Lizzo, sampling lawsuit — Lizzo performs during the 2019 American Music Awards at Microsoft Theater on November 24, 2019. (Photo by Jeff Kravitz/AMA2019/FilmMagic for dcp)

by Cedric 'BIG CED' Thornton

October 24, 2025

Lizzo Sued For Sampling ’70s Soul Track In Unreleased Song

The lawsuit targets a song snippet Lizzo shared online.

Lizzo is being sued for copyright infringement over an unreleased song that references the American Eagle advertisement featuring actress Sydney Sweeney.

According to the BBC, the artist is being sued for using an unauthorized sample of a groovy R&B song written by Sam Dees in the 1970s named “Win or Lose (We Tried).”

The song was “leaked” on social media over the summer with a snippet on Lizzo’s TikTok and Instagram pages. It gained a lot of attention due to Lizzo mentioning Sweeney’s name and the actress’ controversial commercial.

The American Eagle commercial had people up in arms because it stated that the blonde, buxom Sweeney (the popular star of The White Lotus and Anyone But You) has “good jeans,” with many interpreting it as a play on white supremacy, instead of her looks or “good genes.”

In the song, Lizzo rapped, “I got good jeans like I’m Sydney.”

Yet attorneys for GRC Trust are claiming lost profits. According to the suit, GRC Trust states that Lizzo “obtained profits they would not have realized but for their infringement” of the song.

They say that they “attempted informal resolution of the dispute” with Lizzo’s representatives, “but reached an impasse, necessitating the filing of this case.”

“We are surprised that the GRC Trust filed this lawsuit,” a representative for Lizzo said, according to the BBC. “To be clear, the song has never been commercially released or monetized, and no decision has been made at this time regarding any future commercial release of the song.”

GRC Trust does not want the song further distributed and is seeking an injunction to block it. It is also requesting a financial settlement that is equal to “all [of the] defendants’ profits, plus all GRC’s losses.”

Misty Copeland, Black Ballerinas, Trauma, American Ballet Theatre — (Photo: Kent G Becker/flickr)

by Kandiss Edwards

October 24, 2025

Misty Copeland Takes Final Bow, Celebrated By Icons Oprah And Debbie Allen

Copeland, the first Black principal dancer for The American Ballet Theatre, has retired.

Misty Copeland, the first Black principal dancer for The American Ballet Theatre, took her final bow and was given her flowers by Black royalty.

On Oct. 22, at the David H. Koch Theater, Copeland concluded her groundbreaking career. She performed in the gala event, “A Celebration Honoring Misty Copeland,” part of ABT’s Fall Gala and co-chaired by Caroline Kennedy and Oprah Winfrey.

Following her final bow, Copeland was celebrated by family members, company members, and legends. One of the first in line to present the prima ballerina a stunning bouquet of red roses was Oprah. As a prolific figure in Black culture, the media mogul and Black-woman billionaire acknowledged Copeland’s contribution to breaking barriers in the dance world.

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Along with Oprah, Debbie Allen was present to support the now living legend in her final artistic showing, with the trailblazer taking the stage following Winfrey. The five-time Emmy-winner, choreographer and owner of the Debbie Allen Dance Academy blazed a trail in the dance world leaving doors open in her wake. Copeland walked through those doors as a young dancer at the Debbie Allen Dance Academy.

An official Instagram account posted a heartfelt tribute to Copeland.

“We are endlessly proud of Misty’s remarkable career, her grace, and the doors she’s opened for dancers everywhere. Brava, Misty. The curtain may have closed, but your light continues to shine,” the post read.

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Beyond her contribution to ballet, Copeland founded the Misty Copeland Foundation, published books and co-founded a production company. All of her endeavors are aimed at creating access and representation. While she steps down from ABT, Copeland says her dancing journey is not finished.

She told People that this moment “is not a farewell, it’s a celebration of everything we’ve built together, and a step toward all the work that’s still ahead.”

dumpster, Pennsylvania Mayor — Photo by Victor Moragriega: https://www.pexels.com/photo/green-dumpster-by-red-fence-in-urban-area-30225009/

by Kandiss Edwards

October 24, 2025

Pennsylvania Mayor Fined $900 For Using City Dumpster At Her Home

Harrisburg Mayor Wanda Williams is in the midst of a reelection bid.

The Pennsylvania State Ethics Commission has fined Wanda Williams, mayor of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, $912.70 for obtaining an illegal dumpster, according to the decision filing.

Officials discovered that city employees delivered a roll-off dumpster to Williams’s private residence free of charge. Possession of a private dumpster is not a benefit available to the general public. The commission’s order states that the delivery violated public-office laws.

The complaint claims that Williams had possession of the sanitation bin from September 2023 to June 2024. The bin was technically owned by the city’s public works department, but was used to dispose of household waste.

Residents are split in their reaction to Williams’s actions. The State Ethics Commission charged Mayor Williams with abusing her privilege and position in the county to pull personal favors.

“It is clear that but for being the City Mayor, Williams would not have been in a position to text City Department of Public Works Director Spriggs and request that he have a roll-off dumpster delivered to her residence in the City for the private purpose of cleaning out her residence for an upcoming move,” the commission’s final adjudication read.

Meanwhile, supporters described the incident as a minor administrative error and said the fine was symbolic. Hopefully, Williams can move on from the near $1,000 scandal as she is currently running for reelection against City Council Treasurer Dan Miller in the Nov. 4 race.

Miller, a Democrat, is running against Williams, and although the two candidates have worked closely together over Williams’s four-year tenure, they are now political foes. Most recently, they have been fighting to bring awareness to public safety concerns in the area, WGAL reports.

Wells fargo, fraud claim, 83-year-old — Photo by Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images

by Sharelle B. McNair

October 24, 2025

Wells Fargo To Pay $85M To Settle ‘Fake Diversity Interview’ Lawsuit

The class action suit claimed Wells Fargo held interviews with diverse candidates with no intent of hiring them.

After a three-year battle, Wells Fargo has settled for $85 million in a lawsuit accusing it of holding fake interviews to meet a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) hiring quota, The Charlotte Observer reports.

The class action suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, claims the financial institution held interviews between February 2021 and June 2022 with diverse candidates with no actual intent of hiring them. After media reports exposed the “sham” May 2022 interviews, stock prices plummeted, prompting an investor lawsuit. On behalf of the plaintiffs, investment firm SEB Investment Management AB accused the bank and its executive team of violating securities laws by making false and misleading statements on its diversity requirements for higher-paying jobs.

Wells Fargo claimed that close to half of the candidates seeking jobs, with U.S.-based roles paying $100,000 or more per year, ranged from underrepresented demographics, including minorities, women, veterans, LGBTQ individuals, and people with disabilities.

While the bank denied the accusations and said the Oct. 15 settlement was simply to avoid expenses and the possibility of continued litigation, the suit put the banking conglomerate’s diversity practices under a microscope. In 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) received a report from Wells Fargo that 46% of its 238,000 employees were from diverse backgrounds, and it remained committed to advancing its diversity stance.

However, once President Donald Trump signed an executive order opposing DEI efforts, the bank dialed back, along with hundreds of other leading corporations. With a large presence in Charlotte, Wells Fargo was among the seven of the nine largest public companies in the Queen City to pause any mention of diversity and equity in the same SEC reports.

The $85 million will be distributed to eligible class action members following deductions for fees, expenses, and taxes. Submitted claims from class action members will receive settlement funds following the distribution formula that makes persons who owned Wells Fargo stock during the period of the lawsuit a priority. Shareholders with stock held between Feb. 24, 2021, and June 9, 2022, will receive payments as Wells’ stock price fell by 10% after news of the fake interviews broke.

As a result, the company lost $17 billion in market value.

The bank has been busy settling lawsuits. According to HR Dive, Wells Fargo also settled a related suit that accused bank executives of breaching their fiduciary duties —by definition, a legal and ethical obligation to act in the best interest of another party —over the company’s misleading statements regarding its diverse hiring practices.

To settle, Wells Fargo agreed to set aside $100 million to fund mortgage assistance programs for low- and moderate-income borrowers, including those who live in or purchased property in low- and moderate-income areas.

Shilo Sanders, NIL, lawsuit — (Photo: Ryan Kang/Getty Images)

by Cedric 'BIG CED' Thornton

October 24, 2025

Shilo Sanders Accused Of Making Unauthorized Bank Transfers

A trustee in Shilo Sanders' bankruptcy case has accused him of making unauthorized bank transfers totaling approximately $250,000.

A new development in former Colorado Buffaloes player Shilo Sanders’ bankruptcy lawsuit has emerged: A trustee in the case has accused him of making unauthorized bank transfers totaling approximately $250,000.

According to USA Today Sports, the Trustee, David Wadsworth, made the accusation in a court filing on Oct. 22. He is seeking to recover the money allegedly transferred from the account, claiming Sanders violated bankruptcy laws by doing so.

The former Tampa Bay Buccaneers player filed for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy in October 2023 after he was sued and, after not appearing in court, ordered to pay a default judgment of $11.89 million to a security guard who accused the football player of assaulting him in 2015. Wadsworth states that he is seeking to recover funds that included the income the football player received during college from his name, image, and likeness (NIL) earnings.

Wadsworth said that Sanders violated the automatic stay in the case by taking the money after being prohibited from doing so under the stay. He made money through his business company, Big 21, LLC.

“The Trustee also asserts a claim for violation of the automatic stay based upon the Debtor’s (Sanders’) exercise of control over Defendant Big 21, including its bank account,” it states in the complaint. “After the Petition Date, only the Trustee, as the sole member of Defendant Big 21, had the authority to authorize transfers out of Defendant Big 21’s bank account. Nevertheless… the Trustee did not authorize transfers that totaled approximately $250,000.00 out of Defendant Big 21’s bank account after the Petition Date for the benefit of the Debtor.”

The Trustee said that by making the unauthorized transfers from this bank account, Sanders “willfully violated the automatic stay.”

Wadsworth also claimed that Sanders received an NIL contract through another company he created, Headache Gang, after he filed for bankruptcy. Headache Gang received $202,500 in December 2023, after the bankruptcy filing.

“To the extent the Headache Gang Revenue is based on the Debtor’s prepetition NIL contracts, the Headache Gang Revenue is property of the bankruptcy estate,” the complaint states.

Because of this, the Trustee is seeking “turnover all revenue and proceeds of any prepetition NIL contracts entered into by the Debtor and the other Defendants whether that revenue was entered into prior to or after the Petition Date.”

Pharrell, Voices of Fire, World Series — MIAMI, FL - AUGUST 13: Pharrell films with the choir during the 2025 MLB Postseason campaign shoot at LoanDepot Park on Wednesday, August 13, 2025 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Mary DeCicco/MLB Photos via Getty Images)

by Cedric 'BIG CED' Thornton

October 24, 2025

Pharrell Williams And Voices Of Fire To Perform Before Game 1 Of The World Series

'Are You Ready?' and 'The One' are on the set list.

Pharrell Williams and Voices of Fire are set to make the mark on the World Series.

Major League Baseball (MLB) announced earlier this week that they will perform before Game 1 of the 2024 World Series. The Toronto Blue Jays will host the Los Angeles Dodgers on Oct. 24.

The game will be available on Fox, Fox Deportes, and ESPN Radio starting at 7 p.m. Eastern.

The mega-producer will be on Rogers Centre’s field with Bishop Ezekiel Williams’ vocal group to perform two recordings from its latest project, “Ophanim,” “Are You Ready?” and “The One.”

Voices of Fire will also perform the U.S. and Canadian National Anthems. They will be assisted by an ensemble from a local Toronto orchestra. Additional performers will join the vocal group during its rendition of the Canadian National Anthem.

MIAMI, FL – AUGUST 13: Pharrell films with the choir during the 2025 MLB Postseason campaign shoot at LoanDepot Park on Wednesday, August 13, 2025 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Mary DeCicco/MLB Photos via Getty Images)

During Major League Baseball’s 2025 postseason campaign, “October Hits Different,” Pharrell and Voices of Fire, along with a 25-piece orchestra, filled an empty stadium with a live rendition of “Are You Ready?”

While season highlights and MLB stars drew a parallel between gameplay and art, the song served as the background theme that celebrated the inspiring moments leading up to the playoffs.

Pharrell worked closely with MLB and Jesse Collins Entertainment’s Jesse Collins, Dionne Harmon, and Seth Dudowsky, who are the executive producers of the World Series pre-game show.

Bishop Ezekiel Williams is Pharrell’s uncle, and the group was formed on the Netflix series, Voices of Fire, where Williams, with the help of his nephew, auditioned aspiring group members in Hampton Roads, VA, to form the nontraditional gospel group. The series aired on the streaming platform in 2020.

“Ophanim” is available exclusively at voicesoffire.com.

Hakeem, Jefferies, Trump, Obamas — (Photo: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

by Jeroslyn JoVonn

October 24, 2025

Hakeem Jeffries Calls Out GOP For Not Reaching Out After Death Threats From Pardoned Jan. 6 Rioter

Christopher Moynihan was arrested on Oct. 19.

House minority leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) criticized Republican leaders in Congress and the White House this week for failing to contact him after a Jan. 6 rioter pardoned by President Donald Trump was accused of threatening to kill him.

“Not a single Republican has reached out either from the House, the Senate, or the White House, in connection with the death threat and the arrest,” Jeffries told reporters Oct. 23, according to Forbes. “But that does not surprise me in terms of the environment that we’re in.”

Christopher Moynihan was arrested Oct. 19 and taken into custody by New York State Police for allegedly sending text messages about his plans to “eliminate” Jeffries during his Oct. 20 appearance at the Economic Club of New York.

Moynihan has been charged with making a terrorist threat, a felony. He was arraigned on Oct. 21 and pleaded not guilty.

He received a Trump-issued pardon in January, one of more than 1,500 pardons granted to individuals who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol to stop the certification of Trump’s 2020 presidential election defeat to Joe Biden.

Jeffries slammed Trump, and Republicans, over the move.

“[Republicans] can’t justify the fact that Donald Trump pardoned hundreds of violent felons on his first day in office. People who brutally beat police officers, including seriously injuring, on these Capitol steps,” Jeffries said. “[Trump] pardons these violent felons and then unleashes them on American communities all across the country, and many of them have reoffended.”

Jeffries also pointed out that House Speaker Mike Johnson has not reached out to him. Johnson said he was unaware of Moynihan’s threats against Jeffries and shifted focus to the recent anti-Trump “No Kings” protests and what he described as “violence on the left.”

“The assassination culture that’s been advanced now—this is the left, in almost every case that is advancing this, and not the right,” Johnson said. “Let’s not make this a partisan issue. You don’t want me to go there.”

Black Boys, Maryland, graves, investigation — (Photo: Mike Bird/Pexels)

by Kandiss Edwards

October 24, 2025

Florida City Attempts To Build Over Black Gravesite, Again

The National Park Service estimates there are at least 23 confirmed unmarked graves and 14 possible others.

In Tallahassee, a plan to sell a city-owned golf course built partially over the burial grounds of enslaved people has led to residents speaking out on behalf of the dead.

The 178-acre site of the Capital City Golf Course is less than a mile from the state capitol. The National Park Service estimates at least 23 confirmed unmarked graves and 14 possible graves of enslaved people, the AP reported.

Residents and descendants of the enslaved are demanding recognition for those interred and a permanent memorial rather than a land sale.

“We know they were enslaved. But who were they?” asked local resident Tiffany Hill.

The city initially proposed to sell the land to the Capital City Country Club for $1.25 million. The city’s only condition to the sale is that the golf course remain an 18-hole facility and that the city maintain public access for a commemorative site.

Residents against the sale say the deal amounts to commodifying human remains. Additionally, activists warn that the continued lack of acknowledgement of the graves reduces the legacy of enslaved people to a footnote.

“They were sold on the auction blocks of Leon County, and now we are willing to sell them again,” said activist Delaitre Hollinger at the Oct. 22 City Commission meeting.

Advocates for historic preservation say the city’s failure to build the memorial it approved more than four years ago compounds the issue.

Florida State University historian Kathleen Powers Conti said she was “frankly shocked that … no one … is actually looking to find the descendants of those people buried there.”

Needless to say, residents are displeased by the prolonged inaction. The city commission has postponed its final vote on the sale amid mounting public pressure.

In 2020, city officials in Ocoee, Florida, encountered a similar situation. The city initiated eminent-domain action for a one-acre site believed to contain a historic African American cemetery. The site was rumored to possibly be tied to the 1920 Ocoee massacre of Black residents. The property at 441 Basking Ridge Court carried a marker for “Hallowed Ground” due to the discovery of two headstones. Yet, a ground-penetrating radar found no definitive evidence of graves, WESH reports.

In the Tampa area, forensic anthropologists working with the Florida Institute for Forensic Anthropology and Applied Science uncovered evidence for at least 45 unmarked cemeteries hidden under parking lots, schools, and housing developments. Many of the areas were tied to African American communities. Some of those sites trace back to mid-20th-century urban renewal.

In 2019, a forgotten cemetery was uncovered in Hillsborough County. Beneath the Robles Park housing project were the remains of the former Zion Cemetery. The remains were mostly Black bodies. The same year, 145 coffins were unearthed beneath a King High School in Tampa. They were what was left of the former Ridgewood Cemetery. While 145 remains were found, historical records show that more than 250 people were interred there.

According to Spectrum News, King High School erected a monument in 2023 to memorialize the people whose resting places had been built over and destroyed as a casualty of capitalism.

Lagos, photo studio, archives — Photo by Alexander Dummer: https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-studio-with-white-wooden-framed-wall-mirror-134469/

by Kandiss Edwards

October 24, 2025

Artists Rush Against Time To Save Lagos Photo Archives

Many of the photographic artifacts had been discarded, destroyed, or simply left to deteriorate.

The Lagos Studio Archives project is working to salvage thousands of photographic negatives from analog portrait studios across Lagos. Many of the artifacts had been discarded, destroyed, or left to deteriorate. Initiated by British-Nigerian artist Karl Ohiri and British artist-curator Riikka Kassinen, the archive seeks to reclaim visual records of everyday life in Lagos from roughly the 1970s until the early 2000s.

The archive now includes materials from over 20 studios. The portrait series showcases Lagosians in fashion, family groupings, celebrations, and everyday moments. The collection is described as capturing the style, humor, and aspirations of everyday Lagosians in multiple decades.

“I think in the photos you can see there was an attitude of optimism, a carefree feeling among many,” Kassinen told WePresent.

Ohiri agrees, “You can see that there’s optimism in the air in this transitional period; western technologies and clothing are coming in, there’s ’70s youth culture, fashion. It was a really important moment in Nigeria’s history.”

Ohiri and Kassinen say they began after discovering local photo studios disposing of their film databases as digital methods took over and studios closed down.

“Studio photography was very big in Nigeria in the ’70s—people wanted to record their lives. When I’d ask these photographers if I could see their archives, they’d say they didn’t have them, some said they’d destroyed them. Many of them were burning them, others were leaving them to deteriorate in humid conditions. In their eyes the work had been done, why store it all?” Ohiri told WePresent.

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Having rescued and digitized many of the negatives, the Lagos Studio Archives has curated several international exhibitions. The work from one of the studios, Abi Morocco Photos, operated by John and Funmilayo Abe in the 1970s-2000s, was featured in “Abi Morocco Photos: Spirit of Lagos“ at Autograph Gallery in London.

The team emphasizes that their aim is not simply to preserve images but to engender a collective responsibility around photography, memory, and heritage.

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The project also exposes an urgency of preserving Lagos’ analog archives, which are vulnerable to neglect or erasure.

Ohiri emphasized the point, stating, “There’s a real sense of urgency to the work. There are four or five archives we hold whose owners have passed away since we started the project. When that happens, the access to context and information is erased.”

The Lagos Studio Archives project is critical to a larger discourse about ownership and preservation. This focus on rescuing marginalized narratives mirrors the ongoing reckoning around African art and photography held in Western museums. Just as the Lagos Studio Archives brings local voices to the forefront, calls are growing louder for British museums and other global institutions to part with their holdings of African cultural art. As conversations about restitution and repatriation escalate, the archival work in Lagos serves as a vivid reminder of the breadth of what has been lost—and what might be returned.

knicks, spike lee, pope — left (Photo by Georges Biard, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons), right (Photo by Ivan Romano/Getty Images)

by Cedric 'BIG CED' Thornton

October 24, 2025

Spike Lee Says Trash Talk Is Part Of The Script At Madison Square Garden

'Anytime the (Chicago) Bulls would come, me and Mike (Michael Jordan) would get into it,' Lee said.

Filmmaker Spike Lee, inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame as a superfan in 2024, told Stephen Colbert about his countless courtside clashes with players while cheering on his beloved New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.

According to the New York Post, the movie director took the stage at the Montclair Film Festival (taking place through Oct. 26) in Montclair, New Jersey, to discuss his verbal battles with some of the best basketball players in the league. Lee, the creative behind several classic movies (“Do the Right Thing,” “Crooklyn,” “She’s Gotta Have It”) filmed in and around New York City, is just as likely known for being a rambunctious Knicks fan who is a mainstay at the Garden. He is typically seen rooting for the home team, but often engages in verbal battles with opposing players while cheering on the Knicks.

Lee also gained fame when he directed and appeared in a Nike commercial featuring NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan, who shattered Knicks fans’ dreams every time he faced the team in the playoffs in epic battles between the two franchises during the 1990s. Although they are good friends, the filmmaker did not escape harsh words from arguably the greatest basketball player ever to put on sneakers.

“I’ve had the privilege and honor to be called a ‘motherf**ker’ by the GOAT himself — many times — across the river at the world’s most famous arena,” he said during the conversation with Colbert.

He also recalled Jordan’s famous return from his first retirement and his “double nickel” (55 points at Madison Square Garden) in 1995.

“Anytime the Bulls would come, me and Mike would get into it,” Lee laughed. “At one point, he said, ‘Sit your skinny Black ass down!’”

The “Inside Man” director also brought up, perhaps, one of the most memorable games at Madison Square Garden, when the Knicks hosted the Indiana Pacers, featuring their chief nemesis, Reggie Miller, the sharpshooting three-point specialist. During the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals at the famed Garden, as the Knicks were losing a game they had been leading heading into the closing minutes, Miller revealed the infamous “choker” sign toward Lee. That choke sign was so devastating to New York fans that they blamed Lee for energizing Miller to literally shoot the Knicks down that night.

With the media blaming Lee rather than the Knicks’ lapse in defense at the end of the game, he knew that his place of residence would have had to change if the Knicks had lost the next deciding game in the series.

“If we lost that game, I would’ve had to move. The Post, Daily News, Newsday — all blaming me for the choke,” he told Colbert.