Keke Palmer is having a moment.

That’s a bit strange to say for someone who’s been working since she was nine years old, but this moment has been 20 years in the making, Palmer told EW. Now, with the spotlight trained brighter than ever on her, Palmer is spreading the love around with her new digital platform, KeyTV.

A streaming television network that showcases young creatives who might not have otherwise had an entry point into the industry, in addition to providing training tools for those creatives on how to get their projects off the ground, KeyTV is Palmer’s act of tossing her hat into a ring not often reserved for young, Black women: network executive.

It’s not a role she takes lightly. Though she’s known for her ebullient, larger-than-life personality, when Palmer — star of the recent movies Nope, Lightyear, and Alice, and host of NBC’s Password and her own podcast, Baby, This Is Keke Palmer — discusses KeyTV, she’s all business. Working with her friend Lenoria Addison, a producer at the Awesomeness television network, over meetings at SoHo House, Palmer came up with a business plan and started building KeyTV from the ground up with a $500,000 investment.

“[Lenoria] just walked me through with her skills from being a producer at Awesomeness, my skills as a creative and producing some of my own stuff, and then my mother’s skills putting everything together with my career over the last 20 years,” Palmer explains to EW. “We all, bit by bit, just started chipping away and then reaching out to people we knew that were looking to get their projects made on this type of scale.”

Twitter users breathed a sigh of relief when they realized the reason James Earl Jones was trending on Tuesday was due to it being his 92nd birthday.

The legendary actor, known for his voice and onscreen roles in films like Star Wars, The Lion King, and Coming to America, turned 92 on Tuesday, and Hollywood shared tweets in honor of Jones’ special day.

“He’s Darth Vader. He’s Mufasa. He’s James Earl Jones. The esteemed actor celebrates his 92nd birthday today,” The Hollywood Reporter tweeted.

He's Darth Vader. He's Mufasa. He's James Earl Jones. The esteemed actor celebrates his 92nd birthday today pic.twitter.com/QLmYKnnSHv

— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) January 17, 2023

Many Twitter users flooded the comments with happy birthday messages, including throwbacks of Jones’ rise in Hollywood.

https://twitter.com/ClamsCasino11/status/1615522686783873024?s=20&t=_peQ8A0VplI32EgZKh1Oaw

https://twitter.com/ChildofMyth1/status/1615453216929611776?s=20&t=_peQ8A0VplI32EgZKh1Oaw

He was a close friend of the Sultan of Swat, the King of Crash, the Colossus of Clout, the Great Bambino!#TheSandlot ⚾️ pic.twitter.com/2mHjFHqo1P

— Nación WhoDat⚜️ (@nacionwhodat) January 18, 2023

Fox Sports wished Jones a happy birthday by sharing one of his memorable lines from the 1993 baseball film The Sandlot.

In honor of James Earl Jones' birthday, we show you one of the most iconic baseball movie scenes of all-time ⚾️pic.twitter.com/qtyo29suhA

— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) January 17, 2023

The Sting shared a clip from Jones’ time starring in the 1983 Broadway place of Fences alongside Mary Alice and Courtney B. Vance.

“James is an incredible actor. This ‘Why don’t you like me’ scene from Fences is jawdroppingly good,” they wrote. “The man is a powerhouse.”

https://twitter.com/TSting18/status/1615320377122603010?s=20&t=_peQ8A0VplI32EgZKh1Oaw

Some others responded to The Hollywood Reporter‘s birthday tribute to share their honest initial reactions to seeing the famed actors’ name on their timelines.

“You gotta start off by saying Happy Birthday. Whew had me scared,” one user tweeted in response.

You gotta start off by saying Happy Birthday. Whew had me scared. pic.twitter.com/8nY88JVPGR

— Freckle & Tea (@FreckleAndTea) January 17, 2023

https://twitter.com/NickyMonsPhoto/status/1615540612589293570?s=20&t=_peQ8A0VplI32EgZKh1Oaw

pic.twitter.com/IruyNlKa4j

— Native Honesty (@Raingoons) January 17, 2023

The Roots star was born in Arkabutla, Mississippi., in 1931. Jones started his Hollywood career back in 1948 and has over 200 acting credits under his name.

Over the decades, Jones’ skill as a classically trained actor has served in films such as Claudine, Dr. Strangelove, The Man, Coming To America, Conan The Barbarian, and The Hunt For Red October. Jones has an honorary Academy Award and a Primetime Emmy.

His voiceover work in The Lion King films as Mufasa earned him a Disney Legend honor in 2019. Jones’ other iconic voiceover roles include Darth Vader in the Star Wars films.

Actors Malcolm-Jamal Warner and Carl Anthony Payne II may have played on-screen best friends on The Cosby Show, looks can be deceiving. Not everything was copacetic between the pair, at least from Warner’s standpoint. 

During his recent appearance on The Breakfast Club, Warner disclosed that although he and Payne are in a better place now as adults, the duo did, in fact, have a feud on the hit series.

Warner revealed the dispute stemmed from Payne losing a plum role on The Cosby Show, which ran from 1984 to 1992. For context, Warner was cast as Theodore Huxtable, the only son of beloved television couple Cliff and Clair Huxtable. At the same time, Payne was offered a supporting role as Theo’s best friend, Walter “Cockroach” Bradley.

In the January 12 interview, Warner opened up about the casting process and claimed that the duo was up for the same role. The 52-year-old stated if he didn’t audition, Payne “would have played Theo.”

Warner said, “We’re cooler as adults than we were during the time. The original callbacks for Cosby they flew in an actor from Chicago and then flew in an actor from New York. Carl was the actor they flew in from New York. So, had I not auditioned for the show, Carl would have played Theo.”

Later, Warner said Payne’s “huge ego” heavily contributed to their rift.

“That was part of it,” Warner said. “I didn’t come from that kind of place. The way I felt then and the way I do now, you know, based on my career, if anyone should walk around with a huge ego it should be me. And if I don’t roll like that, I have very little tolerance for people who roll like that. So we never really, we just really never got along back then.”

Despite the feud, both men would ultimately make amends years later.

Payne has yet to respond to Warner’s claims.

Famed sports commentator Stephen A. Smith isn’t that excited about Rihanna headlining the 2023 Super Bowl halftime show.

The ESPN personality and First Take mainstay appeared on The Sherri Show Wednesday. He was asked if he was “excited” about this year’s halftime show.

“I don’t wanna say I’m not excited,” said the famed Dallas Cowboys hater. “She’s fantastic. That’s not where I’m going with this.”

“Ladies and gentlemen, she’s a lot of things. She’s spectacular, actually. And congratulations on new-momma-hood. There’s one thing she’s not. She ain’t Beyoncé,” he quipped.

He went on to explain his reasoning for not being too excited about Rihanna headlining the Super Bowl’s halftime show, one of the most widely seen events of the year.

“Hold on.…The only reason I brought up Beyoncé is because Beyoncé recently performed at the Super Bowl, with and without Bruno Mars and Coldplay,” he said, referencing Beyoncé’s Super Bowl performances in 2013 and 2016.

He also went on to say that Sherri Shephard is doing her thing at hosting her daytime talk show, and he wouldn’t expect just anyone to be able to fill her shoes.

“Rihanna’s music is fantastic,” Smith continued. “She’s great. She’s a sister. I love her dearly, I listen to her music, I’m gonna support her ’til the cows come home.”

While Smith notes the “greatness” of Rihanna, he also says there are “levels” to headlining the Super Bowl and he isn’t completely convinced that Rihanna can handle what it takes to put on a good performance like Beyoncé and Michael Jackson have done in the past.

“I’m just telling you: for me, there’s Beyoncé and there’s everybody else,” he said. “Just like there was Michael Jackson and there’s everybody else.”

Smith did at least say he doesn’t expect Rihanna to be “bad” in her performance due to her being “too great not to be good.”

Master P and Snoop Dogg are in the history-making business.

The rappers-turned-moguls recently signed a national distribution deal with Post Consumer Brands for their breakfast food products Snoop Cereal and Broadus Foods.

On January 16, Master P uploaded a video of himself commemorating the partnership with the company’s staff in what appears to be a Post facility on Instagram. In the clip, Master P, also known as Percy Miller, was gifted a gold spoon before expressing to the Post employees how significant this deal is to him in a speech.

While recounting his successful musical background, which consists of selling millions of records worldwide and owning the record label No Limit Records, Master P said, “Now, I feel like I’m back in my record company days. I did a record deal I sold 100 million records, and now with the cereal game. This is a new game! I got a gold spoon. This is what diversity is all about.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Master P (@masterp)

Later in his speech, the 52-year-old praised Post for believing in his overall vision of putting more “African-American-owned products on the shelf.” Master P also highlighted the advantages that will occur within the Black community following the distribution deal, noting that they spend over $1 trillion annually on breakfast products.

He stated, “Now, we will be able to put money back into our community and our culture. So, this is bigger than just the cereal. This is going to make a difference and we’ll be able to feed so many people.”

Master P wrapped up his speech by pledging to the Post staff that he and Snoop Dogg are “going to work hard” to sweep out the competition.

The father of nine said, “This is only the beginning. We’re going to work hard. We know it’s not going to be easy and there’s a lot of competition out there but we’ve never been afraid to work.” In addition to the recording, Master P disclosed in the caption that he and Snoop Dogg are the first “Black-owned cereal company” to land a national distribution deal.

As previously reported by BLACK ENTERPRISE, in August 2022, Master P and Snoop Dogg announced that they had released their cereal which the pair named at the time Snoop Loopz.

That December, they renamed their product Snoop Cereal (after they were threatened with a lawsuit), which was revealed in a quick video. At the same time, Master P shared that they were in the early stages of partnering up with Post.

Snoop Cereal will hit the shelves in June.

Washington, D.C.’s Langdon neighborhood is getting its own mini strip mall full of Black-owned women-run businesses.

Angel Gregorio has purchased a $1 million property as the new location for her spice shop that she has dubbed The Spice Suite.

According to Dcist, the 7,500 square foot lot will be the home to four other Black-owned salon businesses within the upcoming weeks, including hair, nails, waxing, and braiding services.

The strip mall that Gregorio called “Black and Forth,” had its soft launch to cut the ribbon to the location.

“It was just this catchy, cool name that I created for how I describe my process of going back-and-forth with Black business owners,” Gregorio said. “And now it is the name of a shopping center—a strip mall —that I own in D.C. So I feel good about that and I’m grateful to be in the space.”

“We have a lot of conversation about affordable housing, but we don’t talk enough about making commercial space affordable for Black women. And so since no one is talking about it, I’m just going to do it and let people talk about it,” Gregorio said.

Gregorio made her million-dollar purchase in December 2021 with the assist of D.C. government dollars. Gregorio’s investment is an expansion of Mayor Muriel Bowser and her administration’s mission to increase the share of minority-owned businesses to 33% by 2028.

Council member Kenyan McDuffie helped create the city’s Commercial Property Acquisition Fund, a program where eligible businesses working to expand or maintain a commercial property are awarded grants of up to $750,000 or 25% of the sale price. Reportedly, Gregorio was the fund’s first applicant.

“We’re going to keep making these sorts of investments, so we can do the sorts of transformational things that allow our Black and brown entrepreneurs not only to be great business people [but] to build wealth that they can pass on for generations to come,” McDuffie said at the ribbon cutting ceremony for Spice Suite and Black And Forth.

“The goal of this space is to build community,” Gregorio said.

“I want this to become the model,” Gregorio said at the ceremony. “I want to be able to consult for free and talk to other people on how to do this in your city, in your quadrant, so this becomes the standard of how we care for each other and how we show up for community.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Angel| SpiceGirl (@thespicesuite)

Plans for the strip mall include a farmers market in the spring featuring Black farmers and growers, markets, and popup shops.

The Spice Suite is open Thursday through Sunday at 2201 Channing St. NE.

Actress Storm Reid made a red carpet appearance with her new boyfriend, who is no stranger to being in the spotlight.

The 19-year-old actress, who first appeared on film in the 2013 movie, 12 Years a Slave, was on the red carpet with the new quarterback of the University of Colorado Boulder football team, Shedeur Sanders. The couple attended the premiere of her new thriller, Missing last Thursday.

The movie will be in theaters on January 20.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Storm Reid (@stormreid)

As Entertainment Tonight’s correspondent Kevin Frazier spoke to the young actress, she stated how talented Sanders is and glad that he was there to support her.

“He’s super sweet, super talented,” Reid said.

“I’m just glad to have him here supporting me.”

Storm is also a cast member of the HBO series, Euphoria, which is entering its third season. She was questioned about the details of what will take place in this upcoming season.

“I literally know nothing–I don’t know when I’m going back, I don’t know what the scripts look like. But I hope that season 3 has a lot of hope, a lot of joy, a lot of levity. Because, you know, we’ve done all of the emotions.”

She also acknowledges the length of time she has been in the entertainment world since her first project, 12 Years a Slave, and how much she loves what he does.

“I can’t believe it’s been that long but I’m so grateful to be standing here, to be able to do what I love to do every day with intention and purpose. And to have done so many projects between 12 Years a Slave and now is just a blessing.”

Now that her boyfriend has left Jackson State University and will be playing in Colorado, she said that she “hopes” to start making trips out there to visit him.

Legendary soul singer Smokey Robinson is at a point in his life and career where he’s ready to tell it all, including his past affair with fellow Motown icon Diana Ross.

Robinson sat down for a tell-all interview on VladTV where he opened up about his history with Ross which dates back to their upbringing in Detroit. The “Cruisin” singer first met Ross when he was 12 years old and lived four doors down from the future Supremes lead singer.

Eventually, Ross moved away to the Brewster projects and formed her own singing group in hopes of landing a record deal with Motown Records.

“After we started [at] Motown, she called me one day and she said, ‘Smoke, I got this group, you know, and uh, I want you to hear us so you can sign us up at Motown,” he recalled. “So I said, ‘OK.’ I didn’t know she was a singer until then.”

Ross has been open about her close friendship with Robinson throughout the decades. But never claimed to be romantic with him until her memoir.

Happy Happy Birthday ! I Love You ⁦@smokeyrobinson⁩ pic.twitter.com/RTjIKts7LU

— Ms. Ross (@DianaRoss) February 19, 2021

When Vlad asked Robinson about Ross’ revelation in her book, he admitted they dated for a lot longer than they should have.

“Well, it lasted, uh, probably longer than it should ’cause I was married at the time,” he recalled.

“Yeah, that happened later. After I got married. You know, after I got signed up at Motown, that’s when that started.”

“I lived on the north side of Detroit,” Ross told Interview Magazine in 1981. “Right down the street from me, there was a young man by the name of Smokey Robinson. I was very proud to live down the street from him because he was our only celebrity in town. He was singing with the Miracles.”

By 1959, Robinson was married to his first wife, Claudette Rogers Robinson, who was a member of his group, The Miracles. They had two children before divorcing in 1986 after Smokey had a child out of wedlock with another woman.

Robinson remarried twice after that and is currently married to Frances Glandney, who he’s been married to since 2002.

Earlier this week, new Bethune-Cookman University (BCU) football coach Ed Reed apologized for releasing an expletive-filled video chastising the university for the condition he encountered on the campus last week.

The former Baltimore Ravens Hall of Famer took to his Twitter account Monday to take accountability for his “lack of professionalism” when he recorded the video several days ago and posted it to his social media feed.

“I(n) regards to my social media and comments about the University, staff, and other institutions, I would like to sincerely apologize to all BCU staff, students, and alumni for my lack of professionalism. My language and tone were unacceptable as a father, coach, and leader. My passion for our culture, betterment ,and bringing our foundation up got the best of me and I fell victim while engaging with antagonists on social media as well. I am fully aware of the hard working folks at our school who are also fighting to make things better and more financially sound. I am encouraged from my communication with my AD and our administration and understand it’s a work in progress. My passion is about getting and doing better and that goes for me too.”

https://twitter.com/TwentyER/status/1614867649821028352?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

The video that was posted earlier this week was in reference to another video shown below, which feaures adult language. .

https://twitter.com/UnfilteredInd/status/1614722352603926536?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

The hiring of Reed to an HBCU comes on the heels of Deion Sanders bringing a positive experience to Jackson State University (JSU). Although Reed took the wrong approach with his first video, he echoed the same thoughts Jackson stated when he initially arrived at JSU.

“Prime was not wrong about what he was saying,” Reed remarked. “All y’all out there with y’all little opinions are full of crap. But needless to say, I just pulled up to work. We’re gonna try to help y’all too because I know a lot of HBCUs need help, I’m just here to help here first. I see it all too clearly. All our HBCUs need help and they need help because of the people who’s running it. It’s broken mentalities out here.”

Bethune Cookman HC Ed Reed speaks on HBCUs

“Prime was not wrong about what he was saying. All HBCUs need help because of the people who’s running it. Broken mentalities out here” pic.twitter.com/ELDoaVS2L2

— UFM TV™️ (@UFMTV_) January 15, 2023

Bethune-Cookman is located in Daytona Beach, Florida., and plays in the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC).

Antonio Brown is at it again. This time, the troubled ex-NFL player has been suspended from Snapchat for something unthinkable.

Brown posted a picture of his children’s mother, Chelsie Kyriss, performing fellatio on him.

The post violates the platform’s community guidelines that “prohibit sexually explicit content and bullying or harassment of any kind,” TMZ reported.

In an Instagram statement, Kyriss says she is aware of the post, but “not in control of his actions.”

“I have asked multiple times to have this part of our relationship to remain private but he refuses,” the statement reads.

The mother of four also slammed Snapchat for even allowing the post to stay up for as long as it did.

“I have reported his page and all pictures; unfortunately, Snapchat is allowing him to repost. I am very sorry for any of your kids that follow him and used to look at him as a role model.”

Snapchat has since removed the post, but it was a little too late. The picture has gone viral.

This is not the first time Brown has been in hot water with social platforms and his family.

Just last year, Kyriss claimed that Brown reportedly sent sexually explicit images to his own son during a domestic violence incident. Kyriss also filed for custody for three of their children in 2020 and asked the disgraced wide receiver to seek mental health treatment, according to Fox News.

Brown will have to find another platform to troll from as he has become popular with his Snapchat posts.

He recently trolled his former teammate, Tom Brady, while he was going through a public divorce. TMZ shared the image Brown posted of Brady’s ex-wife, Gisele Bündchen, in a horribly photoshopped picture of the supermodel’s face onto a nude body.

It has been a year since Brown has played in the NFL. Last January, after joining the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Brown randomly stormed off the field during a game.