BET recently announced comedian and actor Anthony Anderson as the fourth host of the upcoming “SAVINGOURSELVES: A BET COVID-19 RELIEF EFFORT,” special. Anderson joins stars Kelly Rowland, Terrence J, and Regina Hall as host for the two-hour special broadcast. “SAVINGOURSELVES: A BET COVID-19 RELIEF EFFORT,” is set to air TODAY, Wednesday, April 22, 2020 at 8 PM EST.
Performances include Alicia Keys with a special tribute to New York City, and a Gospel moment with Kirk Franklin featuring Fantasia, Jonathan McReynolds, Kelly Price, Tasha Cobbs Leonard, Le’Andria Johnson, and Melvin Crispell III. Exclusive performances by John Legend, Usher, Jhene Aiko, Chloe X Halle, CeeLo Green, H.E.R., Ella Mai, Jermaine Dupri, Ludacris, Swae Lee, Anthony Hamilton, Tyrese Gibson, Buju Banton, DJ D-Nice, SiR, D Smoke, and Charlie Wilson.
Additional celebrity guest appearances will include Tiffany Haddish, Ciara, Don Cheadle, Deon Cole, Angela Rye, Dr. Rheeda Walker, Charlamagne Tha God, Symone D. Sanders, DJ Khaled and Chance The Rapper.
Expanding the reach of the telecast, BET will simulcast the special across BET and BET Her domestically, as well as their channels internationally bringing awareness to over 90 million homes. Additionally, BET will join forces with Bounce to help expand the audience to include free, over-the-air broadcast viewers with Bounce simulcasting “Saving Our Selves: A BET COVID-19 Relief Effort.”
Addressing the communities around the world, a global check-in segment for “BET Saving Our Selves: COVID-19 Relief Effort” will highlight how various regions around the globe are coping through COVID-19. BET Breaks’ International talent Nomalanga (South Africa), Flora Coquerel (France), and Jourdan Riane (UK) will report on how the pandemic is affecting their countries. British Hip Hop Artists behind the viral “Don’t Rush” social media challenge, Young T and Bugsy, and Idris Elba’s wife, Sabrina Elba, will make appearances as well. Internationally, the show will be broadcast on Saturday, April 25 in the UK at 9:00 pm BST, Korea at 9:00 pm KST, Africa at 6:00 pm CAT, and France at 10:30 pm CEST.
The focus of the initiatives is to combat the racial disparities of the COVID-19 pandemic. Recent findings have shown that Black Americans are being disproportionately harmed by the health and financial devastation wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic. BET, in partnership with the NAACP, United Way Worldwide, leaders in the African American creative, civil rights and business communities will provide critical financial, educational and community support directly to the African Americans hardest hit by this crisis. Corporate brand donors who have generously contributed to the fund include Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Toyota, Salesforce, McDonald’s, AARP, Pine-Sol®, Morgan Stanley, TJ Maxx, Weight Watchers, and NBA.
You can now donate to the fund online via BET.com or by texting BETGives to 51555. More information on BET’s partnership with UWW and additional extensions of our relief efforts are forthcoming. For further details, please visit BET.com/COVID19.
By now you must know that any vision board someone created for 2020 has been totally wrecked. I haven’t had 20/20 vision since before I was in the third grade when I started wearing glasses, but I was among those who decreed and declared that 2020 would be my Year of Perfect Vision. When this Coronavirus Crisis started a month ago or so, I thought my resolution to have 20/20 vision was misguided. But a month later, I see the Good Shepherd is faithful and guiding me (and all y’all) into perfect vision after all — even if it wasn’t what I thought I saw at the dawn of this New Year. As my hubby shared with me, I do believe individually we will have personal insights, and that there are some collective insights that all of us will share. Below are seven insights tied to Bible scripture that I’ve had that are personal and collective. Let me know if you see what I’m seeing or if you have a different view in the comments.
1. At a visceral level, I now know no one can boast of his or her self-sufficiency. I knew this intellectually, but babay, experience is the best teacher. In the Bible, Jeremiah 9:23, it says, “Let not the wise boast of their wisdomor the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches.” Yes, some of our richest are sheltering in place in yachts, but they still have to shelter in place while the country is shut down. Some of our strongest have gotten sick and or died during this Coronavirus Crisis. The wisest in our society have been confounded by COVID-19. I’ve read that it was initially thought that those with underlying conditions (cancer, diabetes, etc.) are more susceptible to COVID-19, but now, there is some debate as to what is considered an underlying condition! So whoop, there it is…
2. All people are needed for society to function. A Facebook friend shared that the number of selfies have decreased over the last month or so…And for good reason, I think…Have you seen some of these celebrities? Who knew that Diddy had so much gray hair?! His stylist did, undoubtedly. With all of us sheltering in place and social distancing, people aren’t getting their hair did and dyed. In Romans 12: 4-5, it says, “For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function,so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. ” Hairstylists matter! Their gifts are essential. In my opinion, they should be counted as essential workers, but I won’t belabor that point on today.
3. If you don’t spend your money, I can’t make my money. As a lover of words, I have helped financially support many many authors over the years. But truthfully, if some musicians waited on me to buy concert tickets to support themselves, they would go broke. I buy concert tickets like twice a year if that. And since people are sheltering in place and basically only buying groceries and paying for water, gas, etc., many have stopped making money. Again, I realized this intellectually but to see it play out is an eye opener for real. That’s that 20/20 vision. As the Bible says in 1 Timothy 6:17, “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.” In other words, in the plain spoken words of OutKast, “If you don’t move your feet then I don’t eat, so we like neck-to-neck.” And I have paid a pretty penny to see them in concert 🙂
4. Debt is the devil, and saving is sanctified. According to news reports, many people have been financially ruined in the course of a month. I can’t evaluate anyone’s financial portfolio individually but you have to wonder if debt and a lack of savings has contributed to such swift falls. In Romans 13:8, it says, “Let no debt remain outstanding.” And in 1 Corinthians 16:2, it says, “each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, saving it up.” Financial experts recommend saving 3-6 months of your living expenses. It’s not easy, but it can be done. Ask God to direct you to a financial planner or coach who can teach you how to do it. I did, and her teaching continues to bless me 10 years later!
5. When I help you, I help me. One thing that has really struck me about the mandate to flatten the curve is that we’re primarily doing so to not overwhelm the healthcare industry with COVID-19 patients. However, but when we help the healthcare industry in this way, we are also helping ourselves. The fewer people who are sick means the less likely it will spread. Further down in Romans 13, verses 9-10, it says, “Love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no harm to a neighbor.” Y’all help me, help you. Stay at home until God through the scientists recommends otherwise…
6. Being around other people encourages like nothing else. Y’all, I’m an introvert, and after a few hours around a lot of people, I have to retreat by myself. I start to feel overwhelmed almost like I’m an overloaded system that is stuck and can longer work. But now that our society has been sheltering in place, I’ve been fantasizing about going to street festivals. I cannot wait until I’m close enough to a bunch of people that I smell their sweat. Yes, I miss folks’ funk! LOL. And that’s why so many of us are meeting together via Zoom and other software to connect. It says in Hebrews 1o:25 to not stop “meeting together.” As an introvert, I do value and need time away from people but I also need to connect with people as well. 20/20 vision is becoming clear for this introvert.
7. Elders should be elevated. As the daughter of older parents, I already believed this, but this Coronavirus Crisis has forced us to take a hard look at how society sees our elders. Our elders are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 and so we must make sure that we care for their well-being. And this is biblical. In Psalm 71:9, it says, “Do not cast me away when I am old; Do not forsake me when my strength is gone.” One day, if we’re lucky and blessed, we will be an elder and as I said earlier, when I help an elder, I’m actually helping myself. If we do this thing right, elders will be elevated as they should be.
So that’s all I got for now, but here’s a song to encourage me and you…
And this song is Scriptural too…
“The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.” 1 John 2:17
Lovie Simone stars in SELAH AND THE SPADES Photo: Courtesy of Amazon Studios
Hello World,
Y’all, at long last, I saw THIS on Facebook:
The return of our favorite show was announced with one word!!! Yes!!! I mean, we have been waiting since November 2019 to find out what’s going on. If you need to refresh yourself about what happened on the last episode in November, click HERE.
However, members of the cast continue to branch out in other productions so we have something to occupy us until June. Lovie Simone is starring in a new movie “Selah and The Spades.” The Amazon original movie “Selah and The Spades” is coming to Amazon Prime Video this Friday on April 17.
Selah And The Spades
Below is a synopsis:
In the closed world of an elite Pennsylvania boarding school, Haldwell, the student body is run by five factions. Seventeen-year-old Selah Summers (Lovie Simone) runs the most dominant group, the Spades, with unshakable poise, as they cater to the most classic of vices and supply students with coveted, illegal alcohol and pills.
Tensions between the factions escalate, and when Selah’s best friend/right hand Maxxie (MOONLIGHT’s Jharrel Jerome) becomes distracted by a new love, Selah takes on a protégée, enamored sophomore Paloma (Celeste O’Connor), to whom she imparts her wisdom on ruling the school. But with graduation looming and Paloma proving an impressively quick study, Selah’s fears turn sinister as she grapples with losing the control by which she defines herself.
In her feature debut, writer/director Tayarisha Poe immerses us in a heightened depiction of
teenage politics. This searing character study encapsulates just how intoxicating power can be for a teenage girl who acutely feels the threat of being denied it. Exciting newcomer Lovie Simone’s performance beautifully embodies both Selah’s publicly impeccable command and the internal fears and uncertainty that drive it.
Below is a brief interview with Lovie Simone:
How did you become involved with this project?
I read the script and was interested so I sent a few self-tapes and then met with Tayarisha over a FaceTime call — she had family members who watched my show Greenleaf. We talked about the movie and I wound up auditioning for both Selah and Paloma.
What interested you in the character of Selah?
I wanted to play Selah because you see how power is handled in her hands. Whoever handles power in a story changes the whole story. The fact that she is a young black teenage girl changes the entire game — you see the extremes Selah goes through to hold onto her power, it’s very eye opening.
What interested you in Haldwell in terms of the setting?
With boarding school comes a lot of freedom. We don’t see teenagers who aren’t in college having that much freedom, so I thought it was cool to experience that through these characters. I also liked the fact there were so many black kids in this very prestigious boarding school — it was different from my own high school experience, where I was the only black female in my class. I also really liked that Selah was the top dog of this underdog faction within Haldwell.
