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Abortion Debate in Alabama, Georgetown Reparations Vote, and More [What’s The 411 Quick Takes]

VIDEO DISCUSSION: Alabama legislators seeking very stringent abortion law; will Cynthia Bailey return to RHOA, and; Tatyana Ali expecting baby No. 2

Will Cynthia Bailey return to the Atlanta Housewives? Tatyana Ali just announced on Instagram that she is pregnant. This will be the actress' second child with husband, Dr. Vaughn Rasberry. Georgetown University students voted overwhelmingly in favor of $27 fee for slavery reparations to create a fund benefiting descendants of the 272 slaves sold to pay off the Georgetown Jesuits' debt. If Alabama state Rep. Terri Collins has her way, getting an abortion two weeks after conception could, in theory, be a capital offense, and punishable by the death penalty. 

Kaepernick, Wendy Williams, John Legend, Tyrese, and more | Ep. 117

Ava Duvernay, Issa Rae, Jay-Z are up for an NAACP’s Entertainer of the Year Image Award

In this episode of What's The 411 hosts Kizzy Cox, and Onika McLean are talking about Wendy Williams; Cynthia Bailey and Peter Thomas' business venture; John Legend, Justin Timberlake, Janet Jackson, the NFL, Colin Kaepernick, Morgan Freeman, Diana Ross, Ava DuVernay, Issa Rae, Jay-Z, Tank, The Rock, Tyrese, and much more.

  • Published in Episodes

What's The 411 Episode 69: Rick Ross; Spike Lee; Lee Daniels; Patti Pie; and Cynthia Bailey

Rapper Rick Ross and Lira Mercer engagement is on again; Spike Lee puts Hollywood on blast; Patti Pies flying off the shelves

In this episode of What's The 411, the panel of Kizzy Cox, Onika McLean, and Courtney Rashon are talking about Rick Ross; Spike Lee; Lee Daniels; French President Francois Hollande's response to the attack on Paris; and Real Housewives of Atlanta's cast member, Cynthia Bailey.

What's Poppin'

Entertainment and Lifestyle mogul Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, while promoting his upcoming album at Hot 97 in New York, told the audience that President Obama should unapologetically spend billions on black people. We helped him get elected and like other constituencies we should be rewarded and so far the president hasn't done enough. Puff Daddy made sure it was known that he wasn't "going after Obama" but that he believed the President should give "nice parting gifts" to Black people before he leaves the White House.

A follow-on story regarding President Obama is, "It's raining Men!!!" Obama, Obama, Obama! President Obama is giving a huge Christmas gift to over 6,000 families. He has signed an executive order that will free nonviolent inmates that have been sentenced under harsh drugs laws imposed after America lost its war on drugs in the late 80s and 90s. In a letter written to one inmate, President Obama said "you have shown that you deserve a second chance, what you do with this chance is up to you.

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Film and TV producer, Lee Daniels, may be close to a legal settlement. The "Empire" TV series co-creator and filmmaker may have come to terms with actor Sean Penn's lawyers regarding his statement about actor Terrence Howard's alleged spousal abuse by bringing up Sean Penn's name in a manner that implied that Penn abused women.

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R&B legend Patti LaBelle's sweet potato pies have been sold exclusively at Walmart for weeks but this past weekend they were flying off the shelves after a video from Patti LaBelle fan James Wright Chanel went mega-viral!

The video snagged nearly 7 million online views because of its funny and raucous review of the pie.

After just one bite Chanel, who is also a singer, began singing a Patti song and said, "I turned into Patti after eating this" and he continued eating and singing Patti songs in-between bites of pie.

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Rapper Rick Ross and exotic dancer Lira "Galore" Mercer are back together. The engagement is on again and the happy couple posted a pic on Instagram where Lira stated that they were going through a rough patch in their relationship, but it's now all good! Lira is sporting her engagement ring again. If you recall Rick Ross called it quits because pictures surfaced on social media showing Lira sitting naked on a well-known rapper's lap during her days as an exotic dancer. Will they get to the altar?

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Filmmaker Spike Lee has once again put Hollywood on blast.

"Everybody in here probably voted for Obama but when I go to offices, I see no black folks except for the brother man at the security who checks my name off the list as I go into the studio," the director said while receiving an honorary Oscar at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' seventh annual Governors Awards. "So we can talk 'yabba yabba yabba' but we need to have some serious discussion about diversity and get some flavor up in this. This industry is so behind sports it's ridiculous.

"It's easier to be the president of the United States as a black person than be the head of a studio," he continued. "Honestly, it's easier to be president of the United States than the head of a studio or head of network".

Lee urged Hollywood executives to take a closer look at the people around them.

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Rapper Benzino and his wife, Althea Heart, are having trouble in paradise. According to Hello Beautiful, Althea insisted that Benzino stay away from her and the baby while at the hospital. She even made Benzino sign the birth certificate in the room next door. And, she also ordered her mother out of the room! Whoa!

Could Althea's behavior be a symptom of post-partum depression?

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FAB411: Caring for Curly & Coily Hair - by Courtney Rashon

Curly and coily hair can get wild, tangled, dry, and unruly at times. Here are 7 products that will help you maintain and manage your curls and keep them looking good and poppin' all day:

1. Miss Jessie's curly meringue
2. Kinky-Curly Original Curling Custard
3. WonderCurl Get Set Jelly
4. Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie for thick curly hair
5. Curl Junkie Curls in a bottle hair styling solution
6. Matrix Biolage Curl Defining Elixer
7. Spiral Solutions Curl Enhancing Jelly

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ON THE CARPET: MAINSTREAM MEDIA - by Kizzy Cox

I, like many people around the world was appalled and saddened by the senseless terrorist attacks that injured hundreds and killed 129 people in Paris. ISIS like Al Qaeda before is a terrible scourge and threatens freedom in many parts of the world. In light of that, I thought the wall-to-wall coverage the attacks received was appropriate and warranted. BUT, it bothers me that the same attention is not brought to terrorist acts that happen when the victims are black and brown and are in locations outside of the Western world. When terrorists killed a few dozen people in Paris who worked at Charlie Ebdo earlier this year, it also received extensive coverage, as it should have. However, what about the Kenyan massacre where Al Shabob killed 147 students at a Kenyan University back in April. Where was the extensive coverage? Kenyans are also our allies against terrorism. There is no ongoing Civil War in Kenya, which would make these types of attacks commonplace. The casualties in Kenya were also innocent victims--young college students. And yet, little coverage was given.

Racism works very subtly; so subtly sometimes we don't see it happening, but racism isn't just about what we see it's also about what we don't see. Thousands upon thousands have also been killed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Syria is being torn apart by war but those victims are brown and a world away. True we can't always control what images get shown to us or what the media chooses to cover but in the age of social media WE ALL HAVE THE POWER to drive narratives, when we do the media will have no choice but to follow.

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Reality TV Recap

 

The Real Housewives of Potomac, Maryland

The Real Housewives franchise has added two more cities. The Real Housewives of Dallas and The Real Housewives of Potomac, Maryland; is airing on Bravo in January 2016. The Housewives of Potomac will feature wealthy African American women who reside in a sophisticated community. It will also include Courtney Rashon's friend, Charisse-Jackson Jordan, who is the socialite wife of former NBA coach Eddie Jordan, who is now the basketball coach at Rutgers University.

The Real Housewives of Atlanta

The What's The 411 panel is sick of Peter's treatment of his wife Cynthia Bailey. They believe that it is time for Cynthia Bailey to kick Peter to the curb. Do you agree?

Untying The Knot

What in the hell is a "Hall Pass"?!, asks Onika McLean.

I know you guys remember Tiny and Toya - well just in case you don't, Toya Wright is the mother of Lil' Wayne's oldest daughter. Toya and her estranged husband, Mickey "Memphitz" Wright are joining the reality TV show, Untying The Knot. When the couple sat down to discuss the particulars of their relationship, the mediation lawyer asked Mickey, "do you cheat on your wife?" Mickey responded, "No - not without "a Hall Pass".

Can you imagine, Toya gives her husband a hall pass 8 times a year where he can be with other women no questions asked?

Would you give your husband or wife a hall pass?

  • Published in Episodes

NeNe Leakes Leaves Real Housewives of Atlanta

NeNe Leakes Moving on to New Television Show, To Tell The Truth

In this segment of What's The 411, the panel led by correspondent, Onika McLean, is having a spirited discussion about NeNe Leakes' career. The reality TV star is leaving the cast of The Real Housewives of Atlanta to join the remake of the game show, To Tell The Truth, starring Anthony Anderson along with actress Betty White. 

Book Launch for Cynthia Bailey Thomas and Peter Thomas’ New Book

VIDEO: CARRY-ON BAGGAGE: OUR NON-STOP FLIGHT depicts the life of Real Housewives of Atlanta reality TV stars Cynthia Bailey Thomas and Peter Thomas

What's The 411TV correspondents Bianca Peart and Cristina Twitty both attended the book launch for the Real Housewives of Atlanta reality stars, Cynthia Bailey Thomas and Peter Thomas.

The couple wrote a relationship memoir, CARRY-ON BAGGAGE: OUR NON-STOP FLIGHT.

Cynthia, who came up with the title, explained that because of their schedules, it took a little longer to write the book than they originally thought it would.

The title, CARRY-ON BAGGAGE: OUR NON-STOP FLIGHT, is symbolic of how the reality TV stars met. Since they met later in life, they each had separate lives and everything that comes with it. They had their own stuff, their own baggage, their own houses, cars, and kids and they had to figure out how they were going to combine everything.

How did they enjoy writing a book together?

"We enjoyed it because we didn't have to sit down and do it at the same time," said Peter. "She did her part, I did my part..."

"The best part of it was actually when we swapped and she read my part and I read her part [and] to see that we came to the same destination, we just took completely different routes to get there" Peter added.

Part 2: Why Did Cynthia Bailey Thomas and Peter Thomas Write CARRY-ON BAGGAGE

What's The 411TV correspondent Cristina Twitty starts this segment of her interview with Cynthia Bailey Thomas and Peter Thomas asking if the book, CARRY-ON BAGGAGE: OUR NON-STOP FLIGHT, was written because people were getting the wrong perception of them because of how they are portrayed on the reality TV show, The Real Housewives of Atlanta?

"I definitely think that our relationship is very misunderstood because of how we are portrayed on the show sometimes," Cynthia said.

"On the show you will always only get snippets of our life, you will never get the full story and the book was just an amazing way to tell our story and give you guys the backstory, how we even met in the first place, how we even ended up on the show," Cynthia continued.

Once viewers and fans read the book, CARRY-ON BAGGAGE: OUR NON-STOP FLIGHT, will they get a better sense of Cynthia and Peter are as individuals and as a couple?

"Yes.., we were in charge of editing and so, therefore they are getting a true sense of who Peter and Cynthia is," Peter stated. "That was the purpose from day one to express what we could and what we weren't in control of expressing on television."

"We kept it really honest, we were 100 percent real. I felt like when I went back and read some of this stuff, I said I think we kept this a little too honest and too real," Cynthia added.

How long Have Cynthia Bailey Thomas and Peter Thomas Known Each Other?

"We've known each other going on six years now and we've been married for a little over three years," Peter replied.

So what's the secret to a successful marriage?

"Oh, this is easy for me," Cynthia asserted. "The secret to a successful marriage is marrying someone that you have a lot of things in common with that actually get along with that you like. If you guys are not compatible, if you don't like the same or even want the same things in a life or marriage, it ain't gonna work, that's the first thing. Sometimes people marry for the wrong reasons. First and foremost, you have to want the same things that your partner wants or, it just really, in my opinion, has no shot of working."

How did Peter Thomas and Cynthia Bailey Thomas meet in the first place?

Peter was taken by Cynthia when he first saw her at a car dealership. Cynthia, who was from New York City, was in Atlanta to execute a lease on a Range Rover. Since Cynthia was in town for only 48 hours, he felt like he had to go into overdrive, as he only had 48 hours to close the deal.

Obviously, Peter closed the deal.

However, how did Cynthia feel about Peter? Watch the video for the answer.

Do Cynthia and Peter have any upcoming projects?

"Oh, we're loaded, fully loaded," said Peter.

"I have a doll that just came out, the Cynthia Bailey Doll, you go on to cynthiabaileydoll.com. She's beautiful. She has an afro, really just representing and empowering young girls. My school, the Bailey Agency School of Fashion is doing amazing, I've got so many things, I'm getting my health together...," Cynthia added in practically one breath.

"Well I'm opening a new bar in Charlotte in around six weeks, Charlotte, North Carolina," Peter continued. "I'm going to spread that brand all over the East coast then I'm going to DC after that and then here New York, my city. I've got Peter's Brewed coffee coming out in four weeks, we're doing our thing; we're working hard to make sure we're never broke again."

Watch the video and pay close attention to the body language, and let us know despite everything they are saying, does this looks like a marriage that will go the distance.

  • Published in Authors
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