The Root

If you are a person of a certain age and musical tastes, you no doubt remember exactly where you were when you learned of the tragic death of entertainer Aaliyah on August 25, 2021. It was the kind of seismic cultural shift that forever impacted a generation already deeply influenced by the singer’s music, image and…Read more...

Star Georgia running back and mediocre NFL running back Herschel Walker (Don’t look at me like that. If he was so great then why isn’t he in the NFL Hall of Fame?) has filed to run for the U.S. Senate to represent Georgia with the support of his friend and savior, Donald Trump.Read more...

So far, Kanye West has slept in the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, reconstructed his childhood home in Chicago’s Soldier Field, pushed back the release date of Donda multiple times and, most recently, legally filed to change his name from Kanye Omari West to just “Ye.”Read more...

A few years ago, Yelitsa Jean-Charles, the 20-something founder of Healthy Roots Dolls, was pleasantly surprised to see Serena William’s daughter Olympia photographed with Zoe, the Healthy Roots signature doll. As she tells The Root, “I look at all of my orders and obviously I would have noticed the name,” she says…Read more...

In a past life, I used to watch ESPN’s First Take religiously.

Jonathan Pentland, a sergeant first class in the U.S. Army, was found guilty of third-degree assault and battery after pushing a Black man in a South Carolina neighborhood back in April.Read more...

This year’s U.S. Open will be without plenty of big names, as Roger Federer, Dominic Thiem, and Rafael Nadal will all be skipping out on the festivities at Flushing Meadows, where the national championship is set to begin on Monday. However, I regret to inform you that there’s another tennis legend who be competing at…Read more...

Health experts in Mississippi and the federal level are urging residents in the state not to ingest ivermectin to treat COVID-19. In case you wanna know what ivermectin is, it is a drug designed to treat illness in livestock—not humans.Read more...

When the pandemic hit, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo had positioned himself as calm during the chaotic, misinformed storm. President Trump had become his foil and Cuomo’s daily press conferences weren’t just must-see TV, they were one of the places where Americans who didn’t vote for Trump could hear an elected…Read more...

Editor’s note: The following contains explicit descriptions of sexual and physical abuse and coercion.Read more...

Like most good things that happen in life, I re-happened upon Rick Astley’s song “Never Gonna Give You Up,” by accident—and it wasn’t by being Rickrolled, the prank-turned-phenomenon of sending somebody a video link that claims to be one thing—no Amerie...or Ameriie?—but is really a link to the video for Rick Astley’s…Read more...

A three-judge panel in North Carolina ruled 2-1 Monday that the state must restore voting rights for thousands of residents with felonies. Under the current law, residents are barred from voting until they have been fully discharged from probation, parole or suspended sentence.Read more...

“Dance came from the people and should always be delivered back to the people.” — Alvin Ailey

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is continuing his fall from ashy to trashy as he was caught on camera shaving while eating at an airport restaurant.

Good evening and welcome to yet another episode of Celebrities Say the Dumbest Things! I’m your host, One Tired Writer.

Previously at The Root, we reported that former NBA star J.R. Smith enrolled at North Carolina A&T with an expressed desire to not only pursue a degree in liberal studies, but to play on the school’s golf team. And now, courtesy of The Undefeated, comes the NCAA’s decision on his college eligibility:Read more...

Over the weekend, Stand Up to Cancer (SU2C) held its annually televised fundraiser.Read more...

One of the most pioneering Black entertainers in history—and certainly one of its most famous expats—is receiving well-deserved recognition, 46 years after her death. On Tuesday, it was announced that the remains of American-born entertainer-activist Josephine Baker would be reinterred at Paris’s Pantheon monument,…Read more...

The former president of the people of Alabama is asking a Florida judge to issue a preliminary injunction in his beef with YouTube—which has banned his racist lying ass from the site—so he can have access to the platform to sell his wares.Read more...

Back in April, WWE superstars Bianca Belair and Sasha Banks made history (and broke the internet) when they became the first Black women to go head-to-head in a Wrestlemania title match. As the two performed in front of the WWE’s first live audience in over a year—a sold-out crowd of over 25,000 at Raymond James…Read more...

Mark Bartlett, who threatened a group of Black protesters with a loaded gun and yelled racial slurs at them on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in 2019, is pushing for a “Stand Your Ground” defense.

Fashion lovers who tuned into the history-making haute couture debut of Pyer Moss this July were in for a sight like nothing the fashion world had ever seen. While the brand was well known for its all-Black everything presentations, the first Black American-led label to present during the ultra exclusive Haute Couture…Read more...

A California high school is facing an investigation after white students were captured on a video that went viral over the weekend abusing a Black doll named “Shaniqua,” stomping it, positioning it in sexually suggestive positions and posing with it during a football game Friday.Read more...

Somehow we still don’t have a release date for Donda, but we do have yet another listening party. At this point, Kanye may not even need to drop the album as he’s played it for the public so many times. But yes, still talking about Donda and though it’s been a few weeks now since the Chicago rapper announced his 10th…Read more...

After previously expressing his reluctance to receive any coronavirus vaccines—a decision he deemed “too personal” to confirm or deny publicly—it should come as no surprise that unvaccinated quarterback Cam Newton’s attempts to adhere to the NFL’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols have gone awry.Read more...

Real Superhero Girl Shit!

In a move that may have national implications, one of South Carolina’s largest school districts asked the state’s highest court to determine whether state legislators have the constitutional right to prevent local school officials from protecting students from the COVID-19.

Dr. Funkenstein is in, y’all, and he’s pulled out his prescription pad to write us a ‘script for a daily dose of “Funk Aspirin.”

Anyone who ever had the opportunity to see Prince perform live—especially in his younger years—witnessed a dynamic and almost otherworldly talent at work as he commanded the stage with his voice, guitar and often acrobatic moves. For this writer, the first time was in 1984 at the Purple Rain tour stop in our shared…Read more...

Before I get into this, I’d just like to specify that the first part of this headline should be sung in the tune of Donny Hathaway and Roberta Flack’s rendition of “Young, Gifted & Black.”

In case you’ve missed it, Gabrielle Union has been absolutely killing it lately. From signing on to produce George M. Johnson’s bestselling memoir All Boys Aren’t Blue to recently optioning Tamara Winfrey-Harris’s award-winning book The Sisters Are Alright: Changing the Broken Narrative of Black Women In America, she…Read more...

With his repeatedly delayed album, Donda, still waiting in the wings, you would think Kanye West would be preoccupied with either completing the project or taunting his rabid fanbase with yet another tawdry listening party—this time in Chicago. But because Yeezus will always make time for his wounded pride, he’s…Read more...

Over the weekend, boxer Gervonta Davis experienced the scare of a lifetime, according to ESPN:Read more...

When I say that Rep. Matt Gaetz is Trump’s favorite son, I mean it as a joke. I’m fully aware that South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham is Trump’s favorite.

A New Jersey towing company has lost its contract with a township after one of its employees was captured on camera calling a customer the n-word.Read more...

The Orange Man aka Big Cheetos Dust aka That Ain’t Your Money aka Big Soft Top held a rally (surprise, surprise) in Alabama—mostly because he loves rallies and also because he loves getting a bunch or racist whites together in a large place during COVID-19 season—and was booed for telling the crowd of trailer home…Read more...

If you are anywhere near white people, you may want to put this story down and read it later when you have some time alone. That’s because this story involves two things white people hate: dog abandonment and dog abandonment.

Dak Prescott has been going through it.

Nothing.Read more...

Whether you’re fiending for classic Ralph Lauren polo shorts circa early 1990s, Chicago Bulls Championship apparel from the 1997 or 1998 championship years, NFL memorabilia, Harley Davidson merchandise, or even vintage sunglasses, Eric Brown Jr., founder of Backtrack Vintage, a Culver City, Los Angeles-based company,…Read more...

You know that thing some folks do where they act loud, wrong and fragile AF but then call everyone else a snowflake? (Okay, Trumpers. I’m talking about Trumpers.) You can add DaBaby to that exhaustive (and exhausting) list, because even his apologies are fragile as hell.Read more...

The Carters are reinventing a classic—with a strategic reveal from one of the world’s most sought-after contemporary artists. After announcing earlier this month that they are the new ambassadors for legacy jewelry designers Tiffany & Co., the couple’s first appearance for the brand was teased Monday morning, also…Read more...

Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick doubled down on his false statements that Black residents of his state were responsible for the surge in COVID-19 cases.Read more...

Haiti’s death toll has reached 2,207, with 344 people still unaccounted for following last weekend’s 7.2 magnitude earthquake. Tropical Storm Grace also reached the island Tuesday during search and rescue efforts.Read more...

On Saturday, Syesha Mercado and her partner Tyron Deener have finally reunited with their newborn daughter. The couple lost custody of the infant on August 11, just 10 days after her birth.Read more...

Rev. Jesse Jackson and his wife, Jacqueline, were admitted to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago according to a statement from his organization Rainbow PUSH Coalition (RPC) on Saturday.Read more...

Sha’Carri Richardson finished in ninth place in the 100-meter race for the 2021 Prefontaine Classic on Saturday. Richardson, the sixth-fastest woman in track and field history, was competing against six of the Tokyo Olympic finalists including the three Jamaican women responsible for this year’s podium sweep: Elaine…Read more...

James Brown, a 41-year-old white man from Marion, Va., is heading to federal prison after burning a cross on a Black family’s front lawn last summer. He was sentenced to 18 months on Friday.Read more...

Homestead Police Chief Jeff Desimone has been suspended for three days without pay after being caught in a viral video harassing a pregnant Black woman.Read more...

A Montgomery civil rights-era legend, Lucille Times, has passed away at the age of 100.Read more...