“American Idol” premiered its 12th season on FOX this week with brand new judges. Nicki Minaj, Mariah Carey, and Keith Urban have officially joined Randy Jackson on the panel. Many people tune in to the season premiere to watch the train wreck auditions, but this season premiere was highlighted by the cat-fights between Nick Minaj and Mariah Carey. There was name calling, references to the movie, “Mean Girls”, and even some not-so-humble brags.
This clip from FOX shows one of the tense moments during the first day of auditions:
The Oxygen network has (thankfully) cancelled Shawty Lo’s controversial show, “All My Babies’ Mamas”, before it even started. The show was set to follow rapper, Shawty Lo, and his complicated relationships with his 10 baby mamas and 11 children. After Oxygen announced that the show would premiere in spring, there was immediate backlash from people who feel that the show portrays negative stereotypes of African-Americans. Two different petitions against the show, one on change.org and another from the Color of Change organization, both reached over 35,000 signatures.
After Oxygen shelved the show this week, Shawty Lo came out with a petition of his own to urge the network to bring the show back. In a statement to CNN, however, Oxygen seems pretty comfortable with their decision saying, “As part of our development process, we have reviewed casting and decided not to move forward with the special…We will continue to develop compelling content that resonates with our young female viewers and drives the cultural conversation.”
Norte Dame linebacker, Manti Te’o, has been Catfish’d.
The star player won America’s sympathy and support during the week of the BCS title game when Te’o’s backstory was shared all over the news. Te’o spoke about how he found strength after hearing that his grandmother and girlfriend had died in the same week last fall.
Well, the sports new outlet, Deadspin, has called a penalty on this story. After doing a background check on Te’o’s supposed “girlfriend”, Lennay Kekua, Deadspin found that the girl does not exist. The news outlet was able to obtain the Social Security Administration records of Te’o’s grandmother, but found that there is no record that Lennay Kekua ever died- or lived. The pictures of Kekua on social media sites are reportedly of a completely different young woman that has to relation to Te’o.
Even though Te’o told ESPN in October that Lennay was “the most beautiful girl [he had] ever met”, his statement to the media regarding the apparent hoax tells a different story.
“This is incredibly embarrassing to talk about, but over an extended period of time, I developed an emotional relationship with a woman I met online…We maintained what I thought to be an authentic relationship by communicating frequently online and on the phone, and I grew to care deeply about her. To realize that I was the victim of what was apparently someone’s sick joke and constant lies was, and is, painful and humiliating,” Te’o said in his statement on Wednesday.
It is still unclear who was behind the hoax. Notre Dame has told Deadspin that the “proper authorities” are investigating the situation.
Conrad Bain, who played the father on the 80’s sitcom, “Diff’rent Strokes”, died on Monday. Bain was 89 years old and died of natural causes according to his daughter, Jennifer Bain.
