The Root

Serena Williams broke the hearts of tennis fans everywhere when she announced her plans to “evolve away ” from the sport in an interview for the September issue of Vogue. Since she walked off the court at Arthur Ashe Stadium last week after being eliminated at the US Open, we’ve all been wondering what she plans to do…Read more...

On Friday night at D23 Expo 2022, I was one of the lucky 7,500 people who got to see the entire “Part of Your World” sequence from the upcoming live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid. The more Halle Bailey’s Ariel sang about wanting to live on the surface with humans, it became increasingly clear that we were…Read more...

Day One of The Root Institute kicked off in a major way with Stacey Abrams discussing her road to governor during an intimate conversation with The Root’s contributing editor Keith Reed. Keith held nothing back as he asked Abrams about her status in the current Georgia race and how we can address voter suppression…Read more...

Late Sunday at 11:30 pm, two St. Louis police officers fatally shot a 16-year-old they said was reaching for a gun. According to ABC News, Darryl Ross was outside a local gas station when two drug enforcement detectives were surveilling the area. The incident report notes the detectives saw several people with guns…Read more...

At Connecticut’s Southington High School, an English teacher attempted to educate her students on vocabulary words regarding race and gender. But according to Patch, angry, anti-CRT parents gathered at the following school board meeting to argue these terms were “off the wall” and seeing them again was “frustrating as…Read more...

The Root has done its fair share of “Karen” stories. We love calling out white women that have been caught on camera calling the police on Black people for no particular reason. But calling out a cartoon character is a new one.Read more...

We all knew Kenan Thompson wasn’t going to deliver a mean-spirited monologue. His comedy has always been about making people feel good. The longtime SNL star put everyone in the right mood by starting things off with a TV theme dance party.

Between living truthfully, being nominated for an Emmy for his deeply personal HBO special Rothaniel and stealing all the attention on the red carpet, Jerrod Carmichael certainly seems like he’s having a ball right now.

Lizzo is having an amazing year and it just got even better, as the “About Damn Time” singer won her first Emmy for Competition Program. Her Prime Video series, Lizzo’s Watch Out For the Big Grrls, beat perennial winner RuPaul’s Drag Race. The powerful show follows plus-size dancers as they audition to perform on a…Read more...

Abbott Elementary got its first big win of the night when bonafide legend Sheryl Lee Ralph took home the award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.Read more...

PnB Rock, born Rakim Hasheem Allen, was shot and killed while dining at a Roscoe’s Chicken & Waffles in South Los Angeles, Calif. on Monday, according to the Los Angeles Times. He was 30 years old.Read more...

It’s time to celebrate the best in television! Actors, actresses, producers, screenwriters and directors all gathered on Monday at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles for the 2022 Emmys. Here are some of the looks they showed off on the red carpet.

The official start of fall is just around the corner (insert sigh here). That means it’s time to trade in our cool summer cocktails for pumpkin spice, well, everything. But for single people, it also means cuffing season is in full effect. You know, that time of year when you step up your dating game and lock down a…Read more...

The death of England’s longest-reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, has stirred up debates about colonialism and the ways the British monarchy has, and continues to do harm.Read more...

If you haven’t been keeping up, Kanye West has been on a social media tear aimed toward Adidas, Gap, Kris Jenner, Kid Cudi and others people in recent weeks.

Like a lot of kids, Megan Piphus Peace assumed the puppets on Sesame Street and Lamb Chop’s Play-Along “were real and didn’t know that someone was operating them.” These classic children’s shows were where the Vanderbilt alum first discovered her interest in puppetry and ventriloquism. Of course, at the time, she had…Read more...

Merriam-Webster announced the addition of 370 words to the dictionary including “sus” and “yeet,” according to USA TODAY. The word choices could’ve been more cringe (which is ironically another word added). However, it’s another example of how African American Vernacular English (AAVE) has become trendy and widely…Read more...

A year after the death of Breonna Taylor, Louisville banned no-knock warrants entirely, and the state of Kentucky placed restrictions on how they could be executed. Now, the Columbus Division of Police is looking at their own set of changes - particularly on how late-night warrants are done after the tragic death of…Read more...

It’s been almost a year since Garcelle Beauvais and the cast of The Real sat down with Jennifer Hough, the woman at the center of sexual assault accusations against Nicki Minaj’s Husband, Kenneth Petty. But that didn’t stop Nicki from blasting the Real Housewife and her 15-year-old son, Jax, on her radio show on…Read more...

The 2022 NFL season is finally here, which meant fan bases across America got to get their first official look at the outlook of their team, defense, coach and most importantly, quarterback.Read more...

In Elegance Bratton’s narrative debut The Inspection, Gabrielle Union stars opposite film lead Jeremy Pope as his homophobic mother who refuses to accept her son’s identity and disowns him due in large part to her religious beliefs. This in turn makes Pope’s Ellis French enlist in the Marines and embark on a gruel,…Read more...

Closing arguments are coming down the pike on Monday in the trial of disgraced R&B singer R. Kelly, who faces charges of child pornography and obstruction of justice, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.Read more...

Back in May, Pastor Michael Jennings of Alabama was arrested for watering his neighbors’ flowers while they were out of town. Now, according to NPR, Jennings has filed a federal lawsuit against the officers and the city of Childersburg, AL, alleging the incident caused him a great deal of emotional and mental distressRead more...

Tyler Perry is opening up about his excitement and concern about Hollywood’s recent push for diversity when it comes to the future for Black creators of color.Read more...

Almost a month ago, The Root reported about Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell’s comments about the “candidate quality” Republicans are sending out for the midterm elections in November. Currently, the Democrats are slightly favored to retain their majority and even add a few seats in the process. That could be…Read more...

D23 Expo 2022, Disney’s big showcase of its theme parks, films and TV series, welcomed superfans to Anaheim, Calif. to celebrate their community, hear about all the latest projects, and yes, buy lots of merchandise emblazoned with Mickey Mouse ears.Read more...

It’s been weeks since residents of Jackson, Mississippi have had access to safe drinking water.Read more...

Chick-fil-A faced heat from Black Twitter over a response they gave that came across as racially motivated, per TODAY. The food chain, known for their chicken sandwiches but that has also been accused of being pro-Trump and anti-LGBT, responded promptly with an apology after Twitter users demanded answers.Read more...

On Nov. 8th, we’ll all be casting our votes in the upcoming midterm elections to determine which party has control of the House and Senate. These will be highly pivotal positions, which will impact issues such as voting and reproductive rights. And on Sunday, Vice President Kamala Harris’s interview on NBC News’s…Read more...

A former California principal is now facing criminal charges after he was caught on camera shoving a 9-year-old student with special needs.

In the year of 2022, who is listening to anything Bethenny Frankel has to say? Despite this fact, she is seemingly using every opportunity to disparage Meghan Markle for no damn reason. Last week on her podcast, Just B, she ripped into Markle claiming that “she messed up” by abdicating her royal responsibilities.Read more...

Read more...

On September 11, 2001, my mother, Katrina Womack, was on the PATH train headed into the city from New Jersey to her job at Prudential Financial. However, she never made it to work. As she walked up the stairs of the World Trade Center stop, she heard a loud crash and the building shook. That was the first plane…Read more...

Disney fans, rejoice! Well, that’s only if you like your mermaids Black and her red locs to be well…loc’d. This Friday, the trailer was finally released for the live action remake of The Little Mermaid starring our favorite sweet underwater songstress, Halle Bailey.Read more...

If you know our girl Whoopi Goldberg, you know she is not one to mince words. The longstanding lead host of The View recently addressed the haters who can’t seem to wrap their minds around diversifying a cast of real people playing the fictional creatures and characters throughout Amazon’s “Lord of the Rings: The…Read more...

Residents of the Marcy housing projects in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York are waking up one thousand dollars richer this weekend following the completion of a cryptocurrency training hosted by Jay-Z and Jack Dorsey. According to Okay Player, the rapper turned entrepreneur and former Twitter…Read more...

Read more...

Read more...

Disney kicked off its big fan event, D23 Expo 2022, by honoring Disney Legends. These are artists who’ve made special contributions to its theme parks, films and TV shows. And because we make everything better, three special Black legends were given their well deserved flowers.

Look who’s back in the picture.Read more...

The entire Los Angeles Rams team wore a “Choose Love” decal on their helmet for the season opener against the Buffalo Bills last night. NFL teams confirmed that they stenciled “It Takes All of Us” and “End Racism” in end zones for the third consecutive season as part of the league’s Inspire Change social justice…Read more...

Updated as of 9/9/2022 at 3:30 p.m. ET by Kalyn Womack (?)Read more...

Read more...

Read more...

Kids have only just begun to return to their classrooms. But in Texas, transgender students are already feeling the impact of Governor Greg Abbott’s directive for gender-affirming care to be investigated as child abuse.Read more...

The Miami-Dade County School board voted against recognizing October as LGBTQ History Month, according to ABC News. The month hasn’t been recognized on the federal level, like Black History Month. However, against students’ wishes, the board declined their ability to acknowledge the history of the LGBTQ for just four…Read more...

Remember R. Kelly? The disgraced signer is still on trial in Chicago on federal charges of child pornography, obstruction of justice and coercing minors into sex. But the once beloved R&B singer now has one less person to worry about after a music journalist, who covered the singer for decades, declared he won’t be…Read more...

Read more...

It looks like Hollywood Unlocked founder Jason Lee is in hot water—and yet again he put himself there. He recently took to Twitter to share that he knows the names of the two siblings suing Tiffany Haddish and Aries Spears. The family is accusing the comedians of numerous allegations including sexual harassment, gross…Read more...

Since Queen Elizabeth’s passing yesterday, we’ve been laser-focused on the Black community’s reaction. And while some are genuinely mourning the passing of Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, most have used her death to remind us that the legacy of the British monarchy is seriously tainted with racism, slavery and…Read more...