The actor, and dancer extraordinaire, is the new host of America’s Funniest Home Videos. Go, Carlton! [TIME]
Now we know where FLOTUS gets her toned arms from! As a part of her Let’s Move #GimmeFive campaign, Michelle Obama released a YouTube video detailing her intense workout, which includes lifting 35 lb. weights, leg lifts (while holding a medicine ball!) and kickboxing. Whew. We’re exhausted just from watching her! [YouTube]
Regina Belle is now a graduate of Rutgers University. The legendary R&B singer left college during her sophomore year to pursue music. Three decades and 10 albums later, Belle started taking online courses and earned her bachelors degree on May 17. She majored in Africana studies with a minor in music. Congrats, Regina!
And it will have you in stitches. Watch here.
Can you say Black girls rocking it? The short film, Only Light, won the Audience Award at the Diversity in Cannes Film Festival. Written by Thembi Banks (right) and directed by Evita M. Castine (middle), Only Light film follows a young girl who is kidnapped from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, sold as a sex worker in the U.S., and escapes her harsh reality by connecting with a girl next door. [Only Light]
Feminist Shonda speaks the truth (again). In a speech at the 10th Annual Global Women’s Rights Awards, the showrunner highlighted the glaring gender inequalities that women face on a daily basis. She told the crowd that her assistant expressed her desire to be a man for a day to see what it was like to not constantly be hit on or to not “have old men legislate her vagina’s rights” or to not feel like having a baby would end her career. Shonda’s response? “Lead the life you want to lead. Be whoever you want to be. Have the babies. Be the CEO. Lean out. Lean in — on your own terms. Just run this thing because I don’t want the girls wishing they could be men for a day. I don’t even want men wishing they could be women. I just want those words ‘all of that,’ I want all of that to apply to all of us.” Preach! [Variety]
Nia Long and Mike Epps’ ABC sitcom has a trailer. Uncle Buck, produced by Will Packer (Think Like a Man), is based on John Hughes’ classic film and centers on Buck Russell (Epps), a childish man who learns to be an adult by taking care of his brother’s children. Watch the trailer.
No, it wasn’t just you who had a hard time hearing Kanye’s performance at Sunday night’s Billboard Music Awards. It seems that extended periods of his show were censored—something that he says was excessive and “unwarranted.” “Non-profane lyrics such as ‘with my leather black jeans on’ were muted for over 30-second intervals,” Kanye’s reps said in a statement. “Although West was clearly set up to face elements beyond his control during the live broadcast, he would like to apologize to the television audience who were unable to enjoy the performance the way he envisioned.” [People]
The environmental group has elected Aaron Mair as its first African-American president. Mair is an epidemiological-spatial analyst with the New York State Department of Health. Here’s to progress! [Madame Noire]
