Songs, Movies & Moments: April 2023
Stephen Curry is well known as an NBA superstar, and now he could be known as a TV star as well.
A Look at Entertainment
by T.J. Moore –
The Golden State Warriors guard and two-time league MVP has joined Mr. Throwback, a new NBC mockumentary and comedy series, according to Deadline.
The show is about a sports memorabilia collector, played by Adam Pally, who looks for redemption with the help of his sixth-grade teammate, played by Curry.
Curry’s Unanimous Media inked a “global talent partnerships” deal with NBC Universal two years ago, which included development deals for both scripted and unscripted tv shows as well as DreamWorks Animation for kids and general family content.
Following up on the sale of the BET Media Group, filmmaker Tyler Perry made it clear that not only he is planning to acquire the company that includes BET and VH1, he’s going for anything he can get.
“I’ve been there for four years now and have tremendous success,” Perry said. “I wasn’t expecting this to happen, so yes—if that’s possible—I’m very, very interested in taking as much of it as I can.”
In addition to Perry, Byron Allen and Sean “Diddy” Combs have also revealed their interest in purchasing BET. While confident that he will acquire the network, he’s also excited to see Black entrepreneurs at the negotiating table with him.
“I’ve read about Byron Allen and Puffy and everybody wanting to bid and so on and so forth, and I think it’s really great,” Perry said. “This is what I love about it. When (BET founder) Bob Johnson sold it in 2000, there wasn’t one Black person who could buy it. So now to see all of these Black people, men and women, who are able to be in a position to buy it? Man, that makes me feel really, really excited.”
Fresh from winning the Women’s National Championship, LSU freshman guard Flau’Jae Johnson wins again, but this time off the basketball court.
The 19-year-old Savanah, Georgia native is a budding rapper, and will do a duet with rapper Lil Wayne. Recently, he shared on ESPN’s Bird and Taurasi Show that he plans to collaborate with Johnson who is signed to Jay-Z’s Roc Nation label.
“We’re about to connect musically soon, “Lil Wayne said on ESPN. “Be on the lookout for that.” He also shared that it was Johnson’s coach, Kim Mulkey, who had the idea for the duet, and that she told him he must work up a track with the crossover star.
Before LSU’s trip to the Women’s Final Four, Lil Wayne lent his voice to a promotional video for the Tigers.
CNN and Don Lemon are trying to refute the claims in a damaging Variety article which claims that the long-time anchor and personality is a misogynist who mocked his female co-workers. The article alleged that tensions between Lemon and his Live From weekday show co-host Kyra Phillips kept mounting back in 2008.
On more than one occasion, a producer and newsroom supervisor had to pull Lemon off the air during a commercial break because of his provocative antics, similar to his recent declaration that Nikki Haley isn’t a viable presidential candidate because of her age. The article also alleged that Lemon disrespected Nancy Grace on air, and Soledad O’Brien during an editorial meeting.
Lemon, in a statement to Business Insider, denied all the wrongdoings alleged in the Variety piece. “The story, which is riddled with patently false anecdotes and no concrete evidence, is entirely based on unsourced, unsubstantiated, 15-year-old anonymous gossip. It’s amazing and disappointing that Variety would be so reckless.”
