Did Terrance Howard disrespect “Queen” Oprah?

Listen to Terrance Howard describe his acting relationship with Oprah winfrey. Is this complimentary or disrespectful? Is it sexist? Share your thoughts.

Tyler Perry and OWN join forces

SENT TO THE TYLER PERRY MAILING LIST:
As I sit here in Atlanta, it’s raining an abundant rain. It makes me think of my mother. She loved the rain and I do too. It is befitting that this announcement would be made on a day like today. Yes it’s true, Oprah and I have joined forces. We’ve formed a partnership for OWN and I’m super excited about it. I’ll fill you in more as we get closer to the airing of my shows. I have a lot of questions for you about this, so stay close, OK? I need your help.

Gabby Douglas’ former gym denies her claims of racism

USA TODAY: Gabrielle Douglas, the Olympic gold-medal gymnast, says she was the target of racist bullying at the gym where she first trained. She revealed the claims to Oprah Winfrey on her OWN show, “Oprah’s Next Chapter.” The Virginia gym, Excalibur Gymnastics, has fired back, denying the allegations. Gabrielle — who says she prefers to be called by her full name, even though her fans call her Gabby — eventually moved to Iowa to train with Shawn Johnson’s Olympic coach. The Olympian told Winfrey in the interview that the girls at the Virginia gym called her a “slave.” Gabrielle recalled, “One of my teammates was like, ‘Can you scrape the bar?’ And they were like, ‘Why doesn’t Gabby do it, she’s our slave?’” She added, “I definitely felt isolated, I felt ‘Why am I deserving this? Is it because I’m black?’” The 16-year-old said she finally left the gym when she was 14: “I was scared at my old gym to show my potential… I was just holding back.” Responding on the site Gymnewstics.com, Randy Stageburg, a former senior international elite gymnast who trained at Excalibur, said, “The accusations that are being made against the gymnasts and coaches are just sickening.” Stageburg added, “Gabby was never a victim. In fact, many would say she was one of the favorites. I am not saying that she never felt bullied, because when you are in a sport with a bunch of girls, it is bound to happen. However, anything that she may have felt was never about race, and I can assure you everyone at some point has felt bullied. I never once heard her complain about girls being mean — funny how it is just now coming up.” Excalibur Gymnastics CEO Gustavo Maure said in a statement to E! News that Gabrielle is lying. “Is Gabrielle a credible person just because she is an Olympic champion? She is not giving any names or dates, leading us to believe that the accusation is fake,” he said. “This wouldn’t be the first time that the media has made up a story. Thousands of gymnasts and families have supported our good conduct and our professionalism during the last 30 years.”* So was Gabby lying when she spoke to Oprah Winfrey? How would management know what was said to Douglas when they were not always with her? Should Douglas have kept this to herself? Share your thoughts.

http://tv.yahoo.com/news/gym-denies-gabrielle-douglas-s-racism-claims.html

Oprah’s “natural” hair causing a stir…why are we so hung up on our hair?

Kinky, curly, straight, permed, nappy: all of these terms are used to define black hair, but what do we define as beautiful? Today Gabby douglass won a gold medal at the Olympics, but do you know what people have been saying about her on Twitter? Some have said she needed a comb and some gel to tame her hair. Really? This incredibly talented girl is re-writing history, but some are obsessing over her hair. So Oprah is now sporting her natural hair, but many are questioning this. Why are we so hung up on our hair. Read the linked article and share your thoughts.

http://thelook.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/08/02/13073713-oprahs-natural-hair-debut-stirs-controversy?lite

Let’s Kill the Mama Drama

Enough already. Enough of all the faux outrage. Enough of all the faux admiration. Let’s agree that Hilary Rosen stepped in it last week, but let’s also agree that many among us knew exactly what she meant. Ann Romney raised 5 boys and that is admirable, but as a stay at home mom with a wealthy husband she could hardly know what it is like to work outside the home. I’ve been on both sides of the equation and I know how it feels to be in the office smiling when I feel like screaming. Working 40 hours and bringing home work with me. Picking up kids from daycare. Cooking dinner. Cleaning the kitchen, bathing children and working on office work until midnight only to sleep for 5 hours and start the same thing over again the next day. Some days Ifelt like Sisyphus. Just rolling a rock up the mountainside knowing it was destined to come tumbling down again. Now I work from home on my own projects and I also take care of the needs of my family, but I don’t have to smile when I don’t feel like it and I know that I can’t get fired. My work here is very important, but it is different. That is the point working at home and working outside of the home is different. Different does not mean one is better than the other or that one is harder than the other it simply means different. So let’s can all the loose chatter and simply move on. I thought we would be pass this story this week, but this morning I heard that Ann Romney called this gaffe her early birthday present. At a closed door fundraiser last night Romney said “It was my early birthday present for someone to be critical of me as a mother, and that was really a defining moment, and I loved it”. So does this sound like outrage? No, this is politics. Both parties play this game, and sadly we the citizens are the game pieces. So after we beat Mommygate to death we will move on to the next faux controversy.

Another interesting perspective: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/04/15/the-perpetual-outrage-industry.html

Oprah’s Lifeclass with Bishop TD Jakes was inspiring

I must admit I have not been a fan on the OWN network. Over the past year it has served up a heaping helping of reruns, but I did find a ray of hope when she launched the show Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s, which chronicles the struggles of a family that owns a sould food resteraunt in St. Louis. I liked this show enough to keep coming back on a weekly basis. Most recently I have watched Oprah interview Joel Osteen and TD Jakes and last night I watched her Lifeclass. Last night’s lifeclass with Jakes was outstanding. The theme of the night was Finding Your Purpose. They talked about how people confuse talent with purpose. You might have a little talent in an area and people encourage you to pursue that but that might not be what you were designed to do. they stressed that everyone might not have an earthshattering change the world kind of prupose but they have the capacity to change their own world. There were so many golden nuggets last night including: “When your space is too small for you–you have to get out and grow”. Get rid of the “cublicle mentality”. “Don’t let people define you how they met you.” Jakes also talked about our need for immediate results and he shared an African saying “there is a danger of eating your dinner in the morning.” It was a great session and I encourage anyone in search of their purpose to visit Oprah on Facebook or her website to see last night’s session.

Oprah to interview Bishop TD Jakes tonight on OWN…did she ever interview him before?

Tonight Oprah Winfrey will interview TD Jakes at 9PM on OWN. In the 25 years she had her talk show I wonder was he ever a guest? During that time she was a figure that transcended race. I know that Dr. Phil has had Jakes on his show a number of times in a counseling type situation, but I simply don’t recall him ever sharing the couch with Oprah.

Bully the Movie Opens March 25th

Saw this trending on Twitter worth a look.

Was Oprah begging for viewers…maybe she should have kept her day job

Oprah Winfrey reigned over daytime television for 25 years. She was must see television for women, but she has not been able to take that Midas touch to the OWN network. Sunday night she was tweeting and encouraging Grammy viewers to go to her network during breaks and she also specifically addressed viewers with Neilson boxers to come view OWN shows. That was where this went into No No territory. A network can not solicit Neilson viewers to watch. Winfrey claims this was not her intent, but it all goes back to what I say all the time 140 characters can kill you. Just ask Ashton Kutcher, Chris Brown, Roland Martin and many others who thought they could just tweet a thought and it came back to bite them.

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2012/02/14/oprah-winfrey-issues-apology-for-begging-viewers-to-watch-own-instead-grammys/?intcmp=obnetwork

Don Cornelius, creator of Soul Train was a True Icon

Earlier I wrote a post about the death of Don Cornelius. He killed himself earlier today. We are left to speculate and wonder why. As I was driving to an errand earlier today I heard a listener call the radio station and say “why did he go out like that?” When a person picks up a gun and kills himself we can conclude that person is in pain. I can understand shock when people hear that Cornelius committed suicide, but I am shocked when there is disappointment that seems to suggest that he was weak. We will never know why, but what we do know is that he opened the door for so many stars to have an opportunity to shine on the big stage. He would do a brief simple interview with the guest and then he had the good sense to simply get out of the way. He will always be a part of our lives because when ever we get together there will be dancing and there will be a Soul Train line. Soul Train was the “hippest trip” and we all went along for a ride and Cornelius was the coolest conductor to walk the planet.