Here’s all the news you need to know:
Bobby Brown wants to slap Kanye West for licensing Whitney Houston’s drug-littered bathroom photo. Brown believes the image, which West licensed for $85,000 to use as Pusha T’s Daytona album cover, is “in really bad taste.” “That’s really disgusting that he would do that,” he says. “Something should happen to Kanye. He’s already crazy. I knew that when I first met him. Now he’s pushing the bar a little bit. He needs somebody to slap him up or something. And I’m just the person to do it.” (Rolling Stone)
Drake’s blackface photo sparked endless confusion and criticism when it was released as the cover art for Pusha T’s diss record, “The Life of Adidon.” The “Nice For What” rapper took to Instagram Stories to explain the offensive shot. “This picture is from 2007, a time in my life where I was an actor and I was working on a project that was about young black actors struggling to get roles, being stereotyped and typecast,” he writes. “The photos represented how African Americans were once wrongfully portrayed in entertainment.” (Complex)
Pennsylvania high school students played hangman with the n-word while their teacher was out of the classroom. The idea, exposed via Snapchat, “appears to have originated from one of our students,” says Superintendent Bob Gildea. One student has confessed to drumming up the idea but does not see the act as racist. (The Root)
Roseanne Barr attempted to blame her racist tweet on Ambien, a popular sleep aid. “It was 2 in the morning and I was ambien tweeting,” she tweeted. However, the manufacturing company Sanofi quickly clapped back. “People of all races, religions and nationalities work at Sanofi every day to improve the lives of people around the world,” they retorted. “While all pharmaceutical treatments have side effects, racism is not a known side effect of any Sanofi medication.” (Vibe)
Kendrick Lamar accepted his Pulitzer Prize for music for his 2017 album DAMN at a luncheon at Columbia University. During his acceptance speech, the rapper received a standing ovation and says it was “an honor” to be the winner of such an award. “Been writing my whole life, so to get this type of recognition is beautiful.” (The Fader)
