CJ McCollum
CJ McCollum

A Look at Entertainment

by T.J. Moore –

The COVID-19 pandemic has shut down the nation. There are no sports, no shopping except for essentials. There are no dinners eaten at restaurants, and there are certainly no movies seen in theaters. The shutdown is destroying a plethora of economies.

Millions are unemployed, and households who live from paycheck to paycheck are struggling to pay bills. You might think that entertainers and pro athletes are financially immune from the impact of the pandemic, but according to Portland TrailBlazers guard CJ McCollum, that belief is false.

McCollum was a guest on The Boardroom where he claimed that a third of the players are living paycheck to paycheck.

“I would say out of four-hundred-fifty players, a hundred-fifty probably are living paycheck to paycheck.”

It’s worth noting that McCollum is a vice president for the NBA Players Association, and he said that some players are hurting since there could be a pay stoppage soon and there will be a drop in the salary cap for next season because of revenue loss.

“I think a lot of guys are going to be hurting, especially people on minimums or people that didn’t just budget correctly and didn’t expect this to happen,” McColum explained. “Maybe they loaned money or paid money to family. Maybe they’re taking care of multiple people and now there’s a work stoppage for us and a lot of people in America,”

The Blazers guard recently donated $170,000 to organizations in Portland, Oregon and Canton, Ohio for COVID-19 relief.

Willow Smith, Adrienne Banfield Norris, and Jada Pinkett Smith.
Willow Smith, Adrienne Banfield Norris, and Jada Pinkett Smith.

Self-quarantine has encouraged many people to get back in touch with our families and ourselves. For Jada Pinkett Smith’s mother, Adrienne Banfield Norris, she’s using her time to reconnect with her sobriety group.

“I celebrated 29 years in December, so I’m in my 30th year,” Norris told Jada and her granddaughter Willow Smith in an upcoming Red Table Talk episode. “It’s been a long time since I had to rely on going to meetings daily.”

Long before Norris was a co-host on Red Table Talk, she battled an addiction to heroin for 20 years. Norris has frequently divulged facts about her past, admitting that she eventually kicked her habit for a boyfriend. Since that time she learned to value her sobriety for herself and in the name of religion.

“It’s difficult to talk about something that’s gonna go out to the world,” Norris admitted on the show in July 2018, “I couldn’t hide the unmanageability of my life, and the emotional and the spiritual damage I did to myself and to her,” referring to Jada. “That was devastating. I abused drugs for over 20 years.”

The Addiction During Covid-19 episode of Red Table Talk is available now on Facebook Watch.

R. Kelly
R. Kelly

A New York federal judge has denied R. Kelly’s request to be released from prison on bail due to the COVID-19 Crisis. Recently, US District Judge Anne Donnelly of the Eastern District of New York ruled the singer must remain in custody at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago, according to Billboard.

The singer faces several state and federal charges. In New York, the federal charges includes racketeering, transportation to engage in illegal sexual activity, and coercion of a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity. In his home state of Illinois, Kelly is awaiting trial in federal court on several sexual abuse allegations, including child pornography; he also faces Cook County sexual assault and abuse charges. Kelley has pleaded not guilty to the indictments.