Tag Archives: MTV
Lamar Odom Charity Fraud Claims
On March 28, ESPN accused Khloe Kardashian‘s husband Lamar Odom of using funds from his kid’s cancer charity for unrelated purposes. Cathy’s Kids, named after Lamar’s mother who died of stomach cancer, is a charity aimed at raising money for cancer research and underprivileged children.
Investigators for ESPN’s show Outside the Lines claimed the charity has raised $2.2 million since 2004, but hasn’t spent any of it on anything cancer-related. Instead, the investigators claim that at least 60 percent of the funds have been used to fund elite basketball travel teams, and that Lamar also used the charity’s money to pay his high school coach’s annual salary of $26,000.
Khloe Kardashian attempted to do some damage control by firing back-
“It is unfortunate that my husband has been the target of an attack on athletes’ charities, although he has personally contributed approximately $2.2 million to his foundation, Cathy’s Kids, to fulfill its charitable purposes that include helping underprivileged inner-city youth,” Khloe writes.
She adds, “The millions of dollars personally contributed by Lamar constituted more than 90% of the money raised by the foundation. All of the funds donated by Lamar and the other contributions to Cathy’s Kids were used for one of the foundation’s intended charitable purposes. Not one penny went to help Lamar personally or any member of his family. No charitable funds were misused, and the IRS has repeatedly given Cathy’s Kids a clean bill of health, confirming that there were no improprieties.”
Khloe ended by noting, “Cathy’s Kids was formed with several purposes in mind, including benefitting underprivileged youth and cancer research. A decision was ultimately made that the charity should focus on one of those purposes — to help enrich the lives of underprivileged inner-city youth. It accomplished that goal. Cathy’s Kids helped fund multiple AAU basketball teams providing underprivileged youth with opportunities enriching their lives, providing financial support for coaching and travel to tournaments, helping inner-city youth on a path toward success and leading many participants to go on to college.”
Grammy Winners List: Gotye, Miguel, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Drake & More Win At 2013 Awards
LOS ANGELES — Winners in selected major categories at the 55th annual Grammy Awards announced Sunday during the pre-telecast ceremony at the Nokia Theatre:
_ Pop/duo group performance: “Somebody That I Used to Know,” Gotye featuring Kimbra.
_ Traditional pop vocal album: “Kisses on the Bottom,” Paul McCartney.
_ Rap performance: “N(asterisk)(asterisk)(asterisk)(asterisk)s in Paris,” Jay-Z, Kanye West.
_ Rap song: “N(asterisk)(asterisk)(asterisk)(asterisk)s in Paris,” Shawn Carter, Mike Dean, Chauncey Hollis, Kanye West.
_ Rap album: “Take Care,” Drake.
_ R&B performance: “Climax,” Usher.
_ Traditional R&B performance: “Love on Top,” Beyonce.
_ R&B song: “Adorn,” Miguel Pimentel.
_ R&B album: “Black Radio,” Robert Glasper Experiment.
_ Rock song: “Lonely Boy,” The Black Keys.
_ Rock album: “El Camino,” The Black Keys.
_ Hard rock/metal performance: “Love Bites (So Do I),” Halestorm.
_ Alternative music album: “Making Mirrors,” Gotye.
_ Dance recording: “Bangarang,” Skrillex featuring Sirah.
_ Dance/electronica album: “Bangarang,” Skrillex.
_ Latin pop album: “MTV Unplugged Deluxe Edition,” Juanes.
_ Latin rock, urban or alternative album: “Imaginares,” Quetzal.
_ Latin jazz album: “Ritmo!,” The Clare Fisher Latin Jazz Big Band.
_ Tropical Latin album: “Retro,” Marlow Rosado Y La Riquena.
_ Country duo/group performance: “Pontoon,” Little Big Town.
_ Country song: “Blown Away,” Josh Kear, Chris Tompkins.
_ Gospel song: “Go Get It,” Mary Mary.
_ Gospel album: “Gravity,” Leerae.
_ Blues album: “Locked Down,” Dr. John.
_ Folk album: “The Goat Rodeo Sessions,” Yo-Yo Ma, Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer, Chris Thile.
_ Americana album: “Slipstream,” Bonnie Raitt.
_ Bluegrass album: “Nobody Knows You,” Steep Canyon Rangers.
_ Reggae album: “Rebirth,” Jimmy Cliff.
_ World music album: “The Living Room Sessions Part 1,” Ravi Shankar.
_ Children’s album: “Can You Canoe?,” The Okee Dokee Brothers.
_ Spoken word album: “Society’s Child: My Autobiography,” Janis Ian.
_ Comedy album: “Blow Your Pants Off,” Jimmy Fallon.
_ New age album: “Echoes of Love,” Omar Akram.
_ Jazz vocal album: “Radio Music Society,” Esperanza Spalding.
_ Jazz instrumental album: “Unity Band,” Pat Metheny Unity Band.
_ Large jazz ensemble album: “Dear Diz (Every Day I Think of You),” Arturo Sandoval.
_ Pop instrumental album: “Impressions,” Chris Botti.
_ Compilation soundtrack album: “Midnight in Paris,” various artists.
_ Score soundtrack album: “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross.
_ Song written for visual media: “Safe & Sound” (From “The Hunger Games”), Taylor Swift, John Paul White, Joy Williams.
_ Musical theater album: “Once: A New Musical,” Steve Kazee, Cristin Milioti.
_ Producer of the year, classical: Blanton Alspaugh.
_ Producer of the year, non-classical: Dan Auerbach.
_ Instrumental composition: “Mozart Goes Dancing,” Chick Corea.
_ Orchestral performance: “Adams: Harmonielehre & Short Ride in a Fast Machine,” Michael Tilson Thomas (San Francisco Symphony).
_ Opera recording: “Wagner, Der Ring des Nibelungen,” James Levine and Fabio Luisi.
_ Choral performance: “Life & Breath: Choral Works by Rene Clausen,” Charles Bruffy.
_ Short-form music video: “We Found Love,” Rihanna featuring Calvin Harris.
_ Long-form music video: “Big Easy Express,” Mumford & Sons.
_ Historical album: “The Smile Sessions” (Deluxe Box Set), Alan Boyd, Mark Linett, Brian Wilson, Dennis Wolfe.
Kanye West Is ‘Pioneer of This Queer Shit,’ Lord Jamar Says on ‘Lift Up Your Skirt’
Lord Jamar, a member of pioneering rap group Brand Nubian, turned heads after aiming homophobic words in the direction Kanye West via Twitter a week ago. The rap veteran makes a questionable move and ramps up the anti-gay sentiment with the release of a new diss track titled “Lift Up Your Skirt.”
Jamar defended his Twitter rant last week in an interview with SOHH, saying that he’s not attacking West’s s-xuality but simply his eccentric style of dress. Declaring war on the “feminization of the Black man in Hip-Hop culture,” the “Punks Jump Up To Get Beat Down” rapper unleashed the homophobic track earlier today after explaining his ire to Vlad TV in an exclusive interview over the weekend.
“Somebody mad at my hashtag/Instagram, Black Man lookin’ half a f-g/With a blazer and dress, I’m just amazed at the mess/Pioneer of this queer sh-t is Kanye West,” raps Jamar in an agitated tone. Jamar was inspired to do the song after receiving a photo a friend sent him on Instagram that he reposted, with a tweet reading “Y’all Cee where the Kanye sh-t is takin us right? #halfaf-g.”
Jamar is sticking to his guns, and has endured a barrage of tweets regarding the matter. Although he brushed aside the criticism, Jamar never fully apologizes for his petulant outburst.
Check out the song “Lift Up Your Skirt” below. Hit the next pages for Lord Jamar’s tweets about Kanye West’s fashion style and defending his stance.
Tila Tequila In Rehab
Tila Tequila is finally getting the help she needs.
The petite reality star, 30, has decided to enter a rehabilitation facility later this week, E! News reports.
According to her rep, Tequila “has agreed to go into treatment … at Palm Partners in Florida. …That is all the info we want to give at this time.”
Her decision to seek help comes on the heels of a brain aneurysm that pals say almost killed her. Responding to a 911 call from her roommate, paramedics discovered she had suffered an aneurysm. The roommate claimed Tequila had overdosed on sleeping pills. (It isn’t clear, however, whether the aneurysm was related to the drugs Tequila ingested or if it was a separate, nearly simultaneous incident.)
Despite her recent health scares, Tequila’s manager says they’re optimistic about her recovery. Tequila, who left the hospital Monday, “is doing better,” her manager told Us Weekly in a statement. “We ask that her privacy is respected during this difficult time.”
Jersey Shore Spinoff Stalled?
Looks like the party’s not here (if here is Hoboken, New Jersey).
Back in April, we heard news that MTV greenlighted a spinoff show for Jersey Shore’s Snooki and JWoww (along with a separate show for Pauly D), but now it seems there might be a roadblock to seeing it happen.
Mayor Dawn Zimmer is not a fan of the idea and has denied the show’s production company a permit to shoot there.
According to the letter sent to MTV and obtained by E! News, Mayor Zimmer says, “After careful deliberation, the members of the film commission, including representatives from Health and Human Services, Environmental Services, and the Administration, with input from our public safety officials, have determined that in the interest of public safety and quality of life, the permit application for 495 Productions/MTV’s production of the Jersey Shore spin-off has been denied.
“We were extremely surprised to learn during our meeting with you that you filmed in public areas without a required permit in one location,” the letter continues.
“As the mayor of a community that has experienced significant corruption in the recent past, I write to put you, 495 Productions, MTV and Viacom on formal notice that there will be zero tolerance for this kind of approach in the City of Hoboken. Any attempts to film in a manner that is not permitted without a permit will be dealt with immediately and aggressively by the City of Hoboken.”
Mayor Zimmer also called the production “an attractive nuisance causing crowds to assemble at every hour of the day and night, additional traffic congestion, the attendant noise associated with large public gatherings and unacceptable lessening of the quality of life for the local residents and businesses.”
This isn’t the first time Jersey Shore has been denied something from the a governmental body in New Jersey.
Back in September, Governor Chris Christie denied the show a $420,000 tax credit for the show to film in his state, claiming that he was “duty-bound” to the taxpayers for not paying “for a project which does nothing more than perpetuate misconceptions about the state and its citizens.”
But if you think this will stop these two from doing their show, think again.
Snooki posted on Facebook earlier today, “NYC for lots of press with my girl Jwowwzers ! love my booboo! Can’t wait for our spinoff!!”
The show must go on…
MTV revives ‘Yo! MTV Raps’ for special
For one night only, MTV is bringing back “Yo! MTV Raps,” the show that turned on a generation of MTV viewers to a mysterious new musical form called hip-hop.
The show, which originally aired from August 1988 through 1995, helped bring once little-known acts like Ice-T, N.W.A, A Tribe Called Quest and Public Enemy to households across America as hip-hop exploded in popularity. The return comes after the revival of such MTV shows as “Beavis and Butt Head” and “120 Minutes.”
The show will return as a 30-minute retrospective called “Yo! MTV Raps Classic Cuts,” and will air on MTV2 immediately after the first-ever Sucker Free Awards on Sunday, Dec. 4. The awards will air at 11 p.m., followed by the “Yo!” special at midnight. The special will feature the artists behind three hip-hop classics: A Tribe Called Quest’s “Scenario,” Geto Boys’ “My Mind’s Playing Tricks on Me” and Ice Cube’s “It Was a Good Day.” (“It Was a Good Day” just happens to mention “Yo! MTV Raps” by name.)
The special will feature former hosts Fab 5 Freddy, Ed Lover and Dr. Dre, and hip-hop stars from the past and present. They include A Tribe Called Quest’s Q-Tip, Geto Boys’ Scarface, and Ice Cube, in addition to Wiz Khalifa, DJ Khaled, Questlove, Busta Rhymes, Mac Miller, Machine Gun Kelly, Young Jeezy, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Phife, Fat Joe, Common, Mike Epps, Ice T, Meek Mill, Tyga and Naughty by Nature.
DJ Premier will remix the iconic “Yo! MTV Raps” theme song for the special.
“It’s a great moment to be reconnected with ‘Yo!’ and examine the music that had a role in introducing hip-hop to music lovers globally,” Ed Lover said. “By looking back at these classic songs in hip-hop, it becomes clear that hip-hop would inevitably transcend distance and generations.”
“In this ‘Classic Cuts’ special, people will go back to a seminal time in hip-hop which many have called the ‘Golden Era’ resulting in records that are as meaningful today as they were back then, ” said Fab 5 Freddy, the original host of the show. “In order to appreciate how far hip-hop has come, you have to pay respect to the songs and artists that helped catapult the genre from a small community of fans to world domination.”
Audrina Patridge hints at a possible ‘Hills’ movie
Well, we all know by now that “The Hills” isn’t exactly the realest of reality shows, but would you go see it as a movie?
No, we’re not talking about a big-screen adaptation of Lauren Conrad’s “L.A. Candy” novels loosely based on her experience on the show, but rather seeing the whole gang — Audrina, Heidi, Spencer — all back together again on the big screen.
According to Audrina Patridge, there was talk of a movie following the show’s finale in 2010 but the cast wasn’t on board.
“We were kind of all just so fed up with each other that we all needed a little break,” she tells Ryan Seacrest on his radio show.
Don’t count it out, though. It’s been over a year since they filmed the show, and perhaps things aren’t quite dead yet. There are rumors of a big-screen version of the show being in development, and it looks like Audrina is on board to do it.
“We’ve all had our break. Maybe we’ll all come back together and do a movie,” she says.
Would you go see “The Hills: The Movie”? Will it be scripted or “unscripted drama”? Will Heidi’s face fall off? So many questions!
JWoww’s New Face, Dramatic Weight Loss Shocks ‘Jersey Shore’ Fans
When fans tuned into the season four premiere of MTV’s “Jersey Shore” on Thursday night, they couldn’t help but notice the one of the cast member’s body and face looked remarkably different.
In addition to dropping what appeared to be a significant amount of weight, Jenni “JWoww” Farley’s features seemed enhanced by injectables like Botox to her crow’s feet and forehead, as well as possible fillers around her nose and mouth.
The buxom brunette has always been open about her large breast implants, revealing to Harper’s Baazar “I would do it every year if I could.”
Back in December of last year, Farley, told Us Weekly that while she still enjoys junk food and alcohol, the secret to maintaining her physique is moderation and regular workouts. “I’ll still eat junk food, cheesecake, cheese, pizza, but just lower amounts of it,” she told Us at the Ab Cuts event in New York. The star said she takes the nutritional supplement once or twice a day. “It’s for overall health and for feeling good about yourself.”
For workouts, the MTV personality has a special relationship with her trainer. “My boyfriend trains me,” the 24-year-old said. “He’s a big bodybuilder.”
Rough House, 20th TV Ink One-Year Pact
Rough House Pictures, home to Danny McBride and “Pineapple Express” hemler David Gordon Green, has inked a one-year deal with 20th Century Fox Television to develop both live-action and animated series.
McBride and Gordon Green run Rough House with Jody Hill, McBride’s collabaroator on HBO’s “Eastbound and Down,” and Matt Reilly, an executive. This is the first network TV deal for the company, which has also made films like 2011′s “Your Highness.”
With “Eastbound” filming its third and final season, Rough House has expanded in the TV world. The group is producing the Comedy Central pilot “Black Jack” while Green created “Good Vibes,” an animated comedy show coming to MTV.
This was originally reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
MTV pulls the plug on ‘Skins’
Here we go again. Another one bites the dust. Fresh off of a promising season where the chatter around MTV was about taking risks and reinventing itself (again) to a new generation, the once influential network seems to have crumbled under pressure and said ‘peace out’ to the controversial sexually charged series “Skins.”
MTV issued a statement regarding the cancellation: ” ‘Skins’ is a global television phenomenon that, unfortunately, didn’t connect with a U.S. audience as much as we had hoped. We admire the work that the series’ creator Bryan Elsley did in adapting the show for MTV, and appreciate the core audience that embraced it.”
Back in April, MTV’s David Janollari told THR of “Skins’ ” future, “Moving forward, a decision hasn’t been made yet. But we’re very pleased with the way the show did. We obviously made a huge noise with that. We’re happy with the ratings and the reaction that we got from viewers.”
The racy teen drama “Skins” was cloaked in controversy with several advertisers like Taco Bell, Wrigley gum and General Motors pulling out because of its content.
MTV viewers “want more from us,” said Van Toffler, president of MTV Networks Music/Films/Logo Group. “They expect more from us.”
Toffler, who has been with MTV since 1986, and newly appointed network president Stephen Friedman, at MTV since 1998, have survived its ups and downs over the years.
“Skins,” an adaptation of the successful British series, kept in line with the original drama showcasing teenage actors in the major roles.
MTV viewers are interested in the rites of passage — such as young people moving into their first apartments and getting jobs in “Real World” — that are relatable yet more entertaining than their own lives, Friedman said. “We’re looking for the lives of our audience amplified,” he said.
So, what”s next for MTV? Another reinvention from the reinvention? You can’t get more amplified than ‘Teen Mom’ and ’16 and Pregnant’. Now that’s quality!
