Brian To/WENN.com

Earlier this week, the fool known as Ann Coulter was of course on Hannity on Fox News inciting fear and drama as usual, but definitely had people talking when she went after NOT Tamerlan Tsarneaev, one of the Boston Marathon bombers, but his wife, Katherine Russell. And why did she go after her? Because she decided to convert to Islam and walks around wearing a hijab. Oh Ann…

“I don’t care if she knew about this, she ought to be in prison for wearing a hijab. This immigration policy of us assimilating immigrants into our culture is not really working. No, they’re assimilating us into their culture. Should we get a clitorectomy too??”

While we could pinpoint many things wrong with her statements, we’ll let Star Jones do it. The lawyer, TV personality and journalist sat down with HuffPost Live’s Marc Lamont Hill and Alicia Menendez to discuss the National Association of Professional Women’s National Networking Conference she’s hosting, and said that Coulter should come to it, because she needs to speak to women of other backgrounds so that she can…you know, stop being so damn racist. Here’s what she told them:

“She’s woman that could benefit from networking with women who actually understand the concept that women are not a monolith. We do not think the same, look the same, act the same. We don’t come from the same background, the same experiences, we bring all of that to bear in this wonderful unity that’s called womanhood.”

When asked what would happen if Coulter showed up to the event and started talking about Muslim women and why they should be jailed for wearing the hijab, she said that Coulter might deserve to get a beatdown. A verbal one that is:

“She would probably get the beatdown, and hopefully it would be a verbal beatdown so the women could explain to her that what makes America great is the diversity of our cultures and the meeting of different cultures together to form this one beautiful fabric.”

“I’m really ashamed that someone who is considered to be a thinker or thought provoker would suggest something that is so totally racist on its base foundation. And to suggest that her garment should be outlawed because it indicated something negative is just ignorant, one, and two, incorrect. So you really don’t want to give it anymore credibility or time…I tend to like to say, if it does not benefit women, if it takes women back, if it makes us look catty and silly and uninformed, I try not to emphasize it. My job is to emphasize positivity.”

Can you ever be surprised by Ann Coulter though? It’s her job to display bird-like behavior 24/7.

What do you think of Jones’ comments?

Another week, another “Scandal” controversy. This week, Star Jones, who’s known for her strong, often unpopular, opinions is the latest to tweet out. Here’s what she had to say.

Source: Twitter

Wooo Star! Why she gotta be all that though?! I mean, I get it. Olivia Pope has made some terrible decisions in her personal and professional life. Though she is making moves and acquitting the innocent and convicting the guilty, she is nowhere near blameless in all of this. She’s slept, past tense, with the president, a married man. She’s constantly dealing dirt with shady people (murderers, spies and what not) and she rigged an election, all for the greater good. It’s really not okay. But even still I always bristle at one woman calling another a slore, even if that woman is a fictional character. Any one of us could be a slore by someone else’s standards. But all of Olivia’s whorish ways are in the past. As far as we know, present day Olivia has yet to sleep with Fitz. But that’s semantics.

Just this past week, a woman I went to college with wrote this extensive piece as to why she can no longer support “Scandal” with her viewership, despite the fact that she initially found the show very entertaining. She said that the more she watched it, the more she felt like she was being convicted by the Holy Spirit to let it go. She increasingly felt the story line glorified adultery. After reading her piece, I couldn’t argue with that. In fact, I even agreed that there are forms of media I consume that I need to be more cognizant of. You are what you ingest. If God convicts you to stop doing something, then by all means, don’t disobey him.

I just haven’t received that message from God. To me, watching the show, it’s quite obvious that both Olivia and Fitz are suffering because of their extramarital affair. At the end of the night she goes to bed alone, drinking wine and eating popcorn. (Has anyone ever seen her eat on the show?) He’s stuck in a loveless, emotionally draining marriage and they both have to publicly live a lie, day in and day out. I don’t know about you; but that is, in no way, the new hotness. It’s messy and honestly a really great reason why you shouldn’t mess with someone else’s husband, no matter how unhappy he is with his wife.

And maybe it’s just me, but I cannot get with Star’s rationale for Olivia getting together with Edison. Yeah, he’s a successful brotha; but he also threatened her and called her a slore! I know he wants to be with her and they have history together but that’s not love, Star! Even if Oliva decides to wash her hands of Fitz altogether and do better, certainly Edison isn’t the best option. Who calls a woman a slore and then proposes to her? No sir. If these two got married, something tells me, the next scandal the gladiators take on, will have something to do with Olivia being slapped around at home. And lawd knows we don’t need Huck to have to kill anyone else.

No, there is no way I could argue that “Scandal” and its characters are beacons of light. No one is completely “good” on this show. But at the end of the day, it’s not too different from the world we live in ourselves. No one is out here living a completely righteous life. We, women, despite success in our careers, often pick men who are no good for us. We’ve all collected a little dirt along the way. In fact, Kerry Washington told Oprah, that’s what drew her to the character. To paraphrase, she said there was a time when black women were only portrayed as wanton and loose, subservient and dimwitted, with plenty of attitude. Then there were the “Julias” and the “Clair Huxtables,” where black women were perfect, flawless in life and love. And now, black women are finally able to accept roles where we can play the human dichotomy realistically. Where good and evil can exist in one person. Hypocrisies and all. You know, the way life really works.

I can understand if you want to argue about “Scandal” on Twitter–mentioning both the actress, creator and network– or on other places on the internet (hence the reason for this post), because at the end of the day it’s a work of fiction. A television show, it’s supposed to inspire questions and debates. But if it starts to really challenge and conflict with the beliefs you hold dear, in a way that you feel is detrimental to your character, there’s always the option to do like my friend from school and turn the tv off.

Source: WENN

From The Grio

The always outspoken and opinionated Star Jones stopped by The Wendy Williams Show this morning to discuss the recent Presidential election, Donald Trump’s comments about Obama and more.

During the interview Williams asked the former co-host what she felt about Clueless star Stacey Dash’s controversial endorsement of republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

From The Grio

By day Anderson Cooper is a very professional, very qualified, super talented journalist who has dedicated himself to educating and informing the American people about the global and domestic issues that we need to know about. But you might not know that Anderson also moonlights as a lemonade sipping, shade throwing talk show host. I take that back. Perhaps Anderson doesn’t make a habit for reading people; but when it came to Star Jones talking about his personal decision to come out, he did not hesitate to shut her down.

Remember, earlier this year Anderson Cooper decided to come out, in his professional life, telling his colleagues and fans that he’s a gay man. There were several people who already knew this little tidbit, so it wasn’t earth shattering news; but for whatever reason, it was news that Star Jones had to speak on.

In a discussion with Andy Cohen, Anderson explained why Star Jones’ comments were surprising and hypocritical. Watch the video below.

Well, I’m with Anderson when he’s right. The trajectory of Star Jones’ career has been a bit sad if you ask me. She went from being a well educated attorney to a television personality, to a liar, divorcee to a reality show contestant. And in the midst of all of those shifts and turns, Star has managed to talk much trash. Now, I can see why she and Nene couldn’t get along on “The Apprentice.” Star just seems like the girl in high school who always wanted attention but didn’t necessarily know how to go about getting it in the right ways. Poor thing.

What do you think of Anderson’s response to Star? Was it too much or just enough?

More on Madame Noire!

• Did You Know They Dated!? 11 Celebrity Couples You Might Have Forgotten About
• What Makes Me A Hoe? And Other Questions About How Women Are Unfairly Labelled
• Is It Time To Call Tyrone? 14 Ways To Know Whether Your Relationship Is Worth Fixing Or Nixing
• Loose Lipped Lovers: 10 Celeb Men Who Kiss & Tell
• We Love You Essence, But We’re Going To Need You To Get Some New Cover Subjects
• There’s Just Something About R. Kelly: Can We Hate The Sin, And Not The Sinner?
• Caught Up In College: A Cuffing Season Tale

Source: studentorgs.unc.edu

The “first and finest” Greek sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha, was founded January 15th, 1908 on the campus of Howard University by 9 female students. With over 170,000 members in Undergrad and Grad chapters nationwide, there are some members in particular that we have grown to know and love. The following are celebrity women who are members of this illustrious sorority.

We see them on TV, and on the movie screen. We hear them on the radio. We follow them on Twitter. Our fave celebs are creating all kinds of buzz and blazing trails in everything they do. These business-savvy celebs have launched some lucrative ventures worth checking out. Take a look…

straightfromthea.com

Jennifer Hudson

It seems that just about everything JHud touches turns to gold. First, it was her Oscar-worthy role in Dreamgirls. Then it was her Grammy-award winning debut album. Now it is Weight Watchers. JHud wowed us with her phenomenal weight loss reveal last year, and now she hopes to influence people in her native Chicago to do the same. JHud became the first celebrity to have a Weight Watchers center when she opened the Jennifer Hudson Weight Watchers Center in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood last fall.

What’s next for JHud? A launch of her new clothing line, the Jennifer Hudson Collection on QVC this fall, as well as recurring role on the hit NBC show Smash, where she’ll take on the role of Broadway star Veronica Moore.

neontommy.com

I’ll be honest with you, I’m usually behind on a lot of pop culture things.  I’d never heard of  the word “ratchet”  until I started writing for this site; I’m still not sure if I’m working my twitter correctly (but I’ll pub it ’til no tomorrow though @kkoger!), and I honestly just found out who Kat Stacks was 6 months ago.

So when I was taking a break from work and scrolling on the internet, I came across the Chris Brown and Drake bar brawl.  Feeling exasperated that I was late again, I looked at the time and saw that these reports were posted just 20 minutes before I saw them.  Sadly, I was excited that I was finally first in the know, but then when I started reading more and more about what happened, I got really disappointed.  But, don’t cry for me, Argentina.  I was more sad for these talented men who allowed something that I’m pretty sure could have been settled without bottles thrown; and to realize that innocent people were hurt in the cross hairs of such… irresponsibility on all parties who were concerned.

But, seeing all of this made me wonder, what other beefs have I missed out on?  While researching, I found some of the most side-eye beefs ever.  A caveat, this isn’t a normal list of beefs.  Some of these beefs are ideals, some of these are people vs. their own situations, and so on.  But, I hope you enjoy this trip down down beef lane.

Source: blogs.suntimes.com

Honestly, I don’t even remember Oprah admitting to doing crack but considering that happened in 1995 I’ll give myself a pass. Either way, in a recent appearance on a segment of the “Today Show” known as “Today’s Professionals,” Star Jones said Oprah admitting to doing drugs was a publicity stunt just like Anderson Cooper’s coming out earlier this week

Here’s what she said when host Natalie Morales asked her and the other guests, Donny Deutsch and Nancy Snyderman, what they thought about Anderson’s decision to state he is homosexual.

“I’m a little bit of a cynic,” Star started. “He’s a daytime talk show host and when the ratings slip in daytime, the hosts tend to tell you lots of things about them. I remember Oprah said she smoked crack, Oprah said she was pregnant at 14 and considered suicide. There [are] times when you generate information for ratings.”

Star facetiously pretended to be sorry for airing talk show hosts’ dirty little secret, and though I’m sure no one would really discredit her point, it sounds just a tad funny coming from her. This is the same woman who gained attention for what she wouldn’t share with the public when she notoriously denied having gastric bypass surgery for I don’t know how long when she was still a host on “The View.” And just recently Star was ready to start an anti-reality television brigade to get “Basketball Wives” off the air, then suddenly one meeting with Evelyn Lozada and a Vibe magazine mention and Twitter shout out later all was forgiven and they were BFFs. If you’re going to try to throw shade on other people for what they do to boost ratings, lets air our own mess first.

She was also just a tad insensitive to Oprah’s childhood and sounded like she may have something against the talk show host, but maybe I’m just reading into it. Check out the segment here. What do you think about what Star said?

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

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

More on Madame Noire!

• DY-NO-MITE!!! 8 Celebrities and the Roles That Typecast Them and Stunted Their Careers
• Why Won’t People Let Barack Obama Be Black?
• Do That Ish And Watch What Happens: 8 Things You Shouldn’t Do Without Consulting Your Husband
• Frank and His Odd Future: Why His Coming Out Is Cool, But Also Very Complicated
• Noire Naturals, Episode 3: Creating a Sophisticated Elegance
• Open Door Policy: The Truth About “Breaks” and Open Relationships
• Forget The Divorce Rate, I’m Still #TeamMarriage Because Other’s Failures Don’t Determine My Success

Source: fitperez.com

I don’t really listen to Drake but I had to borrow a line from his “Stay Schemin’” verse directed at Vanessa Bryant (“You wasn’t with me shooting in the gym”) because it perfectly illustrates my point in the ongoing did she or didn’t she have weight loss surgery debate. I don’t usually walk around defending celebrities either, considering they can always go cry in their money as one of my old editors used to say, but the celebrity weight loss shade is real—real ridiculous that is.

As I was reading over Chaka Khan’s interview yesterday I was surprised she mentioned people thought she had weight loss surgery. When she first made her big 60-pound reveal, Chaka hadn’t been seen for a hot minute so it wasn’t as though one day we saw her at a certain size and she was significantly lighter the next. Plus, most noted how fit she appeared to be and that’s not characteristic of people who have just gone under the knife. She’s since mentioned that she went vegan and credits her dramatic loss to the absence of meat from her diet but many are still assuming a surgeon was also present somewhere in this.

Fast forward to the post on Jennifer Hudson’s new clothing line and there was all kinds of shade unraveling about how her entire Weight Watcher’s 80-pound weight loss is a hoax. I expected side eyes at the thought of people wanting to dress like her but I thought all the nonsense over her having gastric bypass surgery was dead. Like Chaka, J-Hud didn’t pull one of those overnight size 16 to size 6 moves. It took her somewhere around a year to get those results, which is hardly how long it would take had she went the surgery route. In fact, she’s pretty much a model for healthy weight loss which should be achieved safely at two pounds per week.

What’s crazy to me is how people are calling her a fraud for being a Weight Watcher’s spokesperson and claiming that’s the only way she shed pounds. Um, how many of ya’ll were with her in the gym? Better yet, the hospital or the operating table where she supposedly had this surgery? People have gone so far as to say that she’s false promoting because she doesn’t acknowledge the exercise aspect of her plan that brought her to those results. I think everyone knows diet and exercise go hand-in-hand. Her job isn’t to sell treadmills, ellipticals, jump ropes or basketballs, she’s pushing the portion of her success story that relates to food which is the Weight Watcher’s meal plan. What’s fraudulent about that? And the point that she probably had a trainer whip her into shape (either in lieu of or in addition to surgery) is null and void as well because I’ve seen many an average woman shell out cash to have someone kick her butt into shape during 5 am workouts.

What’s even more crazy to me though is how people will see a random overweight black woman and say she needs to lose weight as if it’s as simple to do as letting the words come out of your mouth. Then when they see a celebrity who worked out and used a food program to drop pounds they assume it’s not possible and that she must have had surgery. And then when they hear Beyonce say she dropped 40 pounds in a few months eating lettuce and running on a treadmill they believe it and celebrate it as if that’s healthy. Where’s the logic in that?

On some level, I blame Star Jones for this. Her notorious denial of weight loss surgery has made every other weight loss success story after hers suspect from the gate because she kept up the charade for so long. But this is also just a classic case of people contradicting themselves and dare I say it, hating. Why is it women like J-Hud get beat on so hard for assumedly not being healthy and needing to lose weight, and then when they do it through sweat, tofu, and rice cakes, it’s assumed they took the easy way out? You can’t try to beat diet and exercise into one person’s head all day long as the magic pill for weight loss and then when another person gets the results they should from doing what was suggested, all of a sudden it isn’t possible? What’s so difficult about accepting and celebrating someone else’s triumph, and silencing the need to steal their shine?

The most interesting part is the critics are always people who’ve never known what it’s like to have to drop weight themselves. They’re speaking from facts they’ve heard or read, not from personal experience which is why they suggest someone just start walking 30 minutes a day as if that’s going to add up to a 3,500 calorie deficit that would yield them a one-pound weight loss. It’s the same reason they assume any celebrity who has gone from plus-size to average couldn’t have done it without a medical intervention: they don’t know what they’re talking about.

Speculating on celebrity weight loss is no different than commenting on other rumors about who they’re dating, sleeping with, or beefing with. We weren’t there, so we don’t know. Therefore there’s no reason to throw shade and assume the worst. If you hate celebs when they’re fat and find a whole new reason to hate them when they’re thin, how do they ever win?

Brande Victorian is the News and Operations Editor for MadameNoire.com. Follow her on Twitter @Be_Vic.

More on Madame Noire!

• It Must Be the Money: 7 Swag-Based Celeb Crushes That We Don’t Understand
• Love Is To ‘Love & Hip-Hop’ What Real Wives Are To ‘Basketball Wives’: Ain’t None
• Single Black Male: Stop Giving Up the Cookies Ladies, Men WILL Wait for Sex
• Where Are They Now? Now Defunct “Making The Band” Groups: Da Band and Danity Kane
• Are You Dealing With a Real Man Or A Little Boy? 7 Signs You’ve Got a Grown A** Man
• Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow: Will I Lose My Femininity With My Hair Length?
• Is There Such A Thing As Natural Beauty? My Journey Away From Make-Up

I don’t know what type of relationship Evelyn Lozada and Star Jones have but it’s odd.

Yesterday we told you about the Vibe cover with the reality TV “role models”, and in the issue the ladies were asked for their opinion on Star Jones, who has been vocal about the negative portrayals of black women on such shows and wants to create a larger petition to get them off the air. Evelyn responded to that question by saying, “I think she’s going to have to get a whole lot of names. Actually, I like the petition and I like the controversy because I’ve learned controversy is good. But I think she’s irrelevant. And she’s using our coattails to get relevant again. Nobody gives a f**k about her.” But by the time the presses rolled around and the issue went viral, Evelyn decided to take it all back.

Yesterday she sent this tweet of apology out to Star:

The ladies were apparently brought together by media personality Jawn Murphy, and when Star saw Evelyn’s tweets, she responded with a couple of retweets from Ev and Jawn and then her own joking message:

So I guess that means they’re cool now and Star won’t be attempting to put Evelyn out of work anymore? I’m all for dialogue and seeing other people’s side but I think it’s interesting that this Vibe interview and photo shoot was less than a month ago and these two have suddenly become buddy buddy now. Maybe all the adoration is just a Twitter front but I think I just saw Star Jones’ anti-BBW coalition idea go poof and disappear into thin air.

What do you think about Evelyn and Star’s new-found relationship?

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

More on Madame Noire!

• Dayummm…They Look Good For Their Age: Celebs Who Prove That Black Don’t Crack
• Let This Be A Lesson: Nas Says He Knew Marriage To Kelis Wouldn’t Work
• 7 Singers Turned Actors: Who Was a Natural On-Screen and Who Was a Hot Mess?
• Decoding Your Downstairs: 8 Things Women Need To Know About Their Va Jay Jay
• No Need To Call Tyrone: 7 Ways To Bow Out Of A Relationship Gracefully
• Madame On the Street: How Long Should You Wait to Have Sex?
• Bet You Didn’t Know: Secrets Behind the Making of “Jungle Fever”