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...

While it doesn’t seem like we’re getting a second season of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (TFATWS) anytime soon, it looks as though we’re getting something even better. Anthony Mackie officially closed a deal with Marvel/Disney to star in Captain America 4, according to Deadline.Read more...

Like most kids his age, Edmonton teenager Anthony Muobike spent his afternoons dribbling around his neighborhood while pretending to knock down 30-foot buzzer-beaters like Steph Curry. But with no basketball hoop in his driveway, the 14-year-old’s hoop dreams often felt elusive. That is, until his neighbor, Ian Ray,…Read more...

A white woman who said she tried to kill two children by running over them with her SUV because of their race was sentenced Thursday to 25 years in federal prison on two hate crime charges. Nicole Poole Franklin, 43 of Des Moines, Iowa, had already been sentenced to 25 years on two counts of attempted murder at the…Read more...

There’s a good chance that Sen. Ted Cruz took a family friend to his senior prom. Ted Cruz probably makes it lightly drizzle at the strip club only to pocket money that lands on the couch. Ted Cruz probably used half of his book advance buying books because...wait, he really did that.

Former American Idol finalist Syesha Mercado and her partner Tyron Deneer said at a press conference Tuesday they believe they are being targeted because of how they’re choosing to raise their children. The couple had their second child taken by authorities last week during a roadside welfare check.

A Black couple claims that a Waffle House in Missouri denied them in-dining service because of the color of their skin.Read more...

Most of the time, the Clapback Mailbag attempts to introduce facts and data to our readers who have a habit of not reading things. But today is different. Today, instead of helping angry white people become less dumb, we’re going to help some of our dumbest readers understand how dumb they really are.Read more...

Three Black people formerly employed at a Kraft Heinz plant in Tulare, Calif., have filed a $30 million lawsuit against the megafood manufacturer, alleging that they were subjected to a racist work environment between 2012 and 2018.Read more...

On Thursday, two former officers from the Torrance Police Department were charged with vandalism and conspiracy to commit vandalism for allegedly spray painting a swastika on a vehicle they were in charge of impounding.Read more...

I remember exactly where I was when I was hit with the news on Aug. 25, 2001, that singer Aaliyah had been killed in a plane crash in the Bahamas. I was sitting on my couch in my apartment in Hyattsville, Md. It was a Saturday morning and I turned my television to MTV where Kurt Loder was sharing the devastating news…Read more...

After 87 years of brazen racial insensitivity, the Washington Football Team finally bid adieu to its previous racist-ass name (that doesn’t bear repeating) in 2020. And in the 13 months since, the team has struggled to select a replacement since apparently the Guardians was taken. But Washington’s awkward tenure as…Read more...

Last Friday, our dearly departed entertainment writer, Tonja Renée Stidhum, blessed the internet with an exclusive clip from Nia DaCosta’s upcoming masterpiece, Candyman. And because God is good all the time, today provides the perfect opportunity to bless the masses once more.Read more...

It was a historic moment in politics. After realizing that they were outgunned, Texas Democrats walked out and headed to Washington, D.C., to stop a racist voting bill from making its way into law, creating one of the longest quorum breaks in Texas history. But as with the NBA Playoffs, Breaking Bad and Christmas, all…Read more...