The stars took a break from their heavily pampered lives to play in the desert this week at Coachella ’15. The outfits were full of color, fringe and looked like a picture perfect Bohemian Heaven.
The most talked about moment from the event however wasn't about style, but about the sloppy kiss Madonna laid on Drake. Now, I love Madge—but girl, its time to just stop with the antics and focus on the music—you’re too iconic for that mess. Besides, imagine if that scene was reversed and Drake had landed a kiss on an unsuspected Madonna? I can just see the headlines and the public trial now…
Drake has since responded, posting a picture of the kiss on his Instagram, telling us not to misinterpret his reaction, saying he got to make out with "queen Madonna."
Pop Off of the Week: Theo Huxtable is mad. Former Cosby kid Malcolm-Jamal Warner took to Twitter this week to air his frustrations about critics of the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Warner, who isn’t known for his activism, called opponents of the movement out for their “all lives matter” foolishness and told them to acknowledge white privilege. Looks like Theo is all grown up… go ‘head!
Poliwood Round-Up: Trending Topics in the #BlackTwitterverse This Week
Trend of the Week: #LorettaLynch
It’s been 160 days since the President nominated Loretta Lynch to be America’s next Attorney General. Lynch had a successful hearing before the Senate where both Democrats and Republicans expressed that she is the right fit for the job. Lynch would be the first African American woman to hold the post if the Republican controlled Senate would call a vote. No other AG in history has waited this long to be confirmed…EVER. Call Mitch McConnell and tell him to stop holding Lynch hostage and call the vote.
THREE: The Bare Truth
Actress and Transgender advocate Laverne Cox poses nude in Allure magazine’s annual nude issue. Cox said, “I said no initially, thought about it again and said no again,” she said of the magazine’s invitation. “But I’m a black transgender woman. I felt this could be very powerful for the communities that I represent.”
Cox has made it her duty to defy stereotypes and expand the standard of beauty to include all women—not just the cisgendered, white, female norm. “Seeing a black transgender woman embracing and loving everything about herself might be inspiring to some other folks,” she told Allure. “There's beauty in the things we think are imperfect. That sounds very cliché, but it's true.” Cox posted a photo of her spread on Instagram, you can check it out here.
TWO: A Pioneer on Pointe
“Ballet has made it to the TIME 100.” Those were the words written by Prima Ballerina Misty Copeland on her TIME 100 cover. Copeland has been breaking down barriers in ballet one elegant leap at a time. Just last week she finished her historic debut at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as the first black lead in Swan Lake. In a world full of cant's she is showing us all that nothing is impossible if you dream big and work even harder. It may take longer than you want—but it is possible to will what you want.
ONE: Cash Crops and Cornrows
There is nothing like getting schooled by a 16-year old and that is exactly what actress Amandla Stenberg did. Stenberg decided to tackle cultural appropriation in a video for a history project, and the young star broke it down like a fraction. In the video she highlights the fact that several major white stars have become popular and considered “edgy” for appropriating black culture while ignoring the reality of what it actually means to be black in America. She says, “What would America look if we loved black people as much as we loved black culture?” She get’s an A+ for her astute assessment on today’s appropriation culture; let’s just hope the right starlets were listening.
