Source: Instagram

We already know it doesn’t take much to get Oprah excited, but it’s not often that we see Beyonce with so much emotion off-stage when she’s not poppin’ and droppin’ it. That’s what makes this candid shot of the two all the more interesting as we wait in anticipation of Oprah’s Next Chapter special with King Bey this Saturday.

I have an inkling Beyonce might have shared her “aha moment” — one of Oprah’s favorite things in the whole wide world — with the media mogul, but Instagrammers have already come up with some much more hilarious explanations for what’s being said here, like, “they thought they would have a new single by now!” We’re pretty sure you all can come up with some dialogue that’s just as funny to go along with this candid, so caption this photo and tell us what’s really going on.

The way people act and communicate on the internet, specifically Twitter, never ceases to amaze me. The rudeness, as if there aren’t real people behind these Twitter handles, is appalling. We’ve seen it with Rihanna, Chris Brown, Wale, even Jennifer Hudson had to go off on a rude follower.

The latest celebrity on the receiving end of some foolishness was Oprah Winfrey. The day before her birthday, as her interview with Cissy Houston aired, a Next Chapter viewer commented on Oprah’s looks.

Source: Twitter.com

It’s one thing if you personally feel Oprah is looking too old for her age. While it wouldn’t be nice, I would even understand if she decided to tweet that thought as she watched “Next Chapter.” What is completely uncalled for though, is that fact that she mentioned or “at-ed” Oprah and hashtagged Next Chapter, making it very easy for her to stumble across it in her mentions.  I’m sure @kp1lady was just tweeting with reckless abandon, certain that Oprah would not see and certainly wouldn’t respond to her rudeness. But she did see and she did respond.

Source: Twitter

It’s not really a tough jab; but considering that Oprah holds herself to a higher standard, this sends a message. Something to the tune of, you were rude and don’t think I won’t call you on it just because I’m Oprah. Personally, if I were kp1lady, I’d be just a little scared right now. Not that she’d necessarily do anything, but everybody knows Oprah is a powerful woman all the world over. It wouldn’t necessarily be smart to insult her for all the internet to see.

Though I can understand why Oprah responded, it might have given this random tweeter a little more exposure than she deserved. Here we are talking about her, along with a ton of other blogs. And the interaction didn’t seem to embarrass her much. In fact, to commemorate the time Oprah communicated with her, she took a screenshot of the interaction and put it on Instagram. So classy.

What do you think about this interaction? Will Oprah’s response teach this tweeter a lesson or will it just encourage her to behave more trollishly on the internet?

Source: freddyo.com

Oprah’s interviews have been making headlines for years and her latest interview with Usher was no different. In fact, though it is ironically named “Next Chapter”, this chapter of Oprah’s life is reading a lot like the last one where celebrities sat down with the Queen of Talk to Tell. It. All.

In the latest interview that had “Usher” “Oprah” and “NextChapter” all trending on Twitter, the singer opened up about his brief romance with his ex-wife Tameka Raymond and their famous custody battle. He talked about his professional break with his mother and about his hurt when “nobody responded to [my marriage] the way I’d like them to respond”.

He even admitted to not being “faithful all the way” thus confirming rumors that he did, in fact, do the unthinkable by sleeping with one (or more!) of Tameka’s bridesmaids while he was still married. Unfortunately, this tidbit of information was only shocking to those who actually believed the ladies man would leave his “Confessions” days behind after getting hitched. I’m guessing he tried for five minutes but couldn’t resist doing the nasty with other women – likely with his own music providing the soundtrack.

The interview was the typical celebrity sit-down that networks, talk show hosts and journalists secure in order to bring ratings. And, not surprisingly, the interview was the talk of social media last night. What was surprising was the amount of people suggesting Oprah should now sit down with Tameka Raymond.

Yes, people are actually saying that.

Arguing that Tameka should be “allowed to tell her side”, some believe she’s got next on Oprah’s traveling couch. Why? Because apparently people think Oprah is in business to make sure couples get equal airtime when talking about their split. They say it makes her look “biased” to only talk to Usher as if her line of work is not clearly biased toward celebrities. She talked to the most relevant person in the relationship, so to sit down with Tameka now would just make her look petty.

In addition, we’ve heard Tameka’s side. We’ve heard it over and over and over again. And after this Usher/Oprah interview, there’s no doubt we’ll hear her side once again. It’s all reactive and ultimately redundant. Usher’s divorce made headlines not because of who he was married to but because he’s Usher.

Oprah’s job isn’t to seek out some kind of truth or to determine what really happened. She talks to celebrities about their lives from their perspective and she did that with Usher, just like with Rihanna, Kim Kardashian, Kelsey Grammar, and countless others. Where was Katie Holmes when Tom Cruise jumped on Oprah’s couch in 2005? It doesn’t matter because Tom was the story.

Was Usher wrong for stepping out on his marriage? Absolutely. But people trying to shame Oprah into letting Tameka bring down her ratings for a show few in her demographic will bother to watch is silly.

At this point, Usher and Tameka have been divorced longer than they were even married and it’s time to just move on. We suspected that he cheated and he confirmed it. We know Usher is a terrible boyfriend/husband and we knew that before they walked the aisle. Do we need Tameka crying on the couch? And, if so, why stop there? How about bringing the entire cast of I-Married-Someone-Famous on to the show so we can hear what they have to say? “Next Chapter” could be a whole a circus!

Tameka has gained sufficient fame from being married to Usher and she isn’t done maximizing on that. Still, that doesn’t mean that Oprah is somehow obligated to interview her. Yes, there are three sides to every story (his, hers, and the truth), but when it comes to the type of shows Oprah and her ilk are about, there’s only one side that brings the viewers: the celebrity’s. And when the headlines promoting an interview would have to read “Oprah sits down with so-and-so’s ex-wife”, it just doesn’t make sense to do it.

Tameka probably isn’t holding her breath for an invite anyway. Considering that she reportedly pitched a reality show to OWN recently and was denied, she clearly isn’t Oprah’s biggest fan. In fact, yesterday, when “@Akacharleswade” tweeted the ridiculous:

Oprah is using the Blacks for ratings. When OWN launched, it was… “different”. Now mama wanna come “home”. Chile.”

Tameka responded “Yep”.

Well, when Oprah hears about all this “Next Chapter should feature Tameka Raymond next” nonsense, she’ll likely respond: “Nope”.

What do you think? Am I totally off base here? Should Oprah interview Tameka Raymond? Why or why not?

Follow Alissa on Twitter @AlissaInPink

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Source: hiphopnewsmedia.com

Watching Rihanna talk to Oprah on OWN’s “Next Chapter” special last night, it was almost as though the cameras weren’t even rolling. It took nothing but Oprah to ask Rihanna about herself, her grandmother, and of course, Chris Brown, for her to completely open up in one of the most honest and introspective interviews the “good girl gone bad” has probably given since she talked to Diane Sawyer following the former couple’s domestic incident in 2009.

Though this next statement may come back to haunt me next time I have to write about a rumor concerning these two, what I appreciated about Rihanna candidness was that in my mind she put an end to the Chris Brown speculation. Does she still love him? Are they still dating? Do they still hang out? Has she forgiven him? The answers were yes across the board and it was quite courageous of her to admit those things amidst the scrutiny of her fans, and especially her haters, Breezy’s fans and haters, the general public, and domestic violence organizations who have already bashed her for being honest.

When I listened to Rihanna say she repaired her relationship with her father and was subsequently able to forgive Chris, and her admission that the two of them had forgotten self-discipline and needed something to slow them down, I felt I was listening to a woman who had learned from her experience. A woman who was finally able to make sense of the incident and who knew that Chris’s lashing out was a sign of a much deeper problem that she may or may not have provoked. I felt it was a declaration of who she was at 24 years old in 2012 in relation to Chris brown and their 2009 altercation and I appreciated her bravery in doing so and giving the media no more rumors to speculate about. She laid the truth out there, like it or not.

Of course, there were indeed some people who didn’t like it at all, namely domestic violence organizations. EurWeb picked up two statements on the matter, one from Vivienne Hayes, chief executive of the Women’s Resource Center, who said yesterday:

“Rihanna’s case demonstrates the emotional complexities felt by women locked in abusive relationships. It is common for victims to blame themselves for violence perpetrated by their male partners. Whatever the nature of the argument, [Brown] chose to beat her up. He has to accept responsibility for that choice. And we need to stop society allowing us to normalize such behavior.”

Another woman, Erin Pizzey, an advocate who is credited for pioneering aid for abused women by setting up Britain’s first refuge center for victims, added:

“This sends out a very dangerous message to teenagers that roller-coaster relationships with violence-prone personalities are edgy and exciting. They’re not. The relationship is toxic and unhealthy. Both are in need of help and that is the message that young people should be receiving.”

I wonder if these women skipped past the part in Rihanna’s interview when she said she had no desire to be a role model, not just so she could wile out and live that thug life she tatted on her, but because of the pedestal that comes along with being a role model and the expectation of perfection.

I liken Rihannas reaction to this situation to the reason I believe certain celebrities choose to never come out and declare their homosexuality. Once you do that you’re automatically expected to be a spokesperson for some cause (like same-sex marriage rights) and consequently you are criticized if you don’t. People are expecting Rihanna to say her relationship with Chris is irrevocably broken and that she is the face of domestic violence when in her mind she is the furthest thing from. As she said, she never wanted to be a victim and she never wanted to be defined by this situation . Unfortunately, there’s little she can do to change the media’s obsession toward the latter point but she doesn’t have to relive that incident everyday just because a few nonprofits would like her to. That’s not her platform and we have no choice but to accept that. Sadly in this day and age, there are many other pop culture and entertainment icons teens in potentially violent relationships can look up to for examples of women who have survived abuse and cut all ties with their abuser. Let’s stop putting that pressure on Rihanna.

As the pop singer said in her interview no one was more hurt by the events that transpired after Clive Davis’ Grammy party that Saturday night three years ago and  no one will experience the positive or negative consequences of maintaining a friendship with Chris like she will. Though many believe the “once an abuser always an abuser” mantra, if that’s true of Chris Brown, it remains to be seen. The bottom line is Rihanna has to live with her choices and she hasn’t asked anyone else to cosign or support her in doing so. It’s her life, and she has to live it.

Brande Victorian is the news and operations editor for madamenoire.com. Follow her on twitter @Be_Vic.

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Source: rap-up.com

In the three years since the fight with Chris Brown that landed her in the hospital, Rihanna has talked about it in only one interview. She’s given tons of interviews since the one with Diane Sawyer, but it seems the 2009 incident is off limits as is her love life in general. Just this past April, she stormed out of an interview in Australia after the reporter asked her about her love life. That likely sent the memo to the press, “don’t go there”.

But Oprah is not just part of the press. She’s the Queen of Talk and nothing seems to be off-limits for her. In an interview slated to air on OWN’s “Next Chapter” this Sunday, Oprah got Rihanna to open up about the 2009 incident and where she is at with Chris Brown.  Talking about the aftermath of the fight brought Rihanna to tears as she told Oprah:

I lost my best friend, like everything I knew switched in a night. I couldn’t control that and I had to deal with that so it wasn’t easy for me to understand or interpret. And it’s not easy to interpret on camera with the world watching. So it’s hard for me to pay attention to my mind and figuring things out because now it became a circus and I felt protective. I felt like the only person that they hate right now is him and it was a weird confusing space to be in. Cause’ as angry as I was, as hurt and betrayed, I felt that he made that mistake because he needed help. Who’s going to help him? Nobody is going to say, “he needs help”. Everyone is going to say he’s a monster without looking at the source. I was more concerned about him.

Personally, for Rihanna to call him her best friend after he busted her face up like that is perplexing. It’s just further evidence that the concepts of love and friendship in our community are all sorts of warped. Does smashing a girl’s face in negate all the good a relationship had been or could have been? In a word, yes. Nobody’s “best friend” sends them to the emergency room.

As far as the interview itself, Oprah probably would have not even brought up the fight if rumors of a reconciliation between Rihanna and Chris Brown hadn’t been heating up over the past several months. For everyone wishing people would stop bringing up the “incident”, the fact is, these two will probably never be together again in peace because the public will never forget that fight. The only way for the public to get over it is for them to get over each other and stop trying to pretend like nothing happened. Whether they like it or not, Rihanna/Chris Brown is still practically synonymous with “violent dating relationship”. It actually would have been odd if Oprah wouldnot have  brought it up, thus clearly ignoring the elephant in the room.

I’m interested to hear what she has to say about where they’re at now.

For Chris Brown’s part, as NecoleBitchie reported, The Hollywood Life says a friend told them that Chris saw the preview:

Chris saw the video clip. Of course he saw it, how do you think he feels? He feels horrible he did that. Watching [Rihanna's interview with Oprah] made him realize he made a big mistake and he’s been paying for it ever since. He’s working hard, in the studio, dancing, doing everything he can to rebuild his name and career and I think he has been successful in doing all that. Y’all should be talking about his road to recovery and how he’s been a man and made s–t right. He and Rih are cool, more cool than anyone will know. She forgave the [boy] the minute that s–t went down, so what that say about their relationship?”

It says these two would be better off going their separate ways for good because as long as they continue to toy with the media hinting at a reconciliation, nobody is going to stop talking about what he did.

What do you think about this interview? Will you watch it?

Follow Alissa on Twitter @AlissaInPink

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