The Root

As we navigate these uncertain times, the yearning for connection is even stronger. By this point, we’ve all been invited to various Zoom meetings, family FaceTimes, virtual happy hours, house parties (via app) and more. As such, Budweiser launched a campaign in partnership with The Salvation Army “in response to…Read more...

D’ussé Palooza, the New York-based festival heralded by Forbes as “America’s Favorite House Party” is cutting ties with its host and curator, Christopher “Chris Stylezz” Samuels, after more than a dozen women came forward accusing him of sexual assault, manipulation and coercion.Read more...

There were three ways to a Trump victory in November:

This week, new reporting about Tara Reade, a former Senate staffer who accused former Vice President Joe Biden of sexually assaulting her in the mid-1990s, forced the Biden campaign, its surrogates and its supporters to once again confront the polarizing allegations.Read more...

Octavia Spencer is doing her part to make sure lives are being saved amidst the coronavirus pandemic. The Oscar-winning actress is reportedly donating respiratory monitors to hospitals in her home state of Alabama and the epicenter of the illness, New York.

Here we go again.Read more...

Jameis Winston is the Chris Brown of the NFL: for all his natural gifts and immense talent, the dude just can’t get out of his own damn way.Read more...

*I will try very, very hard to avoid them, but there will be light spoilers here.*Read more...

Remember way back to 2017 when Vice President Mike Pence attended a football game between the Indianapolis Colts and the San Francisco 49ers just so he could walk out when players kneeled for the National Anthem?

“Love Will Be Waiting at Home”...thanks to Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds.Read more...

If you missed T-Pain and Lil Jon’s epic Verzuz battle on Instagram Live a few weeks ago, we feel really sorry for you. The hip-hop hitmakers went back and forth with hit songs, features and production assists from T-Pain’s “Bartender” and “Up Down,” to Lil Jon’s “Snap Yo Fingers” and his spirited spot on Usher’s…Read more...

With all of the Verzuz battles going on via Instagram Live, people are getting in on the fun with creating hypothetical battles of their own (I personally made my own Pharrell playlist to combat a Kanye one, what a fun time). The entertainment website Hollywood Unlocked created a match-up of epic proportions: Michael…Read more...

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear held a news conference Monday night, and he had an ace up his sleeve: He was going to talk about people filing for unemployment benefits using fake names, and he had a name that everyone knew was faker than the Trump presidency.

Last week, I was diagnosed with COVID 19.

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Maryland’s highest court ruled unanimously Friday that the city of Baltimore must pay for two settlements relating to the Gun Trace Task Force police corruption scandal in which several Baltimore officers were convicted of crimes ranging from racketeering to planting evidence.Read more...

One of the trends that has emerged over the course of the current pandemic is artists performing virtual concerts through Instagram, Facebook and *checks notes* Teddy Riley Live.com. Now, Cardi B’s husband Offset is getting into the mix.

I was 37. I wish I could say this realization came sooner. That’s an embarrassingly late age. But I also used to think The Weeknd was a group, so I’m a slow learner sometimes.Read more...

Businesses across the country have been reeling from closures due to the coronavirus pandemic. Black barbershops, in particular, have been struggling to survive as their businesses have come to a standstill and their options for relief are increasingly limited.Read more...

On April 19, 22-year-old Teshaun Hightower declared for the NBA draft. One week later, he found himself behind bars facing some very serious charges.Read more...

It may feel like a strange time to be celebrating anything, but if there’s ever been a time to cherish your loved ones, it’s now. While we may not be able to be close or indulge in much-needed hugs (our header pic is wishful thinking—I’m quarantining with my mother and she won’t even hug me), there’s never a bad time…Read more...

As the battle between medical science and people who think protection from a deadly virus is “tyranny” rages on, an anti-lockdown protest leader in Raleigh, N.C., recently tested positive for the same sickness that the lockdowns are meant to shield people from—the same lockdowns she has spent time protesting against.Read more...

Earlier this month, we learned that Jacqueline Cruz, the mother of NBA All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns, lost her battle with COVID-19. And as the virus continues to infiltrate the basketball community, the New York Post reports that the mother and brother of former NBA player Sebastian Telfair have also died from the…Read more...

I’m not sure if being an asshole crosses party lines, but man, there sure are a lot of assholes in the Republican Party.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is holding on to federal dollars tighter than a pimp from Chicago. He needs to run pre-COVID-19 unemployment claimants their money, too.Read more...

Despite its best efforts, the Trump administration cannot blame black people for dying from COVID-19. As Georgia’s Gov. Kemp moves forward with plans to reopen parts of Georgia, he’s completely disregarding reports that a significant number of black Americans will contract the virus or die as a result.Read more...

Imbeciles like Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman seem hell-bent on endangering millions of lives, but as the NBA seeks to resume its derailed season, it’ll be taking a more measured approach as cities throughout the country ignore a surging pandemic in favor of lifting stay-at-home orders.Read more...

Diamond and Silk learned the harsh lesson of steppinfetchery: No matter how hard you dance, at some point, they will tire of your act and you will find that there is no one left to dance for.

“Ch-Ch-Ch-Chaka Khan… Chaka Khan… Chaka Khan… Chaka Khan”—this famous intro to the artist’s hit song “I Feel For You” is what I think was looping inside the head of a recent Jeopardy contestant.Read more...

Of the many repercussions resulting from the outbreak of COVID-19, the cancellation of the 2020 Met Gala on May 4 is seemingly among the most superfluous, though New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art would surely disagree, as the event is its most high-profile annual fundraiser. Of course, it goes without saying…Read more...

Gospel singer Troy Sneed is the latest musician to succumb to the coronavirus. Per NBC News, Sneed passed away due to complications from the illness at a hospital in Jacksonville, Fla. on Monday. The artist was just 52-years-old.

Thanks to super producers Timbaland and Swizz Beatz, Instagram battles—in which your favorite artists, songwriters and producers put their catalog to the test against an equally accomplished rival—have provided the perfect escape from all the chaos of COVID-19.Read more...

On Monday, after being a total diva with a coronavirus press conference—first, it was on, then it was off, then it was on again—the president was asked whether he took any responsibility for people using disinfectants improperly after he suggested that it could aid in treating the coronavirus, and you can already…Read more...

Pulitzer Prize and Emmy Award-winning journalist Trymaine Lee has one agenda—to find the truth.Read more...

Rapper Megan Thee Stallion revealed on Instagram that she is collaborating with fast-fashion online marketplace Fashion Nova to create a line of jeans catered to fellow “stallions”—or tall women with curves and long legs.

Michelle Obama, known to us as ‘Forever FLOTUS’, is Becoming the subject of a much-anticipated documentary.Read more...

Ashley Ross, better known to fans of the reality show Little Women: Atlanta as “Miss Minnie,” was killed early Tuesday morning during a hit-and-run accident. She was 34 years old.Read more...

One of the most heartbreaking effects of the COVID-19 pandemic is the lack of face-to-face interactions with family and friends. While phone calls and video chat services like FaceTime, Zoom and HouseParty have helped us maintain relationships during this period, some may be looking to build a few relationships of…Read more...

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If 2020 was a student and I had to sign their yearbook, I would put “Girl, you’re the worst. Don’t K.I.T.!”Read more...

The coronavirus pandemic has seen businesses in all sectors face closures with the food industry being no exception. As multiple food processing facilities shut down due to workers contracting the disease, one executive at Tyson Foods warns that “the food supply chain is breaking.”Read more...

The government stays fucking up; I don’t know how else you want me to put it. If it’s not the president telling folks to take a shot of bleach, it’s the botched rollout of programs meant to help the American people. Take, for instance, the Paycheck Protection Program.

Mobb Deep’s sophomore album, The Infamous, recently turned 25 years old, having been released on April 25, 1995. Produced largely by Havoc and featuring notable additional production from Q-Tip from A Tribe Called Quest—an integral part of their story—and featuring stellar, vivid lyricism from Prodigy and Havoc, this…Read more...

Recently, we’ve started to see more women fill coaching roles in the NBA. Last year, a record 11 women held assistant coaching positions in the league. Unfortunately, college sports have not seen that same level of growth. A former WNBA star is hoping to change that.Read more...

Aside from a lack of barbecue-based plate-fixing protocol, a group of anti-seasoning activists infiltrated a college’s virtual event by showing up in blackface, bearing a Nazi flag and—worst of all—not even bringing a roll of aluminum foil to a cookout hosted by South Carolina students.Read more...

It’s wild to think that in 2020 there are still so many industry milestones that black people have yet to cross. For this reason, it’s always encouraging to see racial barriers being broken. So black sports fans should be elated to learn that for the first time in NFL history, more than half of the first-round picks…Read more...

A 31-year-old white woman with no credentials other than being a 31-year-old white woman—which is the equivalent of being a 24-year-old black woman with a Ph.D. who discovered real-life vibranium—is now the person who Trump’s turning to during the coronavirus to help with his rebrand because nothing says “I’m fucking…Read more...

Trump hates the media, unless they love him, and then he loves them back.

I feel alien sometimes when considering the demand for representation that many of us make when assessing and critiquing television shows. Mainly because I just don’t give a damn if I’m reflected. I’m speaking strictly as a consumer, though. The value of us existing in every aspect of the production ecosystem is…Read more...

The Last Dance may have been the final rodeo for Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls reign, but it is not the last of the passionate convos that have arisen from it.Read more...