Page 26 - Florida Sentinel 3-4-16 Edition

Entertainment
Oscars Take Nosedive In Ratings After Controversy
Ciara Cancels ‘Jackie’ Tour To Focus On New Album
‘Underground’ Airs Next Week: Tells Gripping Story About Underground Railroad
The Oscars took a ratings nosedive, tallying one of the smallest audience’s in show history, network officials said Monday.
The “88th Annual Academy Awards” was watched by 34.3 million people in the United States, which barely ticked over 2008 (32 million) and 2003 (33 million).
Sunday night marked the third-least-watched Academy Awards show since Nielsen began to count total viewer- ship in 1974.
The show drew 36.6 million viewers in 2015; 43.7 million in 2014 and 40.3 million in 2013.
African-American activists asked viewers to boycott Sun-
Katt Williams says a Georgia shopkeeper caused the fur to fly Monday when he dropped a racial slur during a confrontation that led to the comedian's arrest.
The entertainer, whose real name is Micah Williams, was arrested on a battery charge in Georgia on Monday after the staffer at Leslie's Pool Supplies in Gainesville told cops Williams punched him.
It was outside the Tuesday hearing that Williams said the store employee was to blame.
"He thought that when he was having a conversation with me that I was in his pool store to rob it," Katt told TMZ. "When I put 30 items on the counter, he then thought it was just a ploy to distract him.
Williams said he put fif- teen $100 bills on the counter in an apparent gesture to prove he didn't need to shoplift, and the store em- ployee allegedly scooped up the cash and put it in his pocket.
When Williams asked for
Chris Rock was this year’s host of the Oscars.
day night’s show after the academy, for a second consec- utive year, nominated only white actors for its top honors.
Comedian Katt Williams waited outside the store for po- lice.
his money back, the unidenti- fied man told him he was new to the job, didn't care about losing it and wanted Williams to leave. That's when the employee used the N-word, Williams said.
"So Katt Williams did what Katt Williams had to do as a Black man that is self- employed. And Katt Williams went out to the middle of the street and as- sumed the position for police to arrive.
Cast of the John Legend produced series, ‘Underground’.
CIARA
American history may never be looked at the same by televi- sion viewers after Under- ground makes its debut on March 9. WGN’s forthcoming slave drama is one of the most powerful shows set to debut this year.
Writers Misha Green and Joe Pokaski created a story- line that gives human faces to the revolutionaries of the Un- derground Railroad — and the abolitionists that helped slaves find their way to freedom. The characters and stories that viewers will encounter on this show, signify the courage, hope and honor that slaves put on
the line as they fought to make it to the next day.
The provocative series in- troduces a variety of individu- als forced to interact with each other due to their circum- stances. House slaves, slave masters, freedom fighters, field slaves — we’ll meet everyone who had a role during this dev- astating time period.
The 10-episode series fol- lows the lives of a group of men and women as they escape from slavery. It is executive- produced by John Legend and his Get Lifted partners Mike Jackson and Ty Stik- lorius.
In November (2015), Ciara announced she was pushing back the second leg of her “Jackie Tour” to begin in Spring 2016, but those plans have been scrapped to focus on working on her next album.
In a Facebook post, CiCi ex- plained the trek has been can- celed, but to make up for it, she assures the music she’s working on will be her best yet.
The upcoming project follows her 2015 album Jackie, and will be her seventh studio LP.
Katt Williams Says He Punched Store Employee After He Used The N-Word
Big Freedia Charged With Stealing Government Funds
BIG FREEDIA
JAY-Z
Tidal and Shawn Carter Enterprises are being sued for $5 million by rock band "The American Dollar."
In the class-action lawsuit, Yesh Music — the band's label — and drummer John Emanuele allege that TIDAL streamed 116 of the band's songs while neglecting to dole out proper royalties.
Representatives from the streaming service denied the allegations and said that they have paid Yesh Music and John Emanuele their due royalties.
"They are misinformed as to who, if anyone, owes royalty payments to them," TIDAL said in a statement. "TIDAL has the rights to the Master Recordings through its distrib-
The American Dollar
utor Tunecore and have paid Tunecore in full for such ex- ploitations."
"The American Dollar"
songs streamed fewer than 13,000 times, according to the representative, and all of the band's music has been taken off the service.
No stranger to digging for lawsuits like this one, "Amer- ican Dollar" sued a Joel Os- teen’s Church in 2012 for using one of its songs beyond a one-year licensing agree- ment. A spokesman for the church said that Lakewood of- fered to renew the license upon realizing it had expired, but the band chose to sue any- way because they no longer wanted their music associated with a religious organization.
Tidal And Jay Z Being Sued By Rock Band
The New Orleans U.S. Attor- ney’s office has charged Fuse TV star, Big Freedia with stealing government funds.
A bill of information filed Tuesday (March 1) has accused Freedia, real name, Freddie Ross Jr, of taking money from Department of Housing and Urban Development. Although the document provided little details, local news outlets say Freedia lied about income to stay with subsidized housing.
The alleged theft took place between 2010 and 2014. Bill- board reports Freedia’s first court appearance in March 16.
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