Songs, Movies & Moments: February 2022

A Look at Entertainment

by T.J. Moore –

Different days. Same drama

Once again, there’s drama brewing behind the scenes of the Wendy Williams Show, but this time it’s about the guest hosts who have been sitting in the purple chair.

According to Page Six, management doesn’t know how to relate to Williams’s core audience, which is Black. Producers and other staff members feel that the executives are choosing guest hosts who cannot relate to her viewers, like Michael Rappaport, Whitney Cummings, and Leah Remini.

“They’re not factoring in the culture,” a source told Page Six. “The all-White management is out of touch with the demographic, which skews mostly African American. It’s like they’re programming against the culture instead of leaning into it.”

Executives are also annoyed about Rappaport being a guest host for the first week of Black History Month, the insider also noted.

For the rest of February, scheduled guest hosts are Bevy Smith, Sheri Shepherd, and Remy Ma.

Williams doesn’t have a return date yet. However, she was last spotted on her son, Kevin Hunter, Jr.’s, Instagram story looking healthy.

On Feb. 4, Star Jones filled in as a guest host on The View as the show celebrated its 25th anniversary. That was on the heels of Whoopi Goldberg’s two-week suspension for her comments on the Holocaust.

Jones was one of the original hosts of the daytime talk show series in 1997, alongside Barbara Walters, Meredith Vieira, Debbie Matenopoulous, and Joy Behar. Behar is the only original host who still remains on the show today. Jones’s tenure on the show lasted until 2006.

Fantasia and Danielle Brooks are members of an all-star cast in a remake of The Color Purple. Both have starred in the musical adaptation of the 1985 Steven Spielberg film on Broadway. Fantasia and Brooks will reprise their roles as Celie and Sofia respectively. Brooks recently posted a video on social media capturing the moment when she discovered she was cast in the production. In the video, she thinks she is about to meet with the director Blitz Bazawule, and her mouth drops when Oprah Winfrey, who played Sofia in the original, classic film, appeared on the screen to tell her she’s been chosen for the role.

The star of Orange Is the New Black shared that she was “beyond grateful” to portray such a “powerhouse of a woman.”

“She [Oprah] put her foot in that role and helped to change so many lives. I pray to do the same,” Brooks captioned the video on Instagram. “The journey to getting to this moment was very humbling, but I wouldn’t change it for the world. I can’t wait to share Sofia with the next generation.”

The remake of The Color Purple will premiere in theaters in 2023.

Actress Thandiwe Newton recently acknowledged the effects of colorism in the film industry and was apologetic about reaping the benefits of it.

During an Associated Press interview, Newton talked about her role in God’s Country, which is based on James Lee Burke’s “Winter Light” essay. In the film, she replaces a White man as the protagonist, taking on the role of Sandra Guidry, a professor who has a conflict with two hunters who won’t stop trespassing on her property. Newton discussed how her own internalized prejudice has affected her acting career and the decision to take this role.

“I now realize that my internalized prejudice was stopping me from feeling like I could play this role, when it’s precisely that prejudice that I’ve received,” Newton said. “It doesn’t matter that it’s from African women more than anyone. I received prejudice. Anyone who’s received oppression and prejudice feels this character.”

Newton is also cognizant of the inroads she’s made as a Black actress precisely because of her skin tone.

“It’s been very painful to have women who look like my mom feel like I’m not representing them,” she said. “That I’m taking from them. Taking their men, taking their work, taking their truth.”