The Root

Yeah. Billy Porter really fucking did that.

Congratulations are in order for Emmy and Academy Award-nominated director and filmmaker Ava DuVernay!Read more...

As someone who is fortunate enough to express his opinion for a living, one of my favorite phrases is “Words mean things.”Read more...

After being introduced 17 years ago by a mutual friend and dating briefly, Donnell Baldwin thought Courtney Arrington was “the one who got away”—until he got a second chance, five years later. Reconnecting, they braved a long-term, long-distance romance which eventually turned into a commuter marriage, after Donnell,…Read more...

I don’t know what Republicans want.

Amid the romance of an engagement and the subsequent chaos of wedding planning (should one be ceremonially inclined), is one of the biggest bonuses of tying the knot—that is, aside from making it last forever with the love of your life. For better or worse, there is perhaps no other major milestone that will accrue…Read more...

I don’t have a problem with cicadas, personally. If anything, I have some sympathy for them. Imagine living underground for 17 years at a time only to emerge for a few weeks with the sole intention of getting your freak on and making some music, but you can’t see and most of the monsters you come across—humans—are…Read more...

Singer, songwriter, skin aficionado and powerhouse music producer Pharrell Williams is further extending his philanthropic reach to the wonderful world of education.Read more...

Award-winning singer, actress, and creative director Teyana Taylor has been recognized with Maxim Magazine’s top honor.

It’s one thing to uphold white supremacy and another to pen a whole ass op-ed as to why you won’t be voting for a bill that ensures that Black folks have access to voting.

When word began to spread that Brooklyn Nets superstar James Harden would miss the team’s Game 2 matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday due to “right hamstring tightness,” they’ll never admit it, but I bet a sigh of relief circulated throughout the Bucks’ locker room.Read more...

Gap’s Instagram page looks a little...different today. In fact, it doesn’t look like much at all, given that its sole post features an intriguing glossy and cropped cerulean blue puffer floating on a white ground. Of course, Gap’s logo looks different too, its signature three-letter emblem temporarily (we think)…Read more...

Fox News, the outlet that has perhaps been most instrumental in orchestrating the Back the Blue campaign, refused to air an ad that featured Capitol police officers criticizing the Republican politicians who have tried to downplay the events of Jan. 6.Read more...

Another bestselling memoir from The Last Black Unicorn? She ready! Better yet, she’s ready to get paid for her next tell-all; well before its completion, the follow-up to her 2017 release is reportedly already fetching offers between $2 and $3 million.Read more...

How do you do, true believers? I’m doing pretty okay, myself. I spent the weekend catching up on Donny Cates’ run on Venom and while that shit fucks, hard, that’s not the Spidey news you’re here for, is it? Over the weekend, it was announced that Jessica Drew a.k.a Spider-Woman would not only be appearing in the…Read more...

Nationwide, America’s gradual reopening has seen the country getting back to what it does best: violence. Atlanta is one of several cities that is experiencing a surge in violent crime, and the predominantly white community of Buckhead has proposed a revolutionary new solution: leaving.

The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt has at last broken her silence about the controversy that made her a trending topic several days last week—and not in a good way. As previously reported by The Root, the earnest and typically chipper redhead who was also part of the ensemble casts of The Office and Bridesmaids raised ire…Read more...

Who would have thought that one week into June we’d have the release of anthems, R&B bangers, jazzy dance tracks and a new Prince release?Read more...

Calling all hotties!Read more...

West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin is a Democrat in name only. For years, he’s prided himself as a “moderate conservative,” which is just another way of saying Republican-lite—or asshole.

For the second consecutive season, the Los Angeles Temecula Clippers have laid waste to the Dallas Mavericks in the opening round of the playoffs. Last year, during the unprecedented gauntlet that was the NBA Bubble, it was unsurprising. This postseason, however, their triumph has served as a statement to the rest of…Read more...

If there’s anybody who’s had quite an unorthodox start to 2021, it’s Tessica Brown.Read more...

On Sunday, while the rest of you heathens were crowded around your TVs watching Floyd Mayweather manhandle Logan Paul, Simone Biles was in Fort Worth, Texas, doing what she does best: breaking another damn record.

We all act like we are above it but we aren’t.

To celebrate the start of wedding season, The Root has launched “How We Do,” a two-week series centering Black love stories, commitment and nuptial style.Read more...

Clarence Williams III, the versatile actor widely known for his role of Linc Hayes on ABC’s The Mod Squad, has died of colon cancer at age 81, The Root has learned.Read more...

I don’t hate Logan Paul.Read more...

The United States is a country that boasts a famously diverse expanse of terrain, with spectacular natural wonders like canyons, mountains, forests and prairies dotting the landscape. Unfortunately, very few African Americans explore the country’s wilderness through the U.S. national park system. According to the…Read more...

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Chrystul Kizer is most certainly a victim of sex trafficking. Chrystul Kizer shot and killed 34-year old Randall Phillip Volar III when she was 17. Randall Phillip Volar III was most certainly a serial child abuser. In Kenosha, Wis.,—the same city that is arguably treating protest shooter Kyle Rittenhouse with kid …Read more...

Here’s a question: If America isn’t and never has been a racist country (it is, but stay with me) as the massive Republican swath of white and fragile Critical Race Theory opponents claim, then why are there still entire states that are just now getting rid of its “sundown town” sirens? Why TF did American states ever…Read more...

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have a new little royal to love! People reports that on Friday, the couple’s second child arrived, a daughter they have named Lilibet “Lili” Diana Mountbatten-Windsor.Read more...

If George Floyd’s murder wasn’t recorded by a bystander and shown to the world, there is little doubt that Derek Chauvin would be free today and that he and the other three officers charged in Floyd’s death would still be policing the streets of Minneapolis. It’s also a fact that sometimes cops lie in their reports…Read more...

So...Read more...

Attorney-turned-actor, Medina Senghore grew up in a house where professionally, she had very few choices.

Seven high school football coaches in Canton, Ohio, have lost their jobs after allegedly losing their damn minds and violating a Black student-athlete’s religious freedom by forcing him to eat pork. The student, whose name hasn’t been revealed, reportedly missed practice due to an injury and seven idiots who should…Read more...

It looks like the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is finding out the hard way that bending to white fragility can come at a cost.Read more...

The more of these stories I write and read, the more it becomes apparent that police culture revolves around the belief that by virtue of being a cop you shouldn’t have to face consequences, so it’s not surprising that the cop who issued the warrant that led to Breonna Taylor’s death is currently in the process of…Read more...

Juneteenth (observed on June 19) is definitely one of the most significant celebrations in Black culture. As you know, celebrations typically come with a dope soundtrack, and Juneteenth is no exception. Very Smart Brothas even curated a playlist for the Black-ass holiday in 2020.Read more...

This is not going to go the direction you think it might. I just want that to be clear upfront. If you’re looking for the piece that condemns such an experience or food item, keep on walkin’ I ain’t talkin’ to you any more. Word to CeCe Peniston.Read more...

Claressa Shields, who last I checked is pretty damn good at beating the dog shit out of people, recently became boxing’s first-ever two-division, undisputed world champ after adorning Marie-Eve Dicaire’s face with her fists. And for her encore, she’ll be taking the plunge into mixed martial arts to deliver more pain…Read more...

I’m sure you knew this, but Republicans are some weirdos. They spent the last year yelling about “cancel culture,” only to spend this year canceling anyone who doesn’t go along with their lies. Republican state legislators in North Carolina got in on the canceling action by voting to remove Coke machines from all…Read more...

Two homes in Ann Arbor, Mich., were recently vandalized by a not-so-literate racist who apparently got all in their fragile-ass feelings over the Black Lives Matter signs the homes had on display. Police are investigating the matter, and they believe both homes were hit by the same vandal based on two messages with…Read more...

I had a ball during my 20s and 30s. I did all the shit you are “supposed” to do as a young adult during the 90s and early 2000s. I went to Freaknik, Myrtle Beach Bike Week, Vegas, Palm Springs, the Bahamas, Mexico and various other destinations; I got drunk and high with my friends as much as possible; I went to…Read more...

There’s a reason I write so damn much about the Republican war on Critical Race Theory—it’s just such a shining example of how whiteness works.Read more...

Fans of the sweet science—that’s boxing to you mere mortals—know that between 1980 and 1989, there were four fighters that ushered in a boxing renaissance that not only blessed us all with bitter rivalries, but a smorgasbord of legendary bouts.Read more...

In the minefield of microaggressions, marginalization and outright racism that can plague the modern office environment, it’s often a relief to see another Black face amid a predominantly white world of cubicles. But as editor-turned-author Zakiya Dalila Harris deftly reminds us in her much-buzzed-about debut, The…Read more...

To celebrate the start of wedding season, The Root has launched “How We Do,” a two-week series centering Black love stories, commitment and nuptial style.Read more...

There are just some “educators” out there whose whole careers revolve around the reading of books, yet they haven’t bothered learning how to read a room. Clearly, they have missed the numerous news stories involving teachers giving their students ill-advised slavery-based assignments that made Black students…Read more...

After spending over a year of my life trapped inside of my apartment alone—no kids, no dogs, no Wilson—I’m off that good Pfizer and fighting through the psychological toll of such a miserable, traumatic experience by slowly pushing myself to reintegrate back into society.