Source: Untwistedbeats.net

If you thought that little, okay that huge, $1 per viewer, per episode lawsuit Memphitz dropped on Viacom and Monami Entertainment yesterday was going to hush up K. Michelle, you were wrong. Memphitz came for the producers behind VH1′s show “Love & Hip-Hop” claiming K. Michelle’s allegations of domestic abuse at his hands have defamed his name, but K. Michelle isn’t the least bit worried according to a statement she sent to TMZ. She told the site:

“I’ve always been told that the truth shall set you free. I stand behind my story 100%. I came on the ‘Love & Hip Hop Atlanta’ show mainly because I wanted to give a voice and bring light to a very serious issue.”

“I am very grateful to VH1 and Monami Ent. for the opportunity to tell my story, and touch lives worldwide … I look forward to having my day in court and finally having the truth of my story confirmed in a court of law.”

“Hopefully others will not have to go through this and then have their stories challenged to this degree because people now want to try to salvage whatever reputation they may have had.”

Sounds like this is something K. Michelle has been waiting on. I doubt the show’s producers are as enthusiastic about this day in court (which will likely never happen) as she is, although they had to see this coming — and no doubt have the cameras ready to capture this story line for season 2.

K. Michelle better start gathering that proof she claims she has of Memphitz’ abuse. Last month she told JustTheFab.com that Memphitz admitted to people at the record label that he put his hands on her. She also says she has text message conversations about the abuse. If that’s the case she probably is looking forward to putting everything all out in the open and no longer having to be the one to defend herself. Rasheeda might want to get that apology ready…maybe.

Do you think K. Michelle has anything to worry about with this lawsuit?

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Source: Baller Alert

“Love & Hip-Hop,” the show, may be over, but the drama that erupted during the series is far from done. Following the conclusion of the two-part reunion last night, Memphitz Wright has filed a lawsuit against Viacom International, Inc.; NFGTV, Inc.; and Monami Entertainment, LLC, claiming that they have defamed his character running K. Michelle’s account of abuse from a former relationship. Viacom is the parent company of VH1, of course, and Monami Entertainment is “Love & Hip-Hop” producer Mona Scott-Young’s own company.

A press release from Memphitz’ reps, MediaHunter PR, states:

Wright is suing the named Defendants for approximately one dollar per viewer per show for damages that stem from the defamatory statements and denigrating actions of cast member Kimberly Michelle Pate p/k/a “K. Michelle”.

According to Attorney Conti J. Moore, Esq., whose practice is based in Orlando, Florida, “Ms. Pate has taken full advantage of society’s tendency to accept claims of domestic violence as always being true, even in the absence of proof.  The only abuse that actually occurred is the malicious and calculated pattern of vicious lies Ms. Pate has assailed for the purpose of fabricating a compelling story line in an attempt to ruin my client’s name.”

Atlanta based Attorney Alcide L. Honoré, Esq. maintains that, “even the most ridiculous statements when repeated frequently become true in the minds of many.  Ms. Pate’s preposterous claims, which include allegations that Mr. Wright mismanaged funds and caused her career to ‘flop’, have been adopted as truth by many followers of the popular VH-1 reality series.”

Wright maintains that the suit is not about revenge but is instead about defending himself and his professional reputation from the malicious false and misleading statements made about him on the popular VH-1 reality show.

“My family and I have suffered tremendously while VH-1, Monami Ent., and the other companies provided a worldwide platform for K. Michelle to repeatedly assassinate my character. The filing of this suit is to compensate for the irreparable damage that has been done to my reputation and to deter these companies from doing such future harm to others.”

“Domestic violence is an issue of serious nature, often having grave consequences for true victims with whom we all sympathize.  However, it is unconscionable for one to play on the sympathies of the masses by levying false accusations of such heinous acts against an innocent party, simply for the sake of entertainment or for purported career advancement. After reviewing the evidence in this matter, we are prepared to litigate this case to the fullest extent of the law to seek justice for our client and to restore his name and professional reputation.”

With an average of $3.5 million viewers per show, Memphitz is looking to get seriously broke off, the problem is I’m not sure he really has a leg to stand on. Though K. Michelle did say she was abused, she never mentioned anyone’s name. Memphitz name only got brought into the picture when other people started putting two and two together and mentioning his name and Toya Wright’s. Memphitz also somewhat outed himself when he went on Instagram after the first episode aired and said:

 As I was installing the Teeth, T**ties, & A** you’re Flaunting, I forgot to tell you about the Growing Nose I threw in Pinocchio. Lol. @kmichelle I made you. -Mr. Gepetto

Perhaps he should have kept that low blow to himself.

I’m sure K. Michelle is wishing she’d gone ahead and pressed charges back when this domestic abuse allegedly happened. Things have spun completely out of control with nothing more than word of mouth to go on.

What do you think about Memphitz’ lawsuit?

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Source: atlpics.net

The season finale of Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta garnered record ratings for VH1 — 6.5 million people tuned in, tying the series with NFL pre-season coverage and once again solidifying VH1 as a leader in reality television. It’s interesting that VH1 continues to turn to majority Black casts for success in reality programming, a strategy that seems a better fit for its sister station BET.

Despite being owned by the same company, BET hasn’t been able to capture the success VH1 has seen in reality television. It seems like the network is scared to attempt anything groundbreaking. The history of criticism of BET’s portrayal of African-Americans is a long one.  Ever since Bob Johnson sold the channel to Viacom in 2003, BET can’t seem to get on the good side of its target audience.

The channel saw moderate success with the series College Hill, the closest BET has come to getting their strategy for reality television right. Seasons three and four brought record ratings at the time, though they’re dwarfed in comparison to Love & Hip Hop’s numbers. We won’t even talk about Baldwin Hills and Harlem Heights,” the network’s shows chronicling the lives of the young and the attractive (and let’s not forget the boring). They don’t make a blip on the radar of Mona Scott-Young, the creator of the Love & Hip Hop franchise.

BET’s other strategy for reality television is to follow around celebrities. Keyshia Cole, Tameka “Tiny” Cottle, Toya Wright and even skateboarder Terry Kennedy have lent their lives to BET’s lens. Offering a sneak peek into celebrities’ lives sounds like a gold mine. But the stars they choose don’t have the influence to bring in overly impressive ratings.

Keyshia Cole: The Way It Is set a record as the number one series telecast in BET history with more than 2.9 million viewers tuning in for the show’s season finale. Again, Mona Scott-Young is unbothered. Keyshia Cole is famous and had a platinum album at the time, but her star power alone doesn’t translate to blockbuster ratings.

What’s BET missing? Aesthetically, VH1’s shows look better. You can tell they are putting more money into production. More than that, VH1 isn’t afraid for their characters to look bad. Almost every show on VH1 depicting African Americans has been met with calls for boycotts. But, while the network is receiving petitions, they are simultaneously pulling record-breaking ratings. It’s a mixed message BET has never experienced.

Photo: Stockbyte

-A dozen people were killed in a shooting at a Colorado movie theater during a showing of the new Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises early this morning. Another 38 people were injured, including a three-month-old baby. The gunman, 24-year-old James Holmes, reportedly wore a gas mask into the Aurora theater and threw gas canisters before opening fire. He was arrested in the parking lot of the theater with four guns. President Obama has released a statement expressing “shock and sadness” over the news. A Paris premiere screening of the film has been cancelled as a result. This is an ongoing story.

-On a much different note, Viacom and DirecTV have reached a programming fee agreement, ending a 10-day blackout that deprived the satellite company’s 20 million customers of stations like BET, MTV and Nickelodeon. DirecTV will not be required to carry Epix. Separately, Dish customers haven’t had access to AMC for about a month, meaning they’re missing Breaking Bad. Dang.

-SmartMoney.com gives its picks for the best credit card for travelers.

-Mitt Romney’s wife Ann has stirred up some controversy over an interview with GMA in which she defended her hubby’s refusal to make several years worth of tax returns available by saying, “Because there are so many things that will be open again for more attack… and that’s really, that’s just the answer. And we’ve given all you people need to know and understand about our financial situation and about how we live our life.” You people?!

-Presidential campaign fundraising has exceeded $1 billion. That includes spending by the candidates, the parties, and their Super PACs. Spending could reach $3 billion. President Obama is frantically trying to raise money, warning his supporters that he could be outspent by his opponent.

We may not need more black people on TV or in magazines to validate our worth but that doesn’t mean we still wouldn’t like to see a lot more color a little bit of everywhere. Finally, a new coalition of leaders in black media is putting their money where their mouth and not just talking about the need for more images of us in television advertising, but trying to force advertisers to do so.

The New York Times reports:

BET Networks, Black Enterprise, Johnson Publishing (the publisher of Ebony and Jet magazines), the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters and others will join with media-buying agencies to introduce a campaign intended to educate advertisers about the importance of black media and its increasingly deep-pocketed audience.

Called #InTheBlack (using the Twitter hash tag), the campaign will begin with print advertisements in major newspapers (including The New York Times) and trade magazines like Broadcasting & Cable and Adweek. It will expand to a long-term joint effort that includes social media and direct outreach to marketers.

The Times points out the irony of so many outlets these days pushing to create Spanish-language channels, radio, TV, and print promotions due to the population shift, while simultaneously overlooking the $1.2 trillion projected buying power the black community is expected to have by 2015.

Pointing out that most advertisers figure black people will get the message anyway without being specifically targeted, Debra L. Lee, chief executive at BET Networks, said:

“Any well-developed media plan should include both [generic and targeted advertising]. Black media has a special connection to black audiences.”

Hopefully this #InTheBlack effort will penetrate the masses. It’s great to see us doing more than complaining about this well known problem. What do you think?

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

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urbanradionation.com

For too long, advertisers have ignored the tremendous buying power of the African American community. But now black media is standing up for their consumers. According to African Business Review, Viacom owned BET, has joined with HuffPost BlackVoices, Black Enterprise, Burrell Communications, Cable Advertising Bureau, Essence Communications, GlobalHue, Inner City Broadcasting Corporation, KJLH Radio, Johnson Publishing Company, National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters, Nielsen, North Star Group, National Newspaper Publishers Association, One Solution, Radio One, TV One, Interactive One, Reach Media, Steve Harvey Radio, TheGrio, The Root, The Africa Channel, UniWorld Group, Vibe Media and Walton Isaacson for the first ever black media and marketing consortium.

Together, the companies will speak to advertisers to raise awareness of the present marketing opportunities in the black community and foster a sense of urgency around this community’s economic ability.

“We are excited to partner with some of the nation’s most influential media and marketing groups to highlight the growing economic opportunity of the Black marketplace,” Debra Lee, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for BET Networks said in a press statement. “As a collective, we are better positioned to demonstrate the value of targeting the black consumer audience and partnering with leading brands to help them succeed.”

Black household earning have increased by 64 percent from 200 to 2009. African Americans possess a buying power of nearly one trillion annually and represent over 42 million strong consumers. According to the Nielsen 2011 State of the African American Consumer, if African Americans were a country, they would represent the 16^th largest economy in the world.

African Americans top all other ethnic groups in the spending on automobiles, wine & spirits, baby care products, groceries, health and beauty products, personal care products, apparel, electronics, movies and travel and entertainment.

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Source: Mrsgrapevine.com

In only a matter of a week, Alexis M.’s petition to boycott “Basketball Wives’” spinoff “Chad and Ev” has gone from 691 signatures on day 1 to 17,546 and counting, and now the creator is ready to turn up the heat.

Initially, the goal was simply to have supporters sign the petition and send e-mails to VH1′s CEO, now Alexis is attempting to not only hit Chad and Evelyn where it hurts but the entire network by going after its advertisers. She’s asking those who want to see this program off the air to send letters to companies that support the show through advertising or to stop buying these company’s products all together. Advertisers include Summer’s Eve, Garnier, Twix, Progressive Insurance, Bounty, Pepsi, Proactiv, General Motors, and Burger King, who Alexis reached out to personally. In a petition update, she wrote:

“I’m currently waiting on Burger King’s president to return my phone call. I sent him all the video footage of the ‘Basketball Wives’ violence. Burger King didn’t even know what ‘Basketball Wives’ is. The secretary was polite enough to view some of the video footage of the violence.”

There were reports that all of the organized backlash that’s come against the show since Jennifer Williams announced her lawsuit was prompting VH1 and Shed Media to file a counter suit against her for contract violations regarding bad mouthing the series and doing press without permission, but Alexis says she’s contacted VH1 and found out those rumors were false. So, without any official word from VH1 or Shed yet on these movements, it’s hard to tell what will come of the efforts but VH1 has to be just a little bit—or a whole lot—nervous about losing their “Basketball Wives” empire at this point.

Will you boycott products from these advertisers that support the show?

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

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Source: Realitytea.com

Uh oh. Evelyn’s shenanigans are starting to catch up with her. Viewers of “Basketball Wives” who are tired of the table hopping and bottle throwing are attempting to get Evelyn where it would hurt the most—her wallet. Seeing that it’s unlikely VH1 would get rid of it’s lead character on BBW, these fans want viewers to boycott the reality TV star’s new spinoff show with fiancé Ochocinco, “Chad and Ev.”

Alexis M. is the creator of the Change.org petition encouraging people not to watch the upcoming show, and here’s why.

“Evelyn Lozada is a bully. The violence on ‘Basketball Wives’ is horrible and disgraceful,” Alexis wrote on the petition. “This is not a hate petition against Eveyln Lozada. We simply will not support violence. It hurts to see violence amongst women on television for entertainment purposes. It is not OK for women to hit each other on TV.”

Yesterday, Sister 2 Sister reported that 691 people had signed the petition. Since the site is down for scheduled maintenance today it’s not clear if that number has increased, but considering the amount of criticism “Basketball Wives” has garnered from the beginning and the increasingly erratic behavior Evelyn has displayed in the past few weeks, I’m sure it has. A couple of signers also left comments with their signature, calling out Evelyn and Chad for their foolishness.

 ”[Ocho] has young children, and this woman has thrown glasses, bottles and ran across a table like she’s a part of a wild animal park,” Carolyn pointed out. “Will she put on her fake smile and act the proper stepmom? Too late, she’s already shown her true colors and they are ugly. She deserves no show.”

“Evelyn is an embarrassment to women and she has no morals. She’s a bully and attacks people who are afraid of her. If VH1 supports her i can no longer support VH1. She is a low class, gold digging bully.”

“I find it strange Evelyn is boycotting Jennifer Williams for doing the right thing. I’m happy she’s being boycotted for doing the wrong thing.”

Beyond the petition, the creators are also asking viewers to contact VH1′s parent company Viacom to express disgust with Evelyn’s actions. Guess we’ll have to see how quickly the word spreads—and how Evelyn reacts. Considering her and Ochochinco are supposed to earn $300K a piece for this show, I can guarantee she is not happy.

Will you sign this petition to boycott “Chad and Ev?”

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

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Vh1, the Viacom cable channel known for catapulting D-list reality programming to the forefront (think Surreal Life), appears to have taken a break from their usual proliferation of black female stereotypes on Sundays to, instead, make way for foul-mouthed, drink-tossing white women.

A few Wednesdays ago we were introduced to the Baseball Wives who, like the Basketball Wives, may be some of the worst representations of women they could find, and the drama is all the same. Amidst prying into each woman’s personal business, spreading rumors and the subsequent physical altercations, each undoubtedly regards herself as the classiest of the bunch—class translating, “I have a substantial amount of disposable income with a stripper mentality.” Within five minutes of airing, they ruined every positive stereotype associated with the ladies of baseball–if there were any positive ones to begin with.

But, don’t credit Shaunie O’Neal for this one. Shed Media is the production force behind this mess.

Likewise, it was only fitting when the Mob Wives returned to Sundays for a second season of prison calls and death threats that executives decided the baseball wives should join them. Of course, it could be because they are making room for Love & Hip-Hop LA or something, but, nevertheless, Vh1 Sunday nights are now filled with brawling white women.

And, while Vh1 is doing women a disservice in our entirety, their new white-hot Sundays show exploitative television is going all equal-opportunity, with the first installment of Mob Wives: Chicago is set to air this spring. For that, I say thank you Vh1 for momentarily diverting the heat. A round of applause for showing the world women of all complexions are the same kind of crazy and willing to yank weaves for attention and/or money. And a big applause to your station for proving you’ll exploit any and every thirsty chick for a quick dollar. Kudos!

The only question left to answer is when will we stop watching?
LaShaun Williams is a Madame Noire contributor and columnist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and across several popular sites, such as HuffPost Black Voices and the Grio.  You can visit her blog at lashaunwilliams.com or follow her on Twitter @itsmelashaun and Facebook.

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By Brittany Hutson and R. Asmerom

It’s certainly been a whirlwind decade for the Black community to say the least. We’ve witnessed history making moments, events that brought to light the struggles that still plague our community, devastating natural disasters, and moments that caused us to scratch our head, raise an eyebrow and think ‘what the…?’ Take a stroll down memory lane with us as we recap some of those moments:

Hurricane Katrina

One of the five deadliest hurricanes in the history of the U.S., Katrina caused devastation when it hit the Gulf Coast states (from Florida to Texas) in August 2005. New Orleans bore the brunt of the devastation as the category 3 storm with maximum winds near 125 mph caused the levies to break and flood nearly 80% of the city. The nation was in utter shock as images filtered across television screens, on websites and in publications of residents stranded on the roof of flooded homes, or in boats, waiting for help without water or food.

Katrina caused the deaths of at least 1,836 people and caused immense damage—early estimates of total property damage were $81 billion. Over one million people were displaced and sought solace in cities such as Houston, TX, Mobile, Ala, Baton Rouge, La, and Chicago.  Federal, state and local governments were criticized for their mismanagement and delayed response to the storm.