No mercy? 50 Cent took his Twitter page today after news broke that his former? nemesis Ja Rule was sentenced to 2 years in jail.
Read from the bottom up, just like Ja Rule was doing before he had enough and decided to respond using some not safe for work language…
JANUARY 14–The Haiti earthquake has already triggered hundreds of thousands of donations to musician Wyclef Jean’s charitable foundation, which expects to raise upwards of $1 million a day in the disaster’s wake. However, Internal Revenue Service records show the group has a lackluster history of accounting for its finances, and that the organization has paid the performer and his business partner at least $410,000 for rent, production services, and Jean’s appearance at a benefit concert. Though the Wyclef Jean Foundation, which does business as Yele Haiti Foundation, was incorporated 12 years ago–and has been active since that time–the group only first filed tax returns in August 2009. That month, the foundation provided the IRS with returns covering calendar years 2005, 2006, and 2007–the only periods for which it has publicly provided a glimpse at its financial affairs. In 2006, Jean’s charity reported contributions of $1 million, the bulk of which came from People magazine in exchange for the first photos of a pregnant Angelina Jolie (the actress reportedly directed that the publication’s payment go to Jean’s charity, not her personally). As seen on the following pages from the foundation’s 2006 tax return, the group paid $31,200 in rent to Platinum Sound, a Manhattan recording studio owned by Jean and Jerry Duplessis, who, like Jean, is a foundation board member. A $31,200 rent payment was also made in 2007 to Platinum Sound. The rent, tax returns assure, “is priced below market value.” The recording studio also was paid $100,000 in 2006 for the “musical performance services of Wyclef Jean at a benefit concert.” That six-figure payout, the tax return noted, “was substantially less than market value.” The return, of course, does not address why Jean needed to be paid to perform at his own charity’s fundraiser. But the largest 2006 payout–a whopping $250,000–went to Telemax, S.A., a for-profit Haiti company in which Jean and Duplessis were said to “own a controlling interest.” The money covered “pre-purchased…TV airtime and production services” that were part of the foundation’s “outreach efforts” in Haiti. No further description of these services was offered, though the return claimed that “the fees paid are below market” and that the use of Telemax was the “most efficient way of providing these services.” The group’s tax returns also report “consultant” payments totaling $300,000 between 2005-2007, while the 2006 return reported nearly $225,000 in “promotion and PR” costs. These expenses are not itemized further in the IRS returns.
Click here to take a look at the tax records and more of what money has been spent on.
Floyd Mayweather Jr insists he is “thoroughly disgusted” by claims he is to blame for the collapse of a lucrative super-fight against Manny Pacquiao.
Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum announced on Wednesday night a fight between his fighter and Mayweather was dead in the water after negotiations broke down over an ongoing row over drug testing.
But Mayweather said: “Throughout this whole process I have remained patient, but at this point I am thoroughly disgusted that Pacquiao and his representatives are trying to blame me for the fight not happening when clearly the blame is on them.”
Filipino fighter Pacquiao issued legal proceedings last week following Mayweather’s insistence on ultra-stringent doping testing – namely the taking of blood samples close to the fight – for their proposed March 13 showdown in Las Vegas, claiming such actions were defamatory.
With the fight therefore in jeopardy, a mediator was brought in to attempt to solve the dispute this week. Arum claimed Mayweather and his team were unwilling to negotiate and the fight was off.
Mayweather, however, insists he has been – and remains – more than willing to compromise.
“First and foremost, not only do I want to fight Manny Pacquiao, I want to whip his punk ass,” he added.
“Before the mediation, my team proposed a 14-day, no blood testing window leading up to the fight. But it was rejected. I am still proposing the 14-day window but he is still unwilling to agree to it, even though this is obviously a fair compromise on my part as I wanted the testing to be up until the fight and he wanted a 30-day cut-off.”
Mayweather added: “I am ready to fight and sign the contract. Manny needs to stop making his excuses, step up and fight.”
Famed attorney Gloria Allred is looking to score against NBA great Shaquille O’Neal and she’ll head to the court (room), if that’s what it takes. Allred is representing Vanessa Lopez, a model who claims Shaq has been harassing her. “I can confirm I’m representing Vanessa Lopez.”
Shaq’s wife Shaunie has filed for legal separation with intent to divorce, after a rocky marriage that was beset by numerous reports of her husband cheating. Their next court hearing is March 22.
In 2008 Alexis Miller an Atlanta hip-hop artist, got a restraining order against O’Neal, claiming he threatened to hurt her after their romantic relationship dissolved. She also charged that he would call and breathe heavily into the phone plus said he would ruin her career.
Shaq, who now plays alongside LeBron James for the Cleveland Cavaliers, was recently rumored to be romantically involved with the fiancé of another NBA player.
And while O’Neal has been voted one of the NBA’s best 50 players ever, he’ll undoubtedly have trouble with Allred’s Hack a Shaq legal strategy, which usually leaves few secrets uncovered.
For Allred, this is her second known foray into the world of sports in recent months. She’s representing several women linked to Tiger Woods, including Rachel Uchitel, whose five-month affair with the golfer was exposed by the National Enquirer and caused a domino effect of Tiger mistresses being revealed, leading Tiger to take an indefinite break from golf.
Shaq’s estranged wife is executive producer of the VH-1 show “Basketball Wives,” which will show the benefits of being married to an NBA star and the downside, including worrying about husbands staying faithful.
Around 225,000 children living in Haiti undergo their daily lives as undocumented domestic workers, nothing more than modern-day slaves.
A study conducted by the Pan American Development Foundation found that Restaveks, poor children sent by their families to work at private residences, are more common that they were originally believed to be.
According to the study, the principle of the practice lies in the understanding that parent “turn over child-rearing responsibility to another household in exchange for the child’s unpaid domestic service.”
Most restavek children are sent from poor environments to another tat may be a bit less poor, with some given educational opportunities in exchange for the their servitude.
Two-thirds of all child slaves a female with most likely to be abused or raped by a member of their new family.
The study, which was conducted door to door, also found that 30% of households in Haiti held restavek children while 22% of all children surveyed were living away from home.
Haiti is the poorest nation in the western hemisphere. Over 78% of its people survive on less than $2 a day.
Producer Scott Storch is expected to be a major player in the musical comeback of rapper Shyne, who was deported to his native Belize after over nine years of incarceration.
Storch exclusively told AllHipHop.com of his plans to craft a new album for the former Bad Boy.
“Yeah, Shyne’s my man. I’ve been talking to him and I was talking to him all through his prison sentence. He’s always remained a loyal person to me,” he told AllHipHop.com.
He said that he and Shyne actually befriended each other while Shyne was in jail for a December 1999 shooting that left several people wounded.
“We became friends after he was already in [jail] and I found out he was a fan and he’s just a hell of a cool guy,” Storch continued. “I’m looking forward to doing, not just one record, but doing a chunk on his album.”
To read more on Scott Storch and his current work, including more details on Shyne’s album, read the two-part feature on Tuesday December 29 and Wednesday December 30. Storch also discusses his recovery from a cocaine addiction, his relationship to Timbaland, Lil Kim and his plans for a strong comeback, among other matters.
Tyra Banks has announced that the current and 5th season of The Tyra Show will be its last!
The former supermodel says, “This will be the last season of The Tyra Show. I’ve been loving having fun, coming into your living rooms, bedrooms, hair salons for the past 5 years.”
Instead, TyTy will be focusing on her production company, Bankable Studios, that is currently looking over several potential projects to bring “positive images of women to the big screen.”
Tyra has been encouraged by filmmaker Tyler Perry and of course Oprah Winfrey to “redefine beauty for women in film,” says a source. “With Oprah’s big announcement this year, I think that gave Tyra the confidence to get out there and follow her longtime dream of film producing.”
We don’t think TyTy has ever been lacking in the confidence department!
America’s Next Top Model and True Beauty will still carry on even though The Tyra Show is ending. Tyra writes to her fans on her website:
“There’s a lot cooking right now and a lot of fire burning in my heart. And I salute you my amazing family of viewers; without you there never would have been a Tyra Show. I really love you all.”
Earlier this month, the troubled grunge pioneer lost custody of Frances Bean Cobain, her 17-year-old daughter with late Nirvana star Kurt Cobain. Courtney’s rocker husband committed suicide in 1994 and pals close to her are afraid Love, 45, could suffer a similar fate after a Los Angeles judge stripped the singer of her parental rights and slapped her with a temporary restraining order preventing her from contacting the teen.
“I very much miss my daughter,” Courtney cried in a grammatically-challenged Facebook posting Dec. 14. “I know she knows how miserable i am….im despairing and so sad, so so sad. it pains me.”
With allegations of abuse and neglect abound, Frances is now living with her paternal aunt and grandmother.
“Everyone’s afraid losing Frances will send her into such a downward spiral of depression, she’ll try to take her own life,” shudders one Hollywood insider. “Despite all her troubles, Courtney loves her daughter very much. She’s often said that without Frances, she’d have nothing to live for. That’s why we’re so worried about her now.”
Courtney — who is broke and said to be “living off the kindness of strangers” — reportedly tried to kill herself when she lost custody of then 11-year-old Frances Bean in 2003. Authorites took the child away from Love just days after the rock star vandalized an ex-boyfriend’s home and overdosed on OxyContin. Courtney reacted by overdosing a second time.
“Courtney’s been a trainwreck for most of her life, but this latest drama with Frances could be the end for her,” the pal confides. “She’s tried to kill herself before and sounds really close to doing it again.”
MTV has named the Lady we call Gaga their “Woman of the Year” for the year 2009, which is nuts considering no one even knew what a Lady Gaga was about a year and a half ago. New York native Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta began the year as a hot hopeful and will end it as one of the biggest pop stars in the world. And there’s no one who challenged, provoked, entertained and, well, titillated us over the past 12 months quite like she has.
Yes, you saw that right: Tila Tequila claims to be engaged to girlfriend Casey Johnson, heiress to the Johnson & Johnson fortune and used vibrator extraordinaire. More on the couple that is sure to put the ‘fun’ in dysfunctional after the jump.
In a Ustream video, reality star Tila Tequila, decked out in black lingerie, announced to the world that she is engaged to the heiress. Flashing a 17-carat rock, Tila said her ring is:
…so fat you can’t even see it! So yeah, my baby got me this 17-carat ring. My baby takes care of me. Beat that J.Lo! Beat that Khloe and Lamar!
Alright, simmer down Tila. I’m not sure who’s turning who into a housewife in this relationship, but I guarantee this engagement promises to be an eventful one:
We’re what you call U-Haul lesbians, where you meet and fall in love and move in the next day and have kids.”
Pint-sized Tequilas? Now that’s a scary thought.
When did you realize you were gay?
Thirteen years ago I had a short-term affair with somebody — a woman — who I just cared for tremendously as a person, [I] was not really attracted to her, but the best way to describe it, [a romance] seemed like the next natural step in our relationship just because I cared about her a lot. Not once — it’s probably hard to imagine — but not once did it occur to me that I was a lesbian. Not once. I just thought, OK, I don’t think so, and went off and got married again for a short period of time. And a couple years after that, I entered my next foray into being with a woman, and the penny dropped at that point…
In your personal life with the people you’ve told, has it been a cakewalk?
Maybe a cakewalk on their side. It was absolute fucking agony for me, only in the respect that I was so fearful.Fearful of what?
Fearful of reaction, of judgment, of whatever I was sure was going to come….
When Prop. 8 was happening, did you consider coming out then?
No, no, that would have seemed opportunistic. I didn’t see the point in that. I may be wrong, but that’s where I was at that point. It was certainly just heartbreaking to see that go down — I didn’t expect that at all. I really thought we were going to be OK.
Meanwhile, on “Today,” Baxter told Matt Lauer “I am a lesbian and it was a later-in-life recognition.Some people would say, well, you’re living a lie and, you know, the truth is not at all. This has only been for the past seven years.”
She went on, “I’ve always lived a very private life. To come out and disclose stuff is very antithetical to who I am.”
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