Category Archives: Celebrities

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DeVon Franklin to Produce Gospel Music Star Kirk Franklin Biopic, Asking For Suggestions For Who Should Play Kirk!

Hello World,

Kirk Franklin is one of my favorite gospel music artists of all time! His music, testimony and the way he lives out his faith has encouraged me despite the street preacher’s recent rebuke of Kirk Franklin outside of his Long Live Love tour performance in Jacksonville, Florida. (After the rebuke, Kirk met up with the street preacher to discuss their differences which is another reason why I think Kirk is a messenger from God. I’m not sure that other gospel artists would have engaged the street preacher in the same way particularly after the man condemned him to hell and wouldn’t even shake his hand after Kirk extended his hand in peace…)

Due to Kirk’s innovation, reach and longevity in the gospel music industry coupled with his inspiring life story, Kirk Franklin is a biopic in the making. That’s why I was excited to find out from Deadline that his life story will be brought to the silver screen! From Deadline:

EXCLUSIVE: Sony is taking us to church with an upcoming biopic about multi-platinum gospel singer Kirk Franklin. The film, currently untitled, is being produced by former Sony exec DeVon Franklin via his Franklin Entertainment banner, while  Franklin will serve as an executive producer through his label Fo Yo Soul Entertainment.

Brian Ivie (The Drop Box ) has been tapped to write the film which will follow 14-time Grammy-winning artist from his humble beginning through his meteoric rise to fame as he changes the face of gospel music and battles his demons in the process. Ivie most recently wrote and directed the Emanuel, a documentary about the 2015 Charleston church mass shooting.

For more, go to Deadline.com.

Via his Facebook page, DeVon is asking who should play Kirk in the biopic?!!

While they do favor, rapper Plies is not a candidate, DeVon says! LOL

They sure do look like though, right? Somebody suggested Kevin Hart. Well, they have their height in common although Kirk is reportedly one inch taller than Kevin at 5’5.

But via his Instragram page, Christian actor Jorel Quinn says he can do Kirk justice and I have to agree…

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Someone said there’s a biopic on @kirkfranklin in the works, produced by @devonfranklin 😌 💡 💭 🙏🏾🙋🏾‍♂️

A post shared by Jor él Quinn (@jorelquinn) on

What y’all think? Can Jorel be Kirk in the untitled biopic?

So if you have a casting suggestion for Kirk Franklin, hit up DeVon and Kirk up on their social media @DeVonFranklin & @KirkFranklin. They may just take you up on your suggestion!

Any thoughts?

 

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Sherri Shepherd Responds to Ex Lamar Saying He’s ‘Praying’ For Her, That She’s ‘Bitter’ & Should Go to Therapy!

Hello World,

So two posts ago I posted an excerpt from an article summarizing what Sherri Shepherd said about her ex-husband Lamar Sally in a recent interview on the The D.L. Hughley Show. Below is how Sherry explained why she married him when she said many of her friends and celebrity colleagues warned her not do so.

“I was in a place in New York by myself, lonely,” she said. “At the time I was in my 40s and scared. I was like, ‘I’m getting older, who’s going to want to be in a relationship?’ It was a lot of stuff done out of fear. I was also raised to in the church to believe you can’t have sex before you get married, so I was horny! The whole celibacy thing, this idea that it’s better to get married than to burn. So I got married too because I was horny, and look, we never had sex.”

Well, Lamar clapped back, penning a letter that he released to TMZ! He accused her of abandoning the son they agreed to have together via a surrogate. However, the son (who is biologically Lamar’s son but not Sherri’s as a donor egg was used) was born after the couple broke up. Still, according to People magazine and TMZ, Sherri pays $4,100 in child support to Lamar each month! Although she is keeping up with her payments, he claims she has abandoned the child, called her bitter and recommended that she go to therapy – despite all of this, he says he is “praying” for her! Additionally, he claims that she blackballed him in Hollywood and has not has any TV writing jobs as a result.

(Aside: Regarding his claim that she abandoned the child, Sherri told me herself via this blog that his claim wasn’t true. She said, “…I have a son w special needs that I talk about incessantly… do I seem like the type of woman who would ‘abandon’ a child? A woman who would shirk her duties where children are concerned – if you have followed me at all- you would know that isn’t the case at all…must be more to the story, yes? Well I stop there, because I can feel the Holy Spirit tip tapping me on my shoulder; and it’s also too quiet in the family room which means Jeffrey is doing something he ain’t suppose to be doing! God Bless.” She commented on a post “Sherri Shepherd Jokes About Giving Her Surrogate Baby to Raven Symone & More on ‘The View’” that I wrote in 2015.)

Now I can understand that what Sherri said hurt his pride, but her truth is her truth whether he likes it or not!  Furthermore, if someone was paying me thousands of dollars a month, I would suck it up and chalk it up to a contentious divorce. And of course, TMZ had a get a response from Sherri after Lamar’s clap back! She said she didn’t blackball him at all. In fact, she said she hopes he does get some writing gigs so that her child support payments can be reduced! I hear that!

You can check out Sherri’s full response to Lamar’s response HERE on TMZ.

In other Sherri Shepherd news, the comedic duo of Sherri Shepherd and Kym Whitley will serve as hostesses for for the Multicultural Media Correspondents Association Dinner. The dinner is being held today at 6:30 p.m. at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. With music by DJ D-Nice, the exclusive, invitation only gala is attended by media influencers, policymakers, executives, corporate and advocacy organization allies and Hollywood VIPs.

The event will honor the accomplishments of media industry legends and luminaries of color, including “The Fly Jock” Tom Joyner, NBC 4 news anchor Eun Yang, EMMY Award winning journalist Veronica Villafane, and digital media executive Parker Morse. Congresswoman Val Demings(D-FL.) will also be honored for her seminal work to increase media diversity, and there will be a special tribute to John Singleton including family members.

MMCA is a nonpartisan/nonprofit organization leading a call to action to increase media diversity. In just its fourth year, MMCA has become a trusted convener and facilitator of thought leadership, resource and information sharing and strategic engagement between multicultural media stakeholders, tech and media decision-makers, policymakers and private entities committed to increasing the percentage of diverse media stakeholders and content. www.mmcadc.org; @mmcadc on all platforms.

Any thoughts?

P.S. Know this…Just because someone says they’re “praying” for you doesn’t mean it’s a good thing…

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Season 4 of OWN’s ‘Greenleaf’ Returns Tuesday, September 3!

Hello World,

Y’all, our favorite megachurch drama OWN’s “Greenleaf” is coming back on Tuesday, Sept. 3 at 10 p.m. EST to kick off Season 4! That’s right, Saints! No more rushing home from Bible Study to tune into the Bishop & Lady Mae show on a Wednesday!

“Season Four finds the Greenleafs attempting to maintain a united front in the face of losing Calvary to Bob Whitmore (Beau Bridges) and Harmony & Hope Ministries, but secrets past and present create what could be fatal fractures in the family’s fragile foundation. Lady Mae (Lynn Whitfield) and Grace (Merle Dandridge) form an uneasy alliance as they endeavor to reclaim their church from Harmony & Hope — Grace from within the church where she’s operating as interim head pastor and Lady Mae using her persuasive ways from the outside. But Grace’s mission becomes complicated when a mysterious phone call sets in motion a chain of events that threatens to reveal her biggest secret yet. The Bishop (Keith David) continues working to mend his rift with his wife Lady Mae, while day by day Harmony & Hope’s grip on Calvary tightens.”

Below is the trailer:

There was a LOT in that trailer, right?! I won’t break everything down until Season 4 kicks off but it looks like we will finally find out what happened with Grace in Phoenix, Noah Kendall, Grace’s first love from Season 1 is coming back and Charity may be sleeping with the enemy aka the fine black guy from Harmony & Hope Ministries!

The hit megachurch drama series “Greenleaf” is produced for OWN by Lionsgate in association with Harpo Films and Pine City.  Executive producers are Oprah Winfrey, Craig Wright, Clement Virgo, and Kriss Turner Towner.

Y’all can catch up on the show’s complete three seasons on Netflix AND by reading my “Greenleaf” recaps! Here is “Greenleaf Finale Recap, Season 3 Episode 13: The New Life…”

And if you want to read recaps of all of Season 3, just go to the search button on the upper right and search by using the term “Greenleaf Season 3!”

So are you ready for Season 4 of OWN’s “Greenleaf?” Y’all know I am!!!

Any thoughts?