Grits & Tea: Reality, entertainment and a bit more
By Mama For the SUN
*Sensitive Content
“Surviving R. Kelly” premiered Thursday on Lifetime as part of a three-night, six-hour event. It was nothing short of shocking, graphic and heartbreaking.
R. Kelly’s former background singer Jovante Cunningham recalled catching Kelly, then 27-years-old, having sex with Aaliyah who was only 15—sad, very sad. Aaliyah thought she may have been pregnant. Kelly’s then tour manager, Demetrius Smith, admits forging and falsifying the marriage license listing Aaliyah’s age as 18 so her and Kelly could wed in a quick ceremony. The marriage was annulled two months later. This doc raises many questions and gives real-life accounts about the troubled singer’s past abusing underage girls. His former high school music teacher is featured in the documentary discussing that she informed Kelly who was well into his fame to stop soliciting girls at his former high school. Wow, just wow.
Aaliyah’s mother Diane Haughton is not thrilled that her daughter’s legacy is being tarnished and refutes the documentary’s claims that Aaliyah and Kelly were intimate via Twitter stating it is “lies and fabrication.”
“Shame on all those involved in this project who thought it kosher to drag Aaliyah’s name into a situation that has nothing to do with her today.” Watch the Part 1 of the series here. Parts II and III air Friday and Saturday night 9/8 Central on Lifetime.
Comedian Kevin Hart sat down with talk show host Ellen DeGeneres on Friday. The conversation was powerful. During her “Ellen Show” interview with Hart, she revealed that she reached out to the Academy to reconsider hiring Hart to serve as this year’s Oscars host. Harts’ decade-old homophobic tweets resurfaced after he initially accepted the coveted hosting gig. In less than 24 hours, an online backlash ensued and Hart stepped down. It’s important to note that Hart has apologized for those comments years ago. Word on the curb is that Hart will consider hosting the Oscars……
VH1’s reality show “Black Ink Chicago” season 5 premiered on January 2. After the famous 9 Mag crew split, with half starting their own tattoo shop, Loyal Ink, looks like some of the friendships has mended. The 9 Mag shop owned by Ryan Henry has new employees and Don, who defected to Loyal Ink, has come back to the fold. Honestly, Don didn’t have a choice since Ryan signed a new lease for 9 Mag taking over Loyal Ink’s lease—putting them out of business. We’ll see how all this shakes out.
Hate to report stuff like this, but here we go….
I’m sure we all know about the controversy surrounding OWN’s show “LOVE IS___” created by Mara Brock Akil and her husband, Salim Akil. OWN canceled the show after Salim’s former mistress Amber Dixon Brenner filed a federal lawsuit against the couple and OWN, claiming the couple stole her screenplay for the show. Brenner claims the show was about her and Salim’s real-life extramarital affair and accused him of domestic violence, non-consensual assault and battery, and breach of contract.
Salim Akil has denied all charges.
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