The entire country has fallen in love with Bengals defensive tackle Devon Still and his 5-year-old daughter, Leah, who is battling cancer. And last night, the ESPY Awards ceremony presented the daddy-daughter duo with the Jimmy V Award for Perserverance. Devon accepted the award on behalf of his daughter, who was recovering at home. “I know you wish you could be here, but I know you’re watching,” Devon said. “I just want to thank you. From the moment you were born, you molded me into the man I am today.” [Today]
Cicely Tyson will be receiving a Kennedy Center Honors Lifetime Achievement Award during the December ceremony. Congratulations, Cicely! [NBC News]
Bring on the eye candy! It was just announced that British hunk Idris Elba would be joining the cast of the upcoming Star Trek Beyond. It gets better: Producers are giving fans the chance to land a walk-on role on the crew if they donate to the cast’s nine charitable initiatives. Count us in! [Vulture]
Say what? In an interview with Nylon magazine, Zoe Kravitz revealed that she was kept from The Dark Knight auditions because producers were not looking for “urban.” “It was like, ‘What does that have to do with anything?'” she told the mag. “I have to play the role like, ‘Yo, what’s up, Batman? What’s going on wit’ chu?'” Smh. [New York Daily News]
As President Obama was fielding questions yesterday following his speech on the Iranian nuclear deal, he was thrown a curveball when he was asked about revoking Bill Cosby’s Presidential Medal of Freedom. Though he said that there was no precedent for that action, he did lay out a clear definition of rape. “I’ll say this: If you give a woman—or a man, for that matter—without his or her knowledge a drug and then have sex with that person without consent, that’s rape,” he said. “I think this country—any civilized country—should have no tolerance for rape.” [USA TODAY]
Laverne Cox and Bravo’s Andy Cohen have fallen into some hot water after the two joked about 16-year-old actress Amandla Stenberg’s feud with Kylie Jenner over cultural appropriation during Watch What Happens Live. Laverne took to her blog to clear the air. “When the traditions and practices of marginalized communities are used by those in power and the material conditions of those who are marginalized are not changed individually and systemically this is when cultural appropriation is deeply problematic and even potentially exploitative,” she wrote. Well put! [Laverne Cox Tumblr]
Remember earlier this year when a judge ruled that Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke owed Marvin Gaye’s estate a whopping $7.3 million for ripping “Got to Give It Up” in their 2013 hit, “Blurred Lines”? Well, the judge must have had a change of heart because he reduced the amount owed by more than $2 million, citing that he had overestimated the money grossed from the song. Yay? [A.V. Club]
Los Angeles investigators are on the hunt for two armed men who broke into Chris Brown’s home earlier this week. According to officials, Brown was not home during the time of the invasion, but his aunt was asleep in a bedroom. The intruders forced her into a closet while they stole electronics and cash. [Los Angeles Times]
