifilo says on camera in the special. “He has his story, and he has a story that I think only he can tell in the way he can tell it in real-time.”
Whether that’s a good idea remains to be seen as another lawsuit was filed against the “Bad Boy” executive on Sept. 27.
NPR reported that another woman has filed a sexual abuse lawsuit alleging that Diddy drugged, assaulted, coerced, and threatened her for two years. The unidentified woman also states that he impregnated her, which ended with a miscarriage.
The paperwork was filed with the New York County Supreme Court. The woman, who filed under Jane Doe, lives in Florida and claimed she was forced to travel and “perform” for Diddy several times in the last few years. She states she met him in 2021, and they started seeing each other. She alleges she was flown out to see him in different states by his company to have sex with him. In the lawsuit, she said she felt coerced by staff members who would “send drivers to her home to pick her up before she agreed to travel, to the point where she did not believe she had a choice.”
She said Diddy got her pregnant but claims Caresha Brownlee, who is known as Yung Miami from the hip-hop group City Girls, harassed her by calling her several times and demanding that she have an abortion. She alleges that dealing with the stress led her to suffer a miscarriage. She said she was still traveling with Diddy as recently as July, and she says he continues to contact her to intimidate her.
The latest brings the total of civil lawsuits against Diddy to 12, with all claiming sexual misconduct and abuse.
Black Voters In Nevada Rally Behind Kamala Harris As She Tries To Make History
In a community home to the country's first racially integrated casino, an array of Harris supporters is ready to spark change again.
Black voters in Nevada, many in Las Vegas’ Westside community, historically known for its stance against racial injustice, are rallying the vote for Kamala Harris as she prepares to make history.
In a community home to the country’s first racially integrated casino, an array of Harris supporters is ready to spark change again. In 1955, The Moulin Rouge in the Westside neighborhood opened its doors to all. Black musical acts such as Sammy Davis Jr. and Ella Fitzgerald were not just welcomed to perform but also take part in the casino’s activities that other establishments reserved for white customers only. Today, its residents still hold that passion and fight for social change.
The state’s Black electorate is small but mighty, with only 11% of the population identifying as Black in general, per Data USA. However, most Black Nevadans live in Las Vegas and hope to lead the shift that turns the swing state Blue.
Harris-Walz campaign organizers shared that enthusiasm for this upcoming election has never been seen before. Ishmael Carroll, a regional political director who works in outreach toward Black voters in the area, called it “pandemonium.”
“It’s been pandemonium. I’ve been inundated with calls, texts, emails. It’s complete excitement,” explained Carroll to The Guardian. “In previous elections, I had to go find people. People are calling me now first thing in the morning, late at night –- ‘How can I be involved? How can I participate? What can I do to help?’ I think they identify the importance of this moment in our history.”
Regarding Harris, a new volunteer believes her authenticity plays a huge role in her chance of winning.
“I’m really not that into politics, but given the situation right now between the two parties, I think it’s necessary to be out here getting involved,” shared first-time volunteer Lya Harvey. “You can see she actually cares about people. And being a Black woman -– and I’m a Black woman -– she understands that it’s about a lot more than just being a politician.”
Las Vegas boasts a diverse community, a quality many see mirrored in Kamala Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz. Harris aims to maintain the trend of Democratic victories in the state, but according to The Hill, current polls show her in a tight race, tied with Trump.
“…When I talk about ‘the community,’ I talk about all of us because it takes all of us working together for a better future,” expressed Daniele Monroe-Moreno, a Nevada assemblywoman and chair of the Nevada state Democratic Party. “And I believe the excitement we’re seeing with Kamala Harris is that there are so many families like mine that see her and Tim Walz, who is like that guy next door who mows the lawn for the senior who can’t do it any more … They see Kamala and Tim as people they know and can personally attach themselves to.”
A local, Black-owned restaurant in the area, called Oasis, also hosts a “Black Voice of Las Vegas” event for the community. However, its owner noted that not only Black voices come out to participate, encouraging all to promote civic engagement.
“This is for everybody,” shared Terry Adams, Oasis’ owner. “It’s the principles of the United States of America that matter. That’s what everybody strives for.”
How Millennial Black Women Navigate Beauty Standards At Work And Off The Clock: Study
A new study shows how millennial women dress in intracultural beauty standards outside of work and Eurocentric standards when at work.
A new study is digging into the beauty standards of millennial women and how many feel they “cannot afford to ignore mainstream beauty standards” in and out of the workplace.
The qualitative study, “Millennial Agency and Liberation Within Black American Beauty Standards,” appears in the new edited volume “Embodiment and Representations of Beauty.” It found that millennial Black women felt a sense of freedom and flexibility when it came to beauty standards in their personal lives. However, they felt pressured to conform to more restrictive beauty norms in the workplace.
Jaleesa Reed, author of the study and assistant professor of human-centered design in the College of Human Ecology, conducted interviews with 20 millennial Black American women to explore their experiences with navigating beauty standards in connection to their identity. The participants, born between 1981 and 1996, represented the full range of the millennial generation.
The study found that participants felt that to meet American standards of beauty, they must be “white,” “thin,” “blond,e” and “blue-eyed.” In their personal lives, the participants embraced an “intracultural” beauty standard that celebrates the diverse hair textures, body shapes, and skin tones found within the African diaspora. However, in professional settings, participants felt compelled to make style choices that balanced their personal identities with advancing their careers and aligning with workplace expectations.
“Decisions around how to style their hair, what jewelry to wear, or how much makeup to put on are tied to their economic livelihood and their ability to support themselves and their families,” Reed said.
“On one hand, it feels like, ‘Oh, it’s just how you do your hair.’ But on the other hand, they must also consider their workplace environment, which led them to question their style choices.”
The results reflect the Eurocentric beauty standards passed down to the millennial generation and how they’re followed in the workplace.
“Participants were aware, from personal experience and anecdotes, of repercussions for Black women who did not ascribe to the appearance expectations at work,” Reed said. “Eurocentric beauty standards reinforced through popular media also taught them, from an early age, that women with lighter skin tones, and long, straight hair were considered to be more beautiful.”
According to the 2019 C.R.O.W.N. Research Study, Black women in the U.S. are 1.5 times more likely than other women to be sent home from work due to their hairstyle, resulting in social and economic consequences. Black women with straighter hair face fewer workplace microaggressions than those with coils or textured hair.
As a result, the study participants feel adhering to an intracultural beauty standard in predominantly white environments could risk their job security and the financial stability of their families, Reed says.
“For Black women,” Reed wrote, “hairstyle choices for professional spaces are laden with cultural meaning and likely to be misinterpreted. Protective styles, such as cornrows, twists or locs … are often deemed unprofessional as evidenced by the cases of hair discrimination … .”
The number of states implementing hair discrimination laws continues to rise in 2024. This follows a coalition that was formed to urge lawmakers to pass legislation banning employers from discriminating against hairstyles, particularly those associated with Black or biracial individuals.
Known as CROWN laws (Create a Respectful and Open Workplace for Natural Hair), the first of many was signed into law in 2019 by California Gov. Gavin Newsom. There are currently 28 states with laws supporting the CROWN Act.
NeNe Leakes’ Bank Account Garnished $25K To Repay Debt For Former Swagg Boutique
NeNe Leakes is being forced to pay a $25,000 default judgment over unpaid rent.
NeNe Leakes is having her bank account garnished to repay a $25,000 rent debt for her former fashion boutique.
In Touch Weekly reports that newly obtained court documents reveal a Georgia judge’s approval of MPG-Sugarloaf’s request to confiscate funds from NeNe’s account at Truist Bank. Leakes failed to show up in court to oppose the request.
It follows a default judgment in the amount of $25,631 that the Real Housewives of Atlanta alum received in November 2023. MPG-Sugarloaf first sued Leakes in August 2023 for a commercial property the reality star leased to open her Swagg Boutique in 2017.
The boutique temporarily closed during the pandemic and reopened for a few months before permanently shutting down in 2022. According to the landlord, the reality star did not pay $22,000 in rent when she vacated the premises. A lawsuit was filed demanding Leakes pay the entire unpaid rent plus interest.
However, after the lawsuit, NeNe took to social media to claim that she was not liable for the debt and blamed it on her late husband, Gregg Leakes, who she says signed the lease in question.
“Gregg signed the lease not me! He ain’t here,” she said at the time.
Leakes’ late husband passed away from cancer in September 2021 at the age of 66. The Glee star was served with the legal documents outside her $1 million home in Atlanta but failed to respond to the allegations in court.
After the default judgment was issued, the landlord sent a series of summons to financial institutions where they suspected NeNe might have funds. The summons instructed the bank “to immediately hold all money, including wages, and other property, except what is known to be exempt, including property in safe deposit boxes or similar property that you hold, belonging to the Defendant named above beginning on the day of service of this summons and including the next five days.”
Now, Leakes is being forced to repay the $25,000. Two years ago, she dropped a discrimination lawsuit against NBC’s network Bravo and recently returned to NBCUniversal to host an Emmys after-party.
Naomi Campbell became famous at the end of the 1980s and is considered one of the most famous models in the history of fashion. She was one of the first supermodels, ruling catwalks and cover pages of the most famous magazines, and collaborating with the biggest names in fashion, such as Versace, Chanel, and Dior. Campbell has earned her wealth from modeling, getting fat deals from companies like Burberry, Prada, and Dolce & Gabbana. She has also made money from commercials, television shows, films, and other business activities, such as her fragrances and other activities in the fashion sector. As of 2024, Naomi Campbell's estimated net worth is $80 million:
(Photo by Antoine Flament/Getty Images)
Naomi Campbell ‘Extremely Concerned’ After Charity Trustee Ban Due To Alleged Misconduct
Naomi Campbell is accused of misappropriating funds from the charity she launched to help impoverished youth.
Naomi Campbell has been banned from being a charity trustee due to allegedly misappropriating funds.
A government investigation revealed extensive evidence of financial misconduct at the UK-based poverty relief charity, the legendary supermodel established in 2005 and registered in 2015. As a result, Campbell was banned from charity work for five years after the UK’s Charity Commission found that Fashion for Relief donated only a small portion of the millions raised through its celebrity fashion events to charitable causes.
According to the Commission, the charity misused tens of thousands of pounds to splurge on luxury hotels, flights, spa treatments, personal security, and cigarettes for Campbell. Additionally, hundreds of thousands of unauthorized consultancy payments were made to one of her fellow trustees, who was also banned. Bianka Hellmich was banned for nine years, while Veronica Chou received a four-year ban.
“I’ve just found out today about the findings, and I am extremely concerned,” Campbell, 54, told AP, as cited by BBC.
The fashion powerhouse claims that she was not the person “in control” of the charity.
The investigation was launched following complaints from Save the Children and the Mayor’s Fund for London, who reported Fashion for Relief to regulators in 2020 after not receiving the promised payments from fundraising agreements. The Commission soon found that between 2016 and 2021, Fashion for Relief raised nearly £4.8 million through fashion shows but disbursed only £389,000 in grants to partner charities after deducting event costs and other expenses. Interim managers appointed by the Commission later recovered nearly £350,000 from the charity, which was subsequently distributed to Save the Children and the Mayor’s Fund for London.
For her part, Hellmich had voluntarily suggested repaying the £290,000 she received for consultancy services, but the interim managers appointed by the Commission successfully ensured repayments to the charity. The funds Hellmich received were in breach of the charity’s constitution. The full amount she received was repaid in April 2023.
The inquiry report revealed poor financial management and disorganized record-keeping, including a lack of documentation for invoices, receipts, and formal minutes of meetings and decisions, as well as outsourcing administrative and accounting tasks. The Commission found multiple examples of financial misconduct, including €14,800 spent on a flight that took a former unnamed trustee and an unnamed donor to a fundraising event in Cannes in May 2018.
While there, Campbell stayed at a hotel that cost €3,000 per night and incurred over €4,000 in personal security expenses. Additional charges to the charity included nearly €8,000 on spa treatments, room service, cigarettes, and other hotel amenities. Campbell was at the hotel for six nights, but only two of those nights were related to the charity event.
Campbell and Hellmich claimed the hotel expenses incurred by the charity were later billed to an unnamed donor; however, the Commission found no evidence that Fashion for Relief had received any donor payments to cover these costs.
Campbell founded Fashion for Relief in 2005 to raise funds to combat poverty and assist economically disadvantaged youth. However, by November 2021, the Commission launched a formal inquiry into the charity, suspending Campbell and Hellmich. During the investigation, interim managers found that the charity was essentially insolvent, lacking enough cash to settle its debts, and it was ultimately dissolved in March.
Delta’s New Rule: Jobseekers, Flight Attendants’ Undergarments ‘Must Not Be Visible’
Delta Airlines' new rule bans trainees and flight attendants from wearing visible undergarments.
Delta Airlines has a new policy for potential hires and current flight attendants that bans them from wearing visible undergarments.
As the airline continues its hiring spree for new flight attendants, a two-page memo outlining “appearance requirements” for applicants was issued earlier this month. The memo detailed Delta’s expectations for grooming, hair, jewelry, and clothing, including specific guidelines for undergarments during a candidates’ interview process, throughout training, and for the entire career with the airline.
“Proper undergarments must be worn but must not be visible,” the airline states in the “Clothing” section of the Appearance Guidelines.
Clothing must also be “professional and fit properly,” the airline clarified. Other rules include dresses and/or skirts that fall below the knee, closed-toe shoes that aren’t athletic, and ties with a buttoned collared shirt for men who choose to wear the uniform. Over on the grooming sides of the guidelines, “Aftershave, cologne and perfume may be used if applied lightly,” while eyelashes must “appear natural” and should not have “extreme length and volume.”
Other rules include trimmed facial hair and nails as well as nails that are all the same color, don’t have bright neon colors, and are chip-free. Hair must be a natural-looking color with “no stark highlights or unnatural shades,” the memo states. Hair that touches or is longer than the shoulder “must be pulled completely back and secured away from the eyes.”
The updated Appearance Guidelines are to help the potential hires give a good representation of themselves and the company when interacting with customers.
“In the interest of transparency and clarity for all prospective candidates, we are encouraging people to ‘dress for success’ and give a great first impression as they aspire to join the flight attendant ranks,” Delta said
However, the memo garnered criticism when it was shared on Reddit by someone who wanted to know, “Is this for real?” There were many who defended the memo and said they didn’t find anything wrong with it.
“What is the problem here? I’m inferring that they don’t want to see things like the tops of boxers, whale tails, or neon lace bras peeking out from under low-cut tops,” one person wrote.
“There’s nothing eyebrow-raising about this and I’m pretty sure my airline said something similar,” added someone else. “You’d be surprised how people show up to an interview where your appearance 100% matters.”
The appearance requirements aren’t too surprising when looking at recent findings that suggest Gen Z and recent college graduates lack understanding of how to dress professionally for job interviews. A survey of 800 managers done earlier this year revealed that nearly half of Gen Z applicants fail to dress appropriately for job interviews.
The research found that one in five employers reported that recent college graduates are underprepared for the workplace, citing poor eye contact, inappropriate attire, and unrealistic salary expectations as the top concerns. All this could be why Delta found it necessary to update its appearance guidelines and make it clear what a potential hire should look like when on the clock.
Black Billionaire Robert F. Smith Joins Partnership To Acquire Smartsheet For Nearly $8.4B
Black billionaire Robert F. Smith, the CEO and founder of Vista Equity Partners, is partnering with Blackstone to acquire Smartsheet.
Black billionaire Robert F. Smith, the CEO and founder of Vista Equity Partners, is partnering with Blackstone to acquire Smartsheet.
Smartsheet is a modern enterprise work management platform used by companies worldwide. According to a news release, approximately 85% of 2024 Fortune 500 companies use the Smartsheet platform.
“For more than a decade, we have built a thriving community of employees, partners, and customers, each focused on building and benefiting from Smartsheet’s industry-leading work management platform. Our next phase of growth and customer success is underway. We look forward to partnering with Blackstone and Vista Equity Partners to accelerate our vision of modernizing work management for enterprises globally,” said Mark Mader, CEO of Smartsheet.
Vista is a global investment firm with over $100 billion in assets under management as of March 31, 2024. The firm is known for exclusively investing in enterprise software, data, and technology-enabled businesses.
Blackstone is the world’s largest alternative asset manager that strives to deliver compelling returns for institutional and individual investors by strengthening the companies they choose to invest in.
“Modern enterprises rely on Smartsheet’s simple and scalable solutions to manage a diverse range of business-critical processes every single day because they enable seamless collaboration, enhanced productivity, and faster and more informed decision-making,” Monti Saroya, co-head of Vista’s Flagship Fund, and John Stalder, managing director at Vista, said in a joint statement.
“We look forward to partnering closely with Blackstone and Smartsheet to support its ambitious goal of making its platform accessible for every organization, team, and worker relying on collaborative work to achieve successful outcomes,” they added.
Who Is Black Billionaire Robert F. Smith?
According to his website, Smith was born to two working-class parents in a predominantly Black, middle-class neighborhood in Denver. Giving back was instilled in him at an early age.
“Every month, for over 50 years, he watched [his parents] donate their limited resources to charities like United Negro College Fund (UNCF), no matter what was happening in their personal lives,” a statement reads on his website.
It’s clear that higher education was also a priority for Smith. He earned a degree in chemical engineering from Cornell University and later attended Columbia’s Business School. After graduating in 1994, he worked in investment banking on mergers and acquisitions at Goldman Sachs in New York City and later in San Francisco.
Smith launched Vista Equity Partners (Vista) in 2000, a leading global investment firm. Under his leadership, the firm’s portfolio includes some of the world’s leading enterprise software businesses.
NBEC: Leveraging Resources And Relationships To Uplift The Black Community
NBEC’s leaders and members say the organization is gaining steam to be a catalyst for change in the Black community.
A few days before Randall Woodfin won the general election as Birmingham, Alabama’s mayor, his teenage nephew was shot to death. Just five years prior, his nephew’s father—Woodfin’s brother—was also killed by gun violence. So when Woodfin has to make a call to a grieving mother, father, or grandparent who has just lost a child to gun violence, he said, “I’m triggered every time.”
“America has a violence problem. At this intersection of a city in a southern state that has lax or no gun law, in a city where there’s majority of Black people, in a city where there’s access to guns easier than it is to buy drugs—what do you think is going to happen? You’re going to have a higher level of gun violence than your average urban core,” Mayor Woodfin said. “This issue is hard, and it’s not easy, but I do believe it’s solvable.”
Woodfin shared his impassioned remarks—and his city’s tangible solutions—at the Morrison-Clark Historic Inn in Washington, D.C., earlier this month as the National Black Empowerment Council (NBEC) hosted a duo of annual “Solution Sessions.” A packed room of professionals in suits with open minds to exchange ideas gathered during the Congressional Black Caucus’s Annual Legislative Conference week to discuss how NBEC members leverage resources, relationships, and influence to collectively impact Black communities and close the wealth gap.
New in its origins, but broad in its influence and impact, NBEC’s leaders and members say the organization is gaining steam to be a catalyst for change in the Black community “as a way to move forward the momentum that was begun during the Civil Rights Movement,” said NBEC member Michael Kennedy, “to take the community to the next level.”
And that’s exactly what NBEC Founder and President Darius Jones aims to do: connect people in “positions of responsibility but who operate in those positions with such a spirit of high consciousness and a desire to elevate and see our people succeed.”
Empowerment Through Social Connection
NBEC is a national network of leaders in politics, academia, health, tech, law, the faith community, and Black philanthropy who uplift Black people in the areas of education, economic empowerment, and community development. People, Jones said, who are “willing to work together strategically across those various industries to leverage the resources, the relationships, and the institutional influence they have for the uplift of our people.”
NBEC was founded in 2021 by Jones, a versatile visionary who has worked in local, state, and national politics and government relations. In forming the organization, Jones believes that members on both sides of the aisle are critical to increasing community impact and closing the wealth gap.
“Our organization is bipartisan because our belief is: wherever critical decisions are being made that are going to impact the lives of African Americans, we need access to those conversations,” Jones told BLACK ENTERPRISE.
According to Jones, twenty current and former African American mayors are members of NBEC.
“Being able to have mayors who are involved in our network—and to have in their cities a cohort of civically engaged members from our group, also in other industries—they’re able to work together collectively to punch above their weight to make a positive impact for our community,” he said.
While the organization cannot endorse nor campaign for candidates as a 501(c)3, the network can convene amongst themselves to find ways to support candidates as they see fit. NBEC congratulated its network member Steve Benjamin on his White House appointment and Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks on her Maryland Senate bid announcement.
In addition to their collective power in politics, there’s also a growing movement in the education space. Of NBEC’s 600 members, nearly 70% are alumni of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), Jones said. The organization also has a few HBCU presidents as members, one of whom is Benedict College President Dr. Roslyn Clark Artis, who has been a member since NBEC’s inception.
“Darius Jones’ visions of creating a dynamic group of African Americans and their allies to create synergies and develop solutions to complex problems resonated with me as an African American woman and as an HBCU president,” Dr. Artis told BE, adding that the “synergies created by the NBEC create a vibrant ecosystem” for HBCUs.
Proactively addressing the “digital divide in low-wealth communities of color, providing community-based housing solutions and growing Black-owned businesses,” as a few examples, Dr. Artis said, “ is complimentary to the work we do at HBCUs. The Benedict College business incubator, technology hub, prison education program, community-based broad access program, and community development corporation all afford me the opportunity to advance the work of NBEC while simultaneously propelling the College and the community we serve. Each of these activities is, quite literally, an empowerment tool for the Black community.”
Furthermore, HBCUs can be protected, preserved, sustained, and grown by leveraging the “access to capital, strategy development, and the public/private partnerships that naturally evolve from the work of NBEC,” Dr. Artis said.
Homes We Own in Safer Communities
During the Sept. 12 Solutions Sessions, leaders examined the critical intersection of public safety initiatives with economic opportunities for businesses and the benefits of community engagement and safer communities due to Black homeownership. They offered meaningful solutions throughout.
“We do not deal with the underlying root causes of crime, and most of that is poverty,” said ReneéHall, retired police chief and national first vice president of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE). She added that her organization works with Black chambers of commerce to ensure “businesses feel comfortable once they come into our communities.”
“If our dollars in this community are going to these businesses, are they investing in our police department and in our communities? Are they offering jobs, education and training?,” Hall asked. “Because we have to approach public safety and economic development and growth in a holistic manner, and we can’t just do one without the other.”
Mayor Woodfin said his city pumps a million dollars a year into conflict resolution programs for K-12 students.Other investments include re-entry tools for the formerly incarcerated: employment, getting a license or Commercial Driver’s License, and housing.
John Henry, CEO of Grace3 Technologies LLC, said, “We need more tech solutions for teens.” He’s working with NBEC to create career pathway programs and fund exams for teens to explore the aviation field. Through Grace3’s Teen Tech Summit, Henry said his company has impacted “3,000 or 4,000 kids.”
In a separate panel, leaders in affordable housing, utility infrastructure, and community benefit planning discussed collaboration to impact communities in real estate development. Jennifer Riley Collins, U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Regional Administrator, said that HUD is partnering with the Department of Labor to focus on helping young people living in public housing obtain skills and provide them with opportunities to get jobs directly with the federal government. Collins also stressed the importance of Black homeownership.
“Our community continues to be discriminated against when it comes to the value placed upon a house that they own or a house that they may attempt to go buy,” Collins said. “Homebuilding is also economic development for our community.”
After NBEC’s Solutions Sessions, the dialogue flowed into the connection at NBEC’s annual Urban Leadership Reception. A packed crowd gathered at ZOOZ in DC’s revamped Wharf district. Amongst decorative florals, neon pink lights, French 75s, and the sounds of DJ Bomb Jahlamm, hundreds of guests convened, conversed, and carried on meaningful connections to address solutions.
“I felt it was important to be able to be a part of threading together all Black people in the country—and now we’re talking about internationally—to have one voice and one movement together—instead of relying on one person to make things happen for us,” Kennedy said during the Urban Leadership Reception. “The contribution I made is something I feel is way past due…to help increase the infrastructure for the vision and strategy and growth of this plan. Every time someone makes a contribution to this organization, it has a 10x return in the community.”
Latto Gifts Waffle House Employee Money After Her ‘Brokey’ Challenge Caused Termination
Latto gifted money to one lucky fan who was fired from her Waffle House job after partaking in the rapper's "Brokey" challenge.
Latto linked up with one lucky fan who was fired from her Waffle House job after partaking in the rapper’s “Brokey” challenge while on the clock.
A TikTok user named Yadira Ramirez has gained traction on social media over the last week after sharing her experience participating in Latto’s new challenge. After posting a video of herself and fellow Waffle House employees participating in the “Brokey” challenge, Ramirez followed up two days later to inform her followers that she had been fired due to the video.
“I just got fired because of that video. Big Latto’s challenge,” Ramirez says to the camera.
She revealed her six years at Waffle House and expressed her disappointment in being fired over a video “that harms nobody.” Ramirez said through tears that she was also placed on the “no-rehire” list.
im so pissed. like yall don’t understand the bullshit i done through with this company to fire me over a video that was literally rooting on them. bs. straight bs.
Ramirez shared another follow-up video clarifying the video and how the manager who fired her was the same manager who filmed the video. She also revealed she was the only one fired despite multiple employees participating in the video.
But Ramirez got the last laugh when she shared a video on Tuesday after being invited to the studio to hang out with Latto. The former Waffle House employee rapped lyrics to “Brokey” before Latto stepped into the camera and handed Ramirez a wad of cash.
While it’s unclear how much Latto gave Ramirez, it might’ve been the $10,000 the rapper promised to “whoever make the best video at they job to brokey,” she tweeted on Sept. 15.
“I hate that y’all think I was calling hard workers brokeys,” she wrote. “So I got $10k for whoever make the best video at they job to brokey & I’ll fly u out to be in the music video…no mo waiting til ur bday to go outta town. Tag me & hashtag #Brokey so I can see them all.”
This tweet prompted Ramirez to record her version of the challenge, which garnered over 23.4 million views, 3.7 million likes, and nearly 19,000 comments. Her viral video might’ve gotten her fired, but she’s a few thousand richer, social media famous, and might get a cameo in Latto’s “Brokey” music video.
The U.S. Attorney’s office announced on Sept. 25 that Wimberly allegedly demanded cash to facilitate the sale of a city-owned property to an unidentified outside party. The person then gave Wimberly $5,000 a month in cash bribes until the former mayor demanded more, resulting in the person paying $10,000 each month.
In a statement, U.S. Attorney Dawn Ison described Wimberly’s actions as “greed” and said her office will continue to go after such leaders. “Public officials who act in their own best interests, motivated by greed, betray the trust of their communities and the general public,” Ison said.
“We will continue to aggressively prosecute corrupt public officials for their illegal actions.”
According to The Detroit News, under the federal indictment, a series of secret meetings between Wimberly and the unidentified developer started in August 2022, when the developer expressed interest in the city-owned property. During the next month, Wimberly allegedly demanded a $100,000 bribe to secure the purchase and development of the site.
After the developer asked if he could make $5,000 monthly installments initially and end up paying $10,000 a month, the former city leader agreed, but on the alleged grounds that the developer “come in the front with something.” That night, Wimberly accepted $5,000 cash, and in return, the mayor continuously mentioned controlling the City Council and voting on the sale of property and site usage.
Payments continued until April 2023, when the developer met with the mayor in his car.
The allegations against Wimberly coincide with a federal crackdown on corruption, racketeering, and bribery within Wayne County, Michigan. Special agent in charge of the state’s FBI office, Cheyvoryea Gibson, said the case is one step closer to holding public officials accountable for criminal activity. “Wimberly’s guilty plea is a step forward in reminding public officials that they will be held accountable for their actions and should always operate with the highest level of integrity,” Gibson said.
“Members of the FBI’s Detroit Area Corruption Task Force will continue to investigate any allegations of criminal misconduct from our public officials in an effort to maintain the public’s trust.”
Wimberly, a former Michigan council member and marijuana entrepreneur, was elected to office in 2019. He then lost his reelection bid in the 2023 general election to his mayoral predecessor, Byron Nolen. Wimberly’s charge carries a 10-year maximum sentence in prison and a fine of $250,000.
