Entertainment

Emotional OITNB Stars, Regina King Among Essence Honorees

Published

9 years ago

February 21, 2015

Gugu Mbatha-Raw arrives at the 8th Annual Essence Black Women In Hollywood Luncheon held at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel on Thursday, Feb. 19, 2015, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

Nekesa Mumbi Moody, ASSOCIATED PRESS

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — The annual Essence Black Women in Hollywood Award is a guarantee of big stars and lots of tears.

Thursday kept to tradition as Oprah Winfrey, Lupita Nyong’o, director Ava DuVernay and others presided over an emotional luncheon that gave awards and affirmations to standout black women including members of the cast of “Orange is the New Black,” actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw and actress-director Regina King.

“I promised my sister I was going to keep it together. I lied,” quipped a misty King — whose vast credits include “Southland,” “Shameless,” ”Boyz in the Hood,” ”Ray” and “Jerry McGuire” — as she accepted the Fierce and Fearless Award.

The Essence luncheon, which will be televised for the first time Saturday by the OWN network, has become one of Oscar week’s most prestigious events. It started eight years ago to recognize the achievements of black women — key in an industry where they are underrepresented in mainstream roles, from acting to directing. Most of the honorees shed tears, as did some in the audience.

One of last year’s honorees, Academy Award winner Nyong’o, came back this year to pay tribute to the black actresses of “Orange is the New Black,” which has been lauded for the rich roles for all kinds of women. It’s the first time Essence has honored a group instead of an individual.

As Emmy winner Uzo Aduba and castmates Laverne Cox, Lorraine Toussaint, Samira Wiley and Vicky Jeudy looked on, Danielle Brooks — who plays Tastee on the show — summed up why being singled out for the Vanguard award meant so much to them.

“It’s really challenging to be a ‘blacktress,'” said Brooks, who talked about the rejection black actresses often face. “There are not a lot of roles for us.”

She praised the creators of the show for allowing the women to explore complex characters and said she learned something as well: “We are enough just the way we are and don’t need to change for us.”

Mbatha-Raw, who had breakout roles last year in the period piece “Belle” and in the musical drama “Beyond the Lights,” was honored by “Selma” star David Oyelowo. He brought out his own toddler daughter, who is biracial, to thank Mbatha-Raw for presenting a positive image of biracial women.

Mbatha-Raw, who is British, acknowledged the challenges of being both black and white in Hollywood.

“I think I always felt, ‘Black Women in Hollywood’ — do I even qualify to be here?” she said, to which someone shouted “Yes!”

“To be embraced so joyously means so much to me,” she added.

She spoke of a harrowing experience of being mugged at gunpoint while filming “Beyond the Lights” and credited it for helping her live a more rewarding life.

“What it gave me was a sense of letting go of the fears that stop us from doing what I want to do,” she said.

King, who started in acting as a child on the sitcom “227” and has added directing to her resume, talked about the power of Essence and how as a child, it shaped her future, affirming that she could be a doctor, a lawyer, or an engineer: “I decided to be an actress so I can be all of those.”

DuVernay, whose “Selma” is nominated for best picture at Sunday’s Academy Awards, honored costume designer Ruth Carter with the Visionary Award.

Carter is nominated for her work on “Selma” this year. She said when she dressed Winfrey for “Lee Daniel’s The Butler,” Winfrey told her art was prayer, and God speaking through her. She thanked Winfrey for opening her eyes.

“I have been seeking a deeper spiritual connection all my life and I didn’t know I was already doing it,” she said.

Among those in attendance were John Legend and Common, who performed their Oscar-nominated song “Glory”; model Chanel Iman; “Selma” star Carmen Ejogo; and TV powerhouse Shonda Rimes.
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Follow Nekesa Mumbi Moody at http://www.twitter.com/nekesamumbi

Online: http://www.essence.com

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Oakland Post: Week of April 17 – 23, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 17 – 23, 2024

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April 19, 2024

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O.J. Simpson, 76, Dies of Prostate Cancer

Orenthal James (O.J.) Simpson, who rose to fame as a college football player who went on to the NFL and parlayed his talents in acting and sportscasting, succumbed to prostate cancer on April 10, his family announced.

Published

2 days ago

April 17, 2024

Oakland Post

Orenthal James (O.J.) Simpson. Wikipedia photo

By Post Staff

Born and raised in San Francisco, the Galileo High School graduate was recruited by the University of Southern California after he was on a winning Junior College All-American team.

At USC, he gained wide acclaim as a running back leading to him becoming the No. 1 pick in the AFL-NFL draft in 1969 and joining the Buffalo Bills, where he had demanded – and received — the largest contract in professional sports history: $650,000 over five years. In 1978, the Bills traded Simpson to his hometown team, the San Francisco 49ers, retiring from the game in 1979.

Simpson’s acting career had begun before his pro football career with small parts in 1960s TV (“Dragnet”) before “Roots” and film (“The Klansman,” “The Towering Inferno,” Capricorn One”).

He was also a commentator for “Monday Night Football,” and “The NFL on NBC,” and in the mid-1970s Simpson’s good looks and amiability made him, according to People magazine, “the first b\Black athlete to become a bona fide lovable media superstar.”

The Hertz rent-a-car commercials raised his recognition factor while raising Hertz’s profit by than 50%, making him critical to the company’s bottom line.

It could be said that even more than his success as a football star, the commercials of his running through airports endeared him to the Black community at a time when it was still unusual for a Black person to represent a national, mainstream company.

He remained on Hertz team into the 1990s while also getting income endorsing Pioneer Chicken, Honey Baked Ham and Calistoga water company products and running O.J. Simpson Enterprises, which owned hotels and restaurants.

He married childhood sweetheart Marguerite Whitley when he was 19 and became the father of three children. Before he divorced in 1979, he met waitress and beauty queen Nicole Brown, who he would marry in 1985. A stormy relationship before, during and after their marriage ended, it would lead to a highway car chase as police sought to arrest Simpson for the murder by stabbing of Brown and her friend Ron Goldman in 1994.

The pursuit, arrest, and trial of Simpson were among the most widely publicized events in American history, Wikipedia reported.

Characterized as the “Trial of the Century,” he was acquitted by a jury in 1995 but found liable in the amount of $33 million in a civil action filed by the victims’ families three years later.

Simpson would be ensnared in the criminal justice system 12 years later when he was arrested after forcing his way into a Las Vegas hotel room to recover sports memorabilia he believed belonged to him.

In 2008, he received a sentence of 33 years and was paroled nine years later in 2017.

When his death was announced, Simpson’s accomplishments and downfalls were acknowledged.

Sports analyst Christine Brennan said: “… Even if you didn’t love football, you knew O.J. because of his ability to transcend sports and of course become the businessman and the pitchman that he was.

“And then the trial, and the civil trial, the civil case he lost, and the fall from grace that was extraordinary and well-deserved, absolutely self-induced, and a man that would never be seen the same again,” she added.

“OJ Simpson played an important role in exposing the racial divisions in America,” attorney Alan Dershowitz, an adviser on Simpson’s legal “dream team” told the Associated Press by telephone. “His trial also exposed police corruption among some officials in the Los Angeles Police Department. He will leave a mixed legacy. Great athlete. Many people think he was guilty. Some think he was innocent.”

“Cookie and I are praying for O.J. Simpson’s children … and his grandchildren following his passing. I know this is a difficult time,” Magic Johnson said on X.

“I feel that the system failed Nicole Brown Simpson and failed battered women everywhere,” attorney Gloria Allred, who once represented Nicole’s family, told ABC News. “I don’t mourn for O.J. Simpson. I do mourn for Nicole Brown Simpson and her family, and they should be remembered.”

Simpson was diagnosed with prostate cancer about a year ago and was undergoing chemotherapy treatment, according to Pro Football Hall of Fame President Jim Porter. He died in his Las Vegas, Nevada, home with his family at his side.

He is survived by four children: Arnelle and Jason from his first marriage and Sydney and Justin from his second marriage. He was predeceased son, Aaren, who drowned in a family swimming pool in 1979.

Sources for this report include Wikipedia, ABC News, Associated Press, and X.