Comedian and now eight-time NAACP Winner, Anthony Anderson, secures the win for Outstanding Actor In A Comedy Series at the 2022 NAACP Image Awards.
Anderson, 51, had quite the productive evening accepting his award-winning in-between his hilarious hosting duties of the live show.
“I told ya’ll I was gon’ win!,” he excitedly screamed as he grabbed the camera. He then ran out to the main stage to chest bump his equally funny co-host–his mother, Doris Hancox.
“I’d like to thank my mama for sleeping with my daddy,” he joked. “I’d like to shout out my family. I’m just a kid from Compton. So shout out Compton, California – if you have a dream and you believe, anything is possible,” he finished, before asking his mom if she’d like to share more words.
“Bout time ya’ll got it right,” screamed Hancox with Anderson replying, “no mama, they got it right the last eight years.”
Also nominated in the category was Cedric The Entertainer (The Neighborhood), Jay Ellis (Insecure), Elisha ‘EJ’ Williams (The Wonder Years), Don Cheadle (Black Monday).
Source: BET
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jennifer Hudson was named entertainer of the year at the 53rd annual NAACP Image Awards that highlighted works by entertainers and writers of color.
After Hudson accepted the award Saturday night, the singer-actor thanked the NAACP for inspiring “little girls like me.” She beat out Regina King, Lil Nas X, Megan Thee Stallion, and Tiffany Haddish.
“I was just standing here thinking ’It was here – the NAACP Awards – where I watched so many legends and icons that inspired me,” said the Oscar and Grammy winner. “Now, I’m standing here holding an award like this. It’s because of seeing the Arethas, the Patti LaBelles, the Halle Berrys, all these legends right here on this stand that inspired me.”
Hudson played her idol Aretha Franklin in the film “Respect.” She was summoned to meet with Franklin in 2007 to portray The Queen of Soul shortly after Hudson won an Oscar for “Dreamgirls.”
“Respect” follows Franklin from childhood through the 1972 recording of the gospel album “Amazing Grace.”
“This is for Ms. Franklin’s legacy,” Hudson said after she earlier won best actress.
The awards ceremony aired live on BET in Los Angeles with some talent appearing in person while others watched virtually. There was no in-person audience.
Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, were honored with the President’s Award. He showed gratitude to the NAACP for welcoming him into their community before he spoke about those in Ukraine impacted by the ongoing Russian invasion.
“We would like to acknowledge the people of Ukraine who urgently need our continued support as a global community,” said Prince Harry while standing next to his wife. The couple was recognized for their outreach efforts in the U.S. and around the world.
“It’s safe to say I come from a very different background than my incredible wife,” he said. “Yet, our lives were brought together for a reason. We share a commitment to a life of service, a responsibility to confront injustice and a belief for the most overlooked that are the most important to listen to.”
Both talked about inspiring the next generation of activists through the NAACP-Archewell Digital Civil Rights Award. It’s a newly created award that acknowledges leaders creating change within the social justice and technology realm to advance civil and human rights.
On Friday, the inaugural award was given to Dr. Safiya Noble, who Meghan called a “visionary.”
Samuel L. Jackson received the NAACP Chairman’s Award for his public service. The ceremony highlighted his acting achievements and activism including a moment when he was expelled from Morehouse College in 1969 for for locking board members in a building for two days in protest of the school’s curriculum and governance.
The video mentioned Jackson’s efforts to raise awareness toward cancer checkup for men and autism. It also spotlighted him and his wife, LaTanya Richardson Jackson, who created a performing arts center at Spelman College.
Jackson quoted activist Marian Wright Edelman after he accepted his award.
“I was fortunate to grow up in a lot of different eras where I had the opportunity to use my voice and my legs and my body to fight for things that were right,” said the 73-year-old actor. He has appeared in more than 100 films including Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction” and Spike Lee’s “Jungle Fever.”
Jackson also starred in several other films such as “Do the Right Thing,” “Unbreakable,” “Snakes on a Plane,” and multiple Marvel films including “The Avengers” and “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.”
“We got it done,” he continued. “Right now, we still have things we need to do. The most important thing being the voting rights act. I know we can’t change that. But we can put our legs, our bodies and our voices to work to make sure that people do get out and vote – no matter what they do to keep us from doing it.”
The awards ceremony featured a performance by nine-time Grammy winner Mary J. Blige, who was a co-headliner at the Super Bowl halftime show this month. She performed her single “Good Morning Gorgeous” and “Love No Limit” from New York City’s Apollo Theater.
Anthony Anderson, who returned as the show’s host, won best actor in a comedy series. With his mother in attendance, the “black-ish” star screamed out “I told you I was going to win, Momma” before he ran on stage and chest bumped her.
“I would like to thank my momma for sleeping with my daddy and making me,” he jokingly said before turning serious. “I’m just a kid from Compton, California. If you dream and believe, anything is possible.”
Other top awards handed out include Will Smith who best actor for his role in “King Richard” and “The Harder They Fall,” which took home best film. Issa Rae won for best comedy series and Nikole Hannah-Jones was honored with the social justice impact award.
Sterling K. Brown shouted with joy when he won outstanding actor for a drama series. After Tiffany Haddish virtually presented him with the award, the “This Is Us” actor thanked the show’s network, NBC, before he joked about hanging out with Anderson’s mother.
“There’s way too many white people on my show for me to actually win this thing,” he said. “But I got to say ‘Thank you, Black people for voting for me. I really do appreciate it.’”
The NAACP Image Awards held night five of its non-televised ceremonies Friday, hosted by Affion Crockett, with awards announced for supporting actors in the television and film categories, among others.
Both Regina King and Regina Hall won Supporting Actress honors – King for her performance in the motion picture “The Harder They Fall” and Hall for her role in limited series “Nine Perfect Strangers.”
Hot off her Super Bowl Halftime Show performance, Mary J. Blige won Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for “Power Book II: Ghost.”
On the comedy side of television, Natasha Rothwell received recognition for her supporting role in “Insecure,” while “Black-ish” actors Deon Cole and Miles Brown also earned nods.
Night 5 also included winners in the documentary film (“Barbara Lee: Speaking Truth to Power”), independent film (“CODA”) and animated film (“Encanto”) categories.
The non-televised honors known as the NAACP Image Awards Virtual Experience are hosted by actor and comedian Crockett this year, and announced over five nights, from Feb. 21-Feb. 25. Audiences can tune watch the ceremonies virtually by visiting naacpimageawards.net and youtube.com/naacpimageawards.
On the four previous nights of ceremonies, Will Smith, Issa Rae, Barry Jenkins, Trevor Noah, Maya Rudolph, Silk Sonic and Jazmine Sullivan were among those who collected awards.
Saturday’s live telecast of the 53rd NAACP Awards will be hosted by Anthony Anderson and features a performance by Mary J. Blige at 8:00 PM ET/ 5:00 PM PT on BET.
In a competitive situation, Screen Gems has acquired the rights to an untitled comedy, which is set to star London Hughes with Cat Wilkins penning script and Tim Story directing. Todd Garner and Spencer Walken are producing on behalf of Broken Road. Hughes will exec produce
The film follows a woman who is transported to 19th century England where she becomes entangled in and upends the love affairs of the community with her modern sensibilities.
Hughes made history as the first British Black woman to be nominated for the Edinburgh Comedy “Best Show” Award for her show To Catch a D*ck, which was released on Netflix in December 2020 as her debut comedy special. In 2020, she was awarded the Royal Television Society Award for “Best Entertainment Performance” for her work on ITV2’s hip-hop comedy quiz show Don’t Hate The Playaz. In 2021, she hosted The Netflix Afterparty, a first-of-its-kind weekly comedy after-show alongside Fortune Feimster and David Spade, and she starred in the Netflix hit History of Swear Words. Hughes has also appeared in the BBC/Amazon award-winning and critically acclaimed series Fleabag. Will Packer Productions is currently developing the comedy feature, Hot Mess, for her to star.
Story, best known for directing such pics as Ride Along 2 and the Think Like A Man series, most recently directed Tom & Jerry for Warner Bros. On the television side, Story executive produced ABC’s critically-acclaimed hit drama TV series Queens. He has also executive produced Netflix’s Prince Of Peoria and Showtime’s White Famous.
Wilkins’ feature comedy Two-Faced won first place in the category at the 2020 UCLA Screenwriters Showcase and was #4 on the Black List for 2020. The project is currently set up at BRON Studios with Taraji P. Henson starring and directing, and Tim Story producing.
Garner is the founder and head of Broken Road Productions. His Broken Road credits include the hit films Mortal Kombat, Vacation Friends, Paul Blart: Mall Cop and its sequel, Knight and Day, Zookeeper, Into The Storm and many more. Next up, he will produce Senior Year starring Rebel Wilson for Netflix.
Hughes is represented by UTA, Curtis Brown, Haven Entertainment and attorneys Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole. Story is represented by UTA and attorneys Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole. Wilkins is represented by UTA, Echo Lake Entertainment and attorneys Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole.
Source: Deadline
Last night in Hollywood, comedians Kevin Hart and Dave Chappelle joined the stage with Earthquake to talk about his new Netflix comedy special titled Legendary.
The special screening had many in the house such as director of the special Stan Lathan, Producer Rikki Hughes, comedian JB Smoove, Judge Greg Mathis, Big Boy, and many others who joined in to view the conversation.
As you probably know by now, Chappelle will Executive Produce four comedy specials exclusively to be produced by Netflix, and Earthquake is the first of the group to be produced along with Donnell Rawlings to follow. No word yet on the other comedians.
Take a look at the behind the scenes screening courtesy of producer Rikki Hughes’ IG;
Here’s another look at the screening courtesy of Earthquake’s IG;
Many may remember the plan to have Mike Epps, among others, star in a Richard Pryor biopic. Unfortunately, plans fell through and a film about the legendary comedian never made it to the big screen. However, Epps has received an opportunity to portray one of his favorite comedians in an upcoming HBO series.
Epps took to Instagram earlier this week to reveal his portrayal of Richard Pryor in HBO’s Winning Time. The upcoming series will tell the story of the Los Angeles Lakers’ Showtime era, which featured Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and James Worthy.
Mike Epps shared a photo of himself beside John C. Reilly, who will portray late owner Jerry Buss, and talked about his excitement for the role.
“It’s one thing to compete but [it’s] another to be compared!!!!” Epps wrote. “Here I played the long-awaited role of the GOAT Richard Pryor in the @winningtimehbo series it’s never easy to fill the shoes of our greats but [I am] humbled and honored to have gotten this opportunity s/o to my man @therodneybarnes for believing in me check us out March 26th on @hbo #riprichardpryor#adammcay.”
Will Smith is on a mission to keep people laughing with his new show This Joka. The Roku Original series will premiere on the Roku Channel on March 4, and it promises to be an ode to the Oscar nominee’s deep love and appreciation for stand-up comedy. The 16-episode series will feature a lineup of 16 diverse comedians, ranging from newcomers and up-and-coming stars to established names in comedy. Smith brought the comedians to Vegas to showcase their material, and together, they will explore the nature of comedy and its unique ability to unite people.
This Joka will showcase their stand-up sets and will feature one-on-one conversations between the King Richard star and the comedians, plus docu-style moments shot backstage and around Sin City. The comics featured on the show are Baron Vaughn, Megan Gailey, Punkie Johnson, Sean Patton, Rosebud Baker, Shane Torres, Clayton English, Christi Chiello, Vanessa Gonzalez, Martin Urbano, Sam Tallent, David Gborie, Jackie Fabulous, Chris Estrada, Rell Battle, and Daphnique Springs. This Joka will also feature special appearances by George Wallace, Demi Adejuyigbe, and Shawn Wasabi.
Lance Bangs directed the series and Smith serves as host and executive producer. This Joka is also a co-production of Jada Pinkett Smith and Smith’s Westbrook Media and Topgolf Studios, a unit of Topgolf Entertainment Group. The series was shot on location at Topgolf’s Las Vegas driving-range venue and other Vegas locations. The show was first acquired by Quibi in April 2020 before making its move to Roku. “This Joka not only puts exceptional comedic talent on full display, but it also showcases the power of laughter in bringing people together,” Brian Tannenbaum, Head of Alternative Originals at Roku said in a statement. “Collaborating with Will Smith and the teams at Westbrook Media was a fantastic experience and we can’t wait to share the series with audiences on The Roku Channel.”
“There is no line up quite like this in comedy—all different styles and voices and vibes are represented in this show which honestly is a testament to Will’s rabid fandom for comedy,” Lukas Kaiser, SVP, Head of Content at Westbrook Inc. said. “The comics in This Joka not only deliver big laughs, but they also show viewers how comedy can be a connecting force. We’re thrilled to finally get this special project in front of audiences on The Roku Channel.”
Watch the exclusive trailer for This Joka above. The series will premiere on The Roku Channel on March 4.
By KARLA RODRIGUEZ For Complex
In a new episode of FOX Soul’s new show Turnt Out with TS Madison, comedian and actress Mo’Nique updated where she stands with Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry, both of whom she claims were behind the demise of her career.
During the show, Mo’Nique told Madison that Perry agreed to meet with her under certain conditions. She’d have to come without her husband and manager, Sydney Hicks, and apologize for accusing him and Winfrey of “blackballing” her.
The long-time friction came after Mo’Nique’s Oscar-winning role in the 2009 film Precious, for which Perry and Winfrey were the executive directors.
She said Perry asked her to do things that she was not “contractually obligated to do,” including promoting the film at a festival for free.
“I don’t care who it is, it’s not fair for you to want me to work for free just because it’s you…so now, here comes the blackball,” she told Madison, according to Radar Online. This is what started the accusations that Mo’Nique is “difficult.”
The Academy Award winner added that Winfrey didn’t speak up against the allegations, which is why she took an issue with her. Instead, she sided with Perry, who supposedly told another director named David Talbert how difficult she was to work with.
“Well, Tyler Perry you’ve never worked with me. We never worked together,” she continued. “When we did ‘Precious,’ [he] came on after we said ‘Cut; that’s a wrap and it’s over.’”
According to Mo’Nique, Perry recently called her and her husband to apologize. She secretly recorded the phone conversation, where he admitted what he did to her was wrong, she told Madison, who confirmed hearing the recording.
She told Madison that several mutual friends, including Rev. Al Sharpton and Kevin Hart, reached out to Perry directly after hearing the recording. But he did not want to “revisit” the conversation.
But now, after all that, Perry has agreed to meet with her.
Watch the full video below:
Source: Black Enterprise, Radar Online, Fox Soul
Tracy Morgan is heading back to broadcast. The Last O.G. star is set to guest on CBS’ The Neighborhood, marking his first live-action network comedy appearance since his seven-season, Emmy-nominated run on NBC’s 30 Rock. Morgan will play Curtis Butler, the frenetic younger brother of star Cedric the Entertainer’s character.
“Cedric the Entertainer and Tracy Morgan as brothers? Looking forward to one of the funniest family dinners in history,” said showrunner Meg DeLoatch in a statement.
Titled “Welcome to Bro Money, Bro Problems,” the episode will center on Morgan’s Curtis, a super lottery winner with a deep love of spending money, which includes showering people with hugely expensive gifts and experiences. The half-hour is expected to air on March 28, part of the already-renewed series’ fourth season.
Like many comedy stars of Morgan’s generation, his career largely began in broadcast comedy, first on Fox’s Martin and, later, with seven seasons on NBC’s Saturday Night Live. The upcoming appearance also marks a reunion for him and Cedric. The two stand-up comics starred together on early seasons of The Last O.G. Cedric has since stepped back from the cable comedy, which recently wrapped its fourth season on TBS, while Morgan has remained at the series’ center.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
Dave Chappelle will executive produce four new stand-alone comedy specials featuring comics personally selected by him as part of his Chappelle’s Home Team series for Netflix.
The first special will spotlight D.C. comic Earthquake (The Neighborhood), premiering on February 28. Donnell Rawlings, one of Chappelle’s longtime collaborators, will host the second special in the series on a future date.
“I’ve been doing this a long time and comedians like Quake and Donnell are not only friends but have inspired my own career. Anyone in the comedy community knows these names and knows their time to shine is long overdue. I am proud to be a part of this moment.” Dave Chappelle said in a statement.
Earthquake: Legendary will see the longtime comic discuss health and wealth, prostate exams, and disciplining kids.
The special is directed by Emmy and Grammy-Award winner Stan Lathan. Executive producers include Chappelle, Earthquake, Lathan, Rikki Hughes, and Jermaine Smith.
Earthquake currently appears in the CBS comedy The Neighborhood, Bounce networks’ Johnson, and South Side for HBO Max, in recurring roles.
He also has a development deal for a project with the CBS network.
Source: Deadline