Page 23 - Florida Sentinel 11-1-19

Entertainment
Tyler Perry Allegedly Spent
Beloved 'Friday' Actor John Witherspoon Passes Away At Age 77
$16M On Star-Studded
Studio Grand Opening
John Witherspoon, the beloved actor and comedian from Boomerang, Friday, Hollywood Shuffle, The Five Heartbeats, The Wayan Bros. and more, died on Tuesday (Oct. 29). He was 77.
According to Deadline, Witherspoon died suddenly at his Southern California home. “It is with deepest sor- row that we can confirm our beloved husband and father, John Witherspoon, one of the hardest working men in show business, died today at his home in Sherman Oaks at the age of 77,” Wither- spoon’s family said in a state-
shock, please give us a minute for a moment in privacy and we will celebrate his life and his work together. John used to say ‘I’m no big deal’, but he was huge deal to us.”
Further information sur- rounding his death wasn’t im- mediately available at press time.
DJ Pooh who co-wrote Fri- day tweeted "RIP John Witherspoon" on Tuesday (Oct. 29), but many fans didn’t want to believe that the tweet was authentic. Regina King, Witherspoon's co-star on The Boondocks, also posted about his passing.
Tyler Perry Studios in At- lanta has officially opened but new details have emerged about how much the media mogul paid to host his star-studded grand opening a few weekends
ago.We reported earlier... the 330-acre entertainment com- plex – which used to be a mili- tary facility named Fort McPherson - is the only major film studio in the nation owned by a Black American.
Among the many celebs that showed up to walk the red car- pet were: Halle Berry, Cecily Tyson, Whoopie Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey, Samuel Jackson, Spike Lee and Viola Davis.
Now, insiders spill to the The JasmineBRAND exclusively that Perry allegedly paid $16 million to make the gala hap- pen.
TYLER PERRY
Apparently, “a big portion was allotted to cover travel ac- commodations for the A-listers to fly to Atlanta for the event,” the outlet writes, adding, “Tyler Perry allegedly covered flights and even chartered pri- vate planes for his VIP guests, plus hotel accommodations.”
JOHN WHITERSPOON
ment to the outlet. “He is sur- vived by his wife, Angela, and his sons, JD, Alexander, and a large family. We are all in
CYNTHIA ERIVO
“People are definitely al- lowed to have feelings. People are definitely allowed to have opinions because we’re human beings,” Erivo told ESSENCE. “I don’t want to negate that at all. I do want people to see this
50 Cent Calls Comcast CEO Brian Roberts All Sorts Of Chumps
NEW YORK, NY – 50 Cent is lashing out at Com- cast CEO Brian Roberts following reports the com- pany is planning to drop the Starz network by December 10. Starz, of course, is home to the veteran rapper’s hit tel- evision series Power.
Fiddy set his sights on Roberts via Instagram Sun- day night (October 27).
“this is the guy f**king up (Power) over at @Comcast
50 CENT
for no reason Brian Roberts,” he wrote in the caption. “mother f**ker look like he been pushed around his whole life. He need to chill out, go to a golf course or sit his a** down some where.”
Power is currently in its sixth and final season. In Au- gust, 50 confirmed a spin-off series called Power Book II was on its way, which will star Mary J. Blige.
Lil Yachty Reportedly
Bounced $70K Check Trying To Pay Jewelry Bill
ATLANTA, GA – Lil Yachty has been accused of skipping out on a $233,000 bill for some bling.
According to Bossip, Guven’s Fine Jewelry has sued Lil Yachty for breach of contract after he allegedly didn’t pay the six figures he owes for several pieces. The jeweler also claims he sent a $70,000 check that bounced.
Guven has been providing jewels to Yachty since 2017. Under their agreement, he would reportedly pay for the ones he decided to keep. Ac- cording to the suit, Lil Yachty paid for more than half of a $600,000 total he racked up for 20 pieces. But the payments have stopped with his last check bouncing.
LIL YACHTY
Yachty has been accused of refusing to return the jewelry, which Guven demanded back. The Georgia-based jeweler claims the Quality Control rap- per admits he owes them money but is making excuses for why he can’t pay.
When it was announced last year that the super-talented Cynthia Erivo had snagged the role of Black icon, Harriet Tubman, in the hero’s first- ever biopic, many applauded. Erivo, who’s one award short from earning an EGOT, is a no- brainer to play the woman who helped free many slaves on the Underground Railroad.
Still, some took issue with Erivo’s casting in Harriet: calling it just another time that a Black Brit “took” a role from an American actor. It’s an issue once-raised by Samuel L. Jackson, and one that even Erivo’s co-star Leslie Odom Jr. said he could relate to.
Ahead of the film’s release on Friday, Erivo addressed the criticism, calling for those to at least give the Kasi Lem- mons’ film a chance.
and hopefully change their minds.”
In the film, shot entirely in Virginia just one state away from where the real-life Tub- man was enslaved in Mary- land, Erivo embodies the hero as she escapes from her own plantation to Philadelphia where she blends in as a free- woman. Harriet then follows Tubman as she painstakingly travels back and forth to free not only relatives, but perfect strangers.
“The most important thing is that we’re getting to tell the story at all,” Erivo continued. “This is a story that was held on the shelf for a really long time. It was written 20 years ago...and just 10 years ago, [producer] Debra Martin Chase was determined to make it.”
'Harriet' Star Cynthia Erivo Wants Critics To Give Film A Chance; Opens Friday
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