Queen Latifah made a big splash at the 2013 Oscars when she debuted her new slimmed down figure. And she’s not the only celebrity who’s shocked us with their sudden weight loss. How do they do it? We’ve got the answers here. Read on to find out the secrets behind the most dramatic celebrity weight loss stories to date.

Image Source: WENN.com

Vegetarianism

The good reverend Dr. Sharpton transformed himself from a heavy 214 lb. man to a slim 167 lbs by banishing meat from his diet in 2010. Sharpton told Vanity Fair “I was a chicken junkie. I used to eat chicken three times a day.” So he cut The Kernel out of his diet along with refined sugar, starch and all other meat. Now he’s taking his healthy eating habits to the community by encouraging African American churches to offer healthier options to their parishioners.

Source: WENN

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie usually isn’t one to shy away from discussions about his struggles with weight loss. Earlier this year the 50-year-old Newark native made an appearance on The Lateshow with David Letterman and had no qualms with joking about his ever-expanding waisteline. He also spoke openly about his attempts to lose weight. His ability to laugh at himself earned him a gold star in Reverend Al Sharpton’s book. Not long after Christie’s appearance on Letterman, Sharpton openly praised him and offered to provide the Governor some weight loss advice.

Today we learned that Christie decided to take a different approach to weight loss. According to ABC News, the New Jersey Governor secretly underwent lap-band surgery three months ago. Christie revealed that he’s shed 30 lbs since the procedure. Christie’s attempt to kick his weight loss efforts up a notch seems to point to prior speculations that he intends to run for president.

TMZ recently caught up with Al Sharpton to ask him what he thinks of Christie’s weight loss and whether or not he thinks the surgery had anything to do with Christie planning to run for office in 2016. Check out some of what he had to say.

On what he thinks of Christie’s secret surgery: 

“I’m glad to see that he’s series about getting the weight off of him. I’d offered to help him. I did it naturally, but the way that he’s doing it is still good. You do not need to carry that weight around. He says he’s doing it for family and his kids, which is admirable. Others think it’s politics. Either way I can tell him that you must lose the weight.”

On his willingness to help Christie keep the weight off:

“If that doesn’t work, come see Reverend Al. I’ll show you how to do it natural and keep it off. The challenge is to start, now you have to maintain. I couldn’t be your starter, but I could help be your maintenance man.”

On if he thinks the weight loss is a sign Christie run for president: 

“Uh, it’s a sign he’s losing weight. I think that he may be doing it for political reasons. He may not be, but take it from me. I lost weight. I’m still not president, Chris.”

Turn the page to see Sharpton’s interview. 

Source: WENN

Al Sharpton and Governor Chris Christie are almost always on opposite ends of the political spectrum, so it came as somewhat of a surprise when Sharpton offered to lend a helping hand to the New Jersey governor.

During this past Tuesday’s episode of PoliticsNation, the activist praised Christie for his ability to kick back and poke fun at himself, even when it came to a subject as sensitive as his weight, during his humorous appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman.

“Now I don’t agree with much of Christie’s politics, but he’s real. He can make fun of himself and he’s not afraid to do the right thing,” Sharpton said.

He went on to say that rigid Republicans should take a lesson from Christie and lighten up, in addition to saying that if the Governor was ever serious about shedding some of the excess weight, he knows a guy who can get him on the right track.

“Governor, if you’re ever serious about dieting, I know a guy you can get some advice from. Call me,” Sharpton said, before queuing a throwback photo of himself in his heavier days.

Considering how high tension has been running between Democrats and Republicans lately, I think it’s great to see these guys not at each other’s throats. Although Sharpton was joking about getting together with Christie to formulate a diet plan, you could tell there was a small ounce of seriousness in his voice. I would love to see these two get together as Sharpton helps Christie reach his weight loss goal; especially since Chris has been speaking out pretty candidly regarding his struggle with losing weight and overeating.

“If you talked to anybody who has struggled with their weight, what they would tell you is ‘every week, every month, every year, there’s a plan… Sometimes I’m successful, and other times I’m not. And sometimes, periods of great success are followed by periods of great failure,” expressed Christie to a reporter.

“I weigh too much because I eat too much.”

Check out footage of Sharpton offering Governor Christie weight loss advice on the following page.

Source: WENN

Cornel West is no stranger to harsh language, and harsh is the most appropriate word to describe the words he had for Barack Obama and several black political pundits on a recent episode of Democracy Now. Dr. West was asked to weigh in on the issue of poverty in America, a topic that was oft-neglected during this election, in lieu of the astronomical amount of money that was spent on campaigning this year — $6 billion.

Not one to mince words, Dr. West went straight for the jugular when host Amy Goodman asked him how he feels about the spending that took place this election season.

“I think that it’s morally obscene and spiritually profane to send $6 billion on an election, $2 billion on a presidential election, and not have any serious discussion—poverty, trade unions being pushed against the wall dealing with stagnating and declining wages when profits are still up and the 1 percent are doing very well, no talk about drones dropping bombs on innocent people,” Dr. West said. “So we end up with such a narrow, truncated political discourse, as the major problems—ecological catastrophe, climate change, global warming. So it’s very sad. I mean, I’m glad there was not a right-wing takeover, but we end up with a Republican, a Rockefeller Republican in blackface, with Barack Obama, so that our struggle with regard to poverty intensifies.”

Tavis Smiley was interviewed alongside Dr. West and insinuated that political thought leaders like Melissa Harris-Perry, Al Sharpton, and Michael Eric Dyson, who have been vocally supportive of the President, need to push him to have a stronger stance on certain issues. Dr. West was nowhere near as PC, telling Goodman:

“I love Brother Mike Dyson… but we’re living in a society where everybody is up for sale. Everything is up for sale. And he and Brother Sharpton and Sister Melissa and others, they have sold their souls for a mess of Obama pottage. And we invite them back to the black prophetic tradition after Obama leaves. But at the moment, they want insider access, and they want to tell those kind of lies. They want to turn their back to poor and working people.”

And when it comes to a statement Dyson made in which he called the President progressive, Dr. West said this:

“In the president’s forward motion in the second term to establish a legacy—and I don’t think that being president ought to be about a legacy; it ought to be about advancing the best for the American people. But in this conversation about his legacy, I want to see what risk he’s going to take. Is he going to put himself on the line for poor people? Is he going have an honest conversation about drones? As Doc said earlier, you know, is he ever going to say the word prison—the phrase, “prison-industrial complex”? Reagan wouldn’t say “AIDS.” Bush wouldn’t say “climate change.” Will Obama say “prison-industrial complex”? I mean, I want to know where the risk is that equates to being the most progressive president ever. That’s the—I don’t get that.”

Well, say it like you mean it.

Check out the full interview here. What do you think about what Cornel West had to say?

Source: Ice Cream Convos

Rev. Al Sharpton’s mother, Ada Sharpton, passed away early this morning after suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia for several years.

Ada Sharpton was 87 years old and lived in Dothan, AL. Al reportedly learned of her passing while boarding a flight to Sanford, FL, to attend a rally for Trayvon Martin this evening, and he sent a tweet to let followers know that he will still continue with his plans to fight for justice for the slain teen.

“My mother, Ada Sharpton passed in the early hours of this morning,” he tweeted. “She was my all. I hope God will give her now, PEACE. I love you, Mom.”

“I am on the flight to Florida and will move forward with our plans to protest the killing of Trayvon Martin,” he added. “My MOM would have wanted me to.”

After the rally, Al will fly to Alabama to make plans for his mother’s funeral. Hopefully his work in Florida will comfort him at the time of this sad news.

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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Victoria Pannell is the focus of the latest episode of NewOne’s original video series, “On The Corner.” The 12-year-old is the National Action Network’s (NAN) Northeast Regional Director of the Youth, and on Friday she led a march and rally at Wright Brothers Playground in Harlem to discuss taking back the neighborhood which has been overrun by illegal activity.

In the video clip, Pannell talks about not being allowed to go to the small park where gang violence and drug activity have run rampant. The handful of New Yorkers who attended the rally denounced the activities that take place there and the National Action Network also announced two new initiatives to help improve the neighborhood: the national Shake-Off the Violence tour and coast-to-coast cease fire, coordinated by NAN’s Youth Movement and the Youth in Action group.

Some cynics have been quick to point out that marching does little to actually provoke change, but I think it’s admirable that Victoria is active in her community at such a young age, and it speaks volumes about the influence she’ll have on the youth as she grows older. Earlier this year, she was was named the first national leader for Youth Move, a branch of Rev. Al Sharpton’s civil rights group for kids.

Check out the footage of Victoria at the rally here and tell us what you think about the young social advocate.

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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Celebrities like Jay-Z, Will Smith, Usher and many others gathered at Grace Baptist Church in Mount Vernon, New York to celebrate the life of the influential rapper, Heavy D.

Heavy D’s close friend, Diddy, had this to say at the service

He became my friend. He became my brother, and I’m not talking about friend-brother like we cavalierly use the word, I’m talking about a real friend, a real brother,” Diddy said. “Somebody I shared my dreams and my secrets with, somebody that’s been there for me at my lowest point, my darkest hour when nobody wanted to be beside me.

President Obama also sent a letter to the rapper’s daughter, Xea.

You can read an excerpt of the letter and see which other celebs were in attendance here.

There are more Tyler Perry haters than a little bit. Tyler had a few words for them when he accepted his award from Al Sharpton and the National Action Network. This time Sharpton came to his defense as well.

*Hint* the word “uppity” was thrown out there.

Check out what both men had to say at NecoleBitchie.com.

Today Ladies you’re in for a treat. (Sorry fellas you might have to sit this one out.) Today instead of just one video of the day we’re featuring 7. That’s right seven. Why seven you ask? Because it’s the number of completion. So close your office door, lean back in your chair and get ready to be entertained.

We would happily watch still images of Idris Elba but fortunately we don’t have to. Luckily this hunky Bristish actor sat down to speak with Jimmy Kimmel live in living color. He talked about everything from his real name to his new detective show “Luther”. Check out parts 1 & 2 below.

When Reverend Al Sharpton began his nightly news show on MSNBC, many folks complained. Why wasn’t a traditional journalist or pundit selected to provide a black voice among the throngs of white folks who provide the majority of the political commentary on the 24-hour-news channels? Even if we aren’t seeing them every evening, there are a number of brilliant black people using new and traditional media to speak truth to political power, rather than just trying to stir the spot to hear themselves talk. Here’s just a few of our faves who you might want to hear out: