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The award-winning actress proves that sometimes the most groundbreaking thing a Black woman can do is refuse to shrink herself to fit somebody else’s expectations.
There are actors who follow the rules Hollywood sets for them, and then there are those like Alfre Woodard who quietly rewrite the rules altogether. For nearly five decades, the award-winning actress has delivered unforgettable performances across film and television while carving out a lane that was never designed with Black women in mind.
The legendary star opened up about how confidence, persistence, and a refusal to accept limitations helped shape one of the most respected careers in Hollywood. In a recent cover story with AARP The Magazine, Woodard revealed that several of her most notable roles were originally written for “a curmudgeonly, older white guy.” 
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One example she gave was her role as Judge Miriam Shoat in the 1996 legal thriller Primal Fear. The actress laughed while reflecting on the experience, saying, “How do you think I have a career?” She added that it happened “five times” throughout her journey in the industry.
The revelation speaks volumes about the barriers Black actresses have historically faced in Hollywood. Rather than waiting for the perfect role written specifically for her, Woodard stepped into spaces where people never expected to see a Black woman thrive. 
According to People, the 73-year-old actress also recalled being warned early in her career by another Black actress about the industry’s disparities. 
“There’s no such thing as a Black film actress,” the actress cautioned her. 
Thankfully, Woodard decided that limiting belief was not going to become her reality. The actress credits much of her resilience to her upbringing in Tulsa during segregation. She shared that her father constantly reminded her that no one was better than she was. That confidence helped sustain her through long stretches, where auditions were nonexistent, and agents discouraged her from pursuing certain opportunities.
Today, Woodard’s resume speaks for itself. With four Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe, and an Oscar nomination under her belt, she remains one of the most versatile performers of her generation. Her latest project — Netflix’s The Boroughs — places her alongside veteran stars like Geena Davis, Bill Pullman, and Alfred Molina in a supernatural thriller centered around a retirement community.
Even after decades in the business, Woodard continues to move with purpose, grace, and intention. Her story is a reminder that sometimes the most groundbreaking thing a Black woman can do is refuse to shrink herself to fit somebody else’s expectations.
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Plot Twist! Alfre Woodard Reveals Most Of Her Iconic Roles Were Actually Written For A ‘Curmudgeonly, Older White Guy’ was originally published on madamenoire.com

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Wilson told theGrio the moment highlighted what she calls the “haves and have-nots” of publishing.
What started as a situation that left DMV-based YA author Lakita Wilson feeling powerless quickly turned into one that proved the strength of her community.
On Saturday, May 16, the author behind titles such as “Pretty Girl County,” “Last Chance Dance,” and “Be Real, Macy Weaver” prepared to appear at the Gaithersburg Book Festival when a mix-up nearly shut her out of the event.
After organizers had already billed her to appear, another author reportedly dropped out, triggering an error that removed Wilson’s name from the lineup.
“I found out the week of the festival while trying to get travel arrangements together. I was telling them, ‘No, that was a complete mistake. I would never drop out,’” Wilson told theGrio by phone on Thursday, May 21.
“Especially not something I had wanted to be part of for a really long time,” she continued. “At that moment, I had a choice to make. If you speak up about this, there could be backlash or consequences. But if I didn’t speak up for myself, I knew nothing would change.”
Unsure of what to do, the author took to social media in a post she admitted she never expected would garner as much attention as it did. The post quickly went viral, catching the attention of other writers like Tayari Jones, and ultimately prompted a phone call from the founder of the festival — Jud Ashman, the mayor of Gaithersburg himself — who personally asked her to still attend.
The Gaithersburg Book Festival did not immediately respond to theGrio’s request for comment. 
Wilson opened up to theGrio about the experience, her latest YA novel, “Pretty Girl County,” and why community keeps her going.
This Q&A has been edited and condensed for clarity. 
theGrio: “Pretty Girl County” is set in PG County — a very specific, very Black, very DMV world. What made you want to center that community in fiction, and what do you hope readers who’ve never set foot in Maryland take away from it?
Lakita Wilson: What really made me happy when I wrote was describing this place that I really felt very privileged to grow up in. I was born in Washington, D.C. My family is from Washington, D.C., but like many people from the nation’s capital, we migrated over to Prince George’s County. I’ve grown up around Black people my entire life where I was in the majority, but I didn’t realize what a privilege that was until I started traveling for work.
I didn’t really understand what a privilege it is to be in the majority and to see politicians and doctors and all of these people that look like you. When you grow up immersed with heroes that look like you, then you feel like there’s no limit to what you can do. But also I was seeing people who were choosing other paths too, and I didn’t have to box Black people into a category because we were everything.
That’s why the title of the novel was “Pretty Girl County,” because when I was growing up, Black girls would say, “Oh, we’re from Pretty Girl County.” We would always show that, like, “I see you when you’re shining.” That’s sort of a theme here. We are given the space to shine, and I wanted to show that. We have these communities that we build where we are really each other’s support system.
theGrio: Tell us more about what readers can expect from “Pretty Girl County”?
Wilson: This is pretty much the haves and have-nots of Prince George’s County, Maryland. I grew up in the wealthiest Black county in the United States, but I lived in the poorest city, and there was something about that. I always felt like I was straddling these worlds.
The story is about two girls that grew up in Seat Pleasant, Maryland, and they didn’t have a lot of money, but they’re best friends and they have the same kinds of dreams. Then one girl’s family comes into money and they move behind the gates in Bowie. She gets every material thing she’s ever wanted, and she still doesn’t get into her dream college.
The other girl wants to go to Spelman in the fall, but her family doesn’t have a lot of money, so she has to work all these after-school jobs and work in her dad’s indie bookstore to pay her way through school. Their friendship fractures because their lives have gone in two different directions, and they need each other to help each other get into school.
This was really my opportunity to highlight the Black community and how much value is in it — and HBCUs. There’s a lot of HBCU love in this book.
theGrio: Speaking of community, walk me through what happened at the Gaithersburg Book Festival and how your community, including other Black women writers like Tayari Jones, stepped in to help.
Wilson: I think it was a series of mistakes that just weren’t checked in time. This is my sixth book project, but I’m not the blockbuster author. I’m not the one where they’re sending me to the book event in a black car. When you are on the midlist, sometimes there’s no one else dreaming big for you. You have to dream big yourself.
This was the first year my publisher pitched me for the Gaithersburg Book Festival, and I was accepted. I had been looking forward to it for months. From what I understand, another author dropped out, and my name was mixed up. I accidentally was dropped out instead.
One thing I can say is that the community showed up for me in a huge way. Tayari Jones got in my inbox and said, “How can I help? What can I do?” Bigger authors in the industry were retweeting it and saying, “No, this has to be made right.”
And then the founder of the festival, the mayor of Gaithersburg, literally called me himself and said, “No, you come. You’re supposed to be here.” That meant everything to me. Sometimes you just need someone to say, “I care.”
I think this moment highlighted the haves and have-nots of publishing. When you have power, these things are able to be rectified a little bit faster. But when you don’t, sometimes you have to take a chance on yourself.
theGrio: That experience, and especially your phrasing it as the “haves and the have-nots of publishing,” seems to point to something bigger. What does the pipeline actually look like for Black women writing YA right now?
Wilson: Writing young adult contemporary — writing real-life stories — is very difficult right now for writers, especially marginalized writers. Talking about race right now is very difficult to sell. It’s very difficult to get marketing dollars for.
I feel like this is a time where we need representation more than ever, but when we don’t have a lot of Black women editors or Black women publishers who truly understand the need for these books, sometimes they just don’t get picked up.
And then when it comes time for marketing dollars, there are still conversations where people are like, “Well, do Black people really read?” If we don’t get a lot of marketing dollars, then we’re not going to be visible. I can do 3,000 TikTok dances, but that’s not going to equal a machine saying, “We are going to put all of our power behind you.”
A lot of things I did during the rollout for “Pretty Girl County,” I had to hustle and make connections on my own. I had to pitch myself to places to get my name out there and get the book in front of people.
There are so many critically acclaimed books that are really, really good books, and they just don’t have the marketing dollars or the support. If they don’t have the support, then it loses the support of bookstores, and we need the bookstores. It’s a pipeline that keeps hurting you.
But I do think community matters. When you have other authors, editors, and agents saying, “I don’t care how big the dream is, I’m still going to support you,” miracles happen every day.
theGrio: You posted recently about your editor being laid off — someone who had been with you through multiple books. You called it “a sucker punch.” How do you process losing that kind of relationship?
Wilson: I am taking it so personal because I just love her. She bought picture books from me, middle grade, young adult, nonfiction. She truly believed in me without anything. There was no sales record. There was nothing. It was just, “No, I love your writing, and we’re going to take this as far as we can take it.”
To have a champion like that is a game-changer for a writer. Working together for so long, we got to know each other so well. It became like a marriage in books. I trusted her with everything.
Regardless of marketing dollars or opportunities, those books were getting starred reviews. We were producing good work together. So to see someone in publishing work so hard and champion me in so many ways, and then have that taken away, it hurt. There is nothing like the relationship you establish with a longtime editor. I’ve been spoiled these last five years having the opportunity to work with her.
theGrio: Given all of that, what keeps you writing?
Wilson: I have a love-hate relationship with online discourse, because I think discourse is necessary. It allows a diverse selection of voices to be heard. But I also think we’re getting harmful takes.
I like to take all of those hot takes and fictionalize them. One of the things I’m working on now stems from the discourse around the value of Black women and who gets to decide someone’s value. Everybody has an opinion on Black women, but we should be able to assign our own value without all of these outside opinions.
I really enjoy putting all of these thoughts into fiction. I want to memorialize our thoughts and ideas as a community.
theGrio: So when a Black girl from PG County picks up “Pretty Girl County,” what do you hope she walks away feeling?
Wilson: I want a reader to pick the book up, read it, and walk away saying anything is possible, and the possibilities heighten when we support each other.
The closer we are in community, the more beauty we see, the more possibility we see, the more a dream becomes reality. Dream big. It’s possible. You’re going to get there, and have your community around you to support you as you go.
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Usha Seejarim has a show at Tribeca newcomer Southern Guild’s space Southern Guild: Erin Brady for Dan Bradica Studio and Southern Guild
Tribeca keeps cementing its status as the nexus of New York’s gallery scene. On Friday (15 May), more than 80 of the Lower Manhattan neighbourhood’s galleries will stay open late for Tribeca Gallery Night, from 6pm to 8pm. Three of the community’s newest entrants will join the fun. Tappeto Volante Gallery, which is also showing at Nada New York this week (until 17 May), will open a new space at 4 Cortlandt Alley, complementing its original location in Brooklyn. Now sharing a space with Oolong Gallery, Tappeto Volante Gallery’s first show in Manhattan will be dedicated to the work of the Milan-born, Brooklyn-based painter Angelo Vasta.

Also celebrating the opening of a new space in Tribeca is Gratin, which already operates a space on the Lower East Side. The gallery’s new space at 15 White Street will launch with a solo show for Mónica Mays, a Spanish artist whose sculptures explore the mythology of the American West.

Another Tribeca newcomer is Southern Guild, the South African gallery that recently relocated its US base from Los Angeles to New York. At 75 Leonard Street, two solo shows—dedicated to the South African conceptual artist Usha Seejarim and the South African painter Mmangaliso Nzuza—wrap up this week. The gallery also has a prominent group stand at Frieze New York.
The new gallery will open in David Lewis’s former space
The art collector and realtor, who has helped dozens of galleries relocate to Tribeca and co-founded the Wolf Hill artist residency, craves a Caravaggio but could do without art-fair small talk
The galleries, longtime fixtures of the Midtown and Chelsea gallery districts, will open directly across Broadway from each other
It’s the latest in a long line of galleries to open in the upscale New York neighbourhood

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Demonstrators gathered outside Ireland’s parliament after video of Yves Sakila’s final moments circulated online and fueled calls for accountability and transparency.

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside Ireland’s parliament in Dublin on May 21 after the death of Yves Sakila, a Congolese-born man who became unresponsive while being restrained by security guards outside a department store in the Irish capital.
According to Reuters, Sakila was detained on May 16 in connection with an alleged shoplifting incident on one of Dublin’s busiest shopping streets. Police said he later became unresponsive at the scene and was pronounced dead afterward. A post-mortem examination has been completed, but authorities said the findings are not yet being released for operational reasons.
Video footage of the incident, widely circulated on social media, showed Sakila pinned to the ground by several men for several minutes. In the footage, at least one individual appeared to place a knee on or near Sakila’s head or neck area. The images sparked outrage across Ireland and prompted comparisons to the 2020 killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, which fueled the global Black Lives Matter movement.
Protesters at the demonstration carried signs reading “Justice” and “No cover up, no delay,” while others demanded accountability and transparency in the investigation. Reuters reported that chants echoed outside Leinster House as crowds condemned what activists described as systemic racism and failures in Ireland’s treatment of immigrants and Black residents.
Black Coalition Ireland spokesperson Yemi Adenuga said the case exposed deeper tensions around immigration, integration and race relations in Ireland. She argued that the country has struggled to adequately support its growing immigrant population amid rising anti-immigrant sentiment in recent years.
David Kaliba, a former classmate of Sakila who also emigrated from the Democratic Republic of Congo, described him as a quiet and shy man who had reportedly experienced homelessness in recent years after previously working in IT.
Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin called the footage “deeply disturbing” and reiterated demands for a full and thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding Sakila’s death.
The incident comes as Ireland continues to grapple with increasing political tension around immigration, following anti-immigrant protests and riots that erupted in Dublin in 2023. Reuters reported that lawmakers across the political spectrum described the video as shocking and distressing, with growing calls for accountability as investigations continue.
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Serena Williams keeps proving she’s in a league of her own. Here are 30 photos that show exactly why we can’t stop watching.
UPDATE — Wednesday, May 13, 2026, 3:00 p.m. EST
Serena Williams was recently spotted out with her sister Venus at Netflix’s The Kevin Hart Roast special. It reminds us of just how fine she is, so we are reminiscing on all the body goals looks she’s served over the years. Through pregnancies, championships and public appearances, Serena’s snapback body gives self-proclaimed MILF’s like Kim Kardashian and Amber Rose a run for their money.

Serena looks flawless at The Kevin Hart Roast. She stood alongside her sister, Venus, and shared in a few laughs onstage as they presented Kevin with the G.O.A.T ring. In the clip, she jokes by saying, “We love you so much and as you know in tennis, love means nothing.” The crowd erupts in laughter.
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The jokes are funny, but we are most impressed that Serena hasn’t aged a bit and the body is still body-ing. She and her sister look phenomenal.
Let’s admire all the goodness that came before and after mommyhood. Trust that Serena always bounces back with quickness and she is outside to remind fans just how hot she is and will always be.
Serena Williams keeps proving she’s in a league of her own. Here are 30 photos that show exactly why we can’t stop watching.
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The post Look Back At It — A Retrospect Of 30 Photos That Prove Serena Williams Was Always That Girl And Still Is! appeared first on MadameNoire.
Look Back At It — A Retrospect Of 30 Photos That Prove Serena Williams Was Always That Girl And Still Is! was originally published on madamenoire.com

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The professional linebacker was released on bond and has an upcoming court date in July.
Philadelphia Eagles’ Nolan Smith Jr. was arrested for reckless driving and speeding in Georgia.
The 25-year-old linebacker was reportedly driving on the interstate at 135 miles per hour in a 70-mile-per-hour zone at 10:41 p.m., according to a statement from the Twiggs County Sheriff’s Office provided to ESPN. He was arrested last Friday (May 15) on charges of “speeding in excess of maximum limits” and reckless driving, per the Georgia Gazette, which first reported the story.
Smith was released on bond an hour after he was booked and is set to have his day in court on July 14. He may not have to appear in court if he pays the fines associated with the charges, per ESPN.
Smith isn’t the only player on his team to have caught reckless driving charges in recent years. Another Eagles player, Jalen Carter, who also played on the University of Georgia football team with Smith, pleaded no contest to misdemeanor reckless driving and racing in 2023, when he was still playing college football. He was charged in connection with a car accident where another Georgia football player, Devin Willock, and a recruiting staff member, Chandler LeCroy, were killed.
Smith joined the Eagles in 2023 after being selected by the team in the first round of the NFL draft. A Savannah, Georgia native, he played college football for the University of Georgia and helped the team earn two College Football Playoff championships.
In his two professional seasons, Smith has already become an NFL champion, winning the Super Bowl with the Eagles in 2024 against the Kansas City Chiefs.
No word yet on whether the arrest will affect the team’s upcoming season. Next week, the Eagles will begin their off-season schedule with voluntary organized team activities, or OTAs, before mandatory minicamps lead into the preseason.

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The Lite Brite Neon Studio in Kingston, New York, will host the new Native Neon residency Courtesy Lite Brite Neon Studio
The Lite Brite Neon Studio, a neon fabrication studio in Kingston, New York, is partnering with the Walker Youngbird Foundation to launch Native Neon, an artist residency programme supporting Indigenous artists working with neon for the first time. The studio is known for its collaborations with artists like Glenn Ligon, Theaster Gates and Jeffrey Gibson, and has produced work for institutions including the Museum of Modern Art and the Dia Art Foundation.
The multidisciplinary artist Sarah Rowe, an enrolled member of the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska, who is also of Lakota descent, is the inaugural recipient of the residency and has been awarded a $10,000 stipend and an approximately week-long residency. Rowe produces drawings, paintings and installations that emphasise light and scale, and has proposed creating an immersive environment that incorporates neon elements.
“I have always been fascinated by light and the idea of neon as a drawing with light,” Rowe tells The Art Newspaper. “I would love to see how my line work could translate to light itself, or how to use light as an actual medium for mark marking.”
The artist Sarah Rowe will be the inaugural resident in the Native Neon programme Photo: Bill Sitzmann.
Some of Rowe’s recent projects include the 2025-26 solo exhibition Water Ledger at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboyagan, Wisconsin, which brought together works exploring the ecological and cultural histories of waterways. Another is the 23,000-sq.-ft mural Starseeds (2023) in Omaha, Nebraska, that transformed a series of grain silos with murals inspired by Indigenous themes and the landscape of Nebraska.
The work produced in the residency will unfold naturally but will likely relate to the theme of the heyoka, a trickster figure in Lakota tradition and a recurring feature in Rowe’s work, and use colour to challenge perception. Rowe plans to create a “liminal” space that represents the “realm of the trickster”, she says.
“The ignorance of a process is somewhat of a superpower—to not know too much about it or get too wrapped up in the technical side of it,” she adds. “We’re talking about a design idea or a creature that could be transformed into light.”
Sarah Rowe, For My Fleabitten Diamond, 2022 Courtesy of Great Plains Art Museum
Lite Brite Neon was founded in 1999 in Brooklyn and moved its primary fabrication operations to a 15,000-sq.-ft facility upstate in 2017. It seeks to democratise neon as a medium, which is famously an expensive and technically specialised material.
“There’s a substantial barrier to entry for neon,” says Reid Walker, founder of the Walker Youngbird Foundation. “We wanted to find a way to not only pull back the curtain and demystify the process, but also to show Native artists how they can add this to their portfolio.”
Walker has served on the National Gallery of Art’s collectors committee and the Tate’s North American acquisitions committee, and serves on the board of the Phillips Collection. Through these experiences, he saw a persistent gap in the representation of Indigenous artists.
“You need someone in these rooms to help move the ball forward,” he says. “There are many artists coming from tribal areas that didn’t have the same opportunities as others.”
The foundation’s collaboration with Lite Brite Neon developed over several years, beginning when the foundation acquired Shared Horizon (Keepers of the Eastern Door) (2024) by the Seneca artist Marie Watt, a neon work fabricated at the studio. Watt also served as the primary adviser for the inaugural residency.
“Rowe’s multidisciplinary practice and site-immersive projects made her stand out immediately as uniquely poised to translate her ideas into neon,” Watt says. “The residency brings together two organisations doing important work not just to support artists, but to bring about social change, and she is exactly the kind of artist this programme was built for.”
The residency programme will begin in September and there are plans to exhibit the finished work in either an indoor or outdoor space in the nearby area.
The biennial’s curators were unaware of the statement in a work by Demian DinéYazhi’ prior to the exhibition preview
The unrestricted prize recognises important contributions to the artistic, environmental and economic sectors

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“Sinners” is being transformed into a haunted house experience at Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights in Orlando and Hollywood.
A new “Sinners” haunted house attraction will debut Aug. 28 at Universal Studios Orlando Resort and Sept. 3 at Universal Studios Hollywood as part of the annual Halloween Horror Nights event, according to Variety.
The experience is based on Ryan Coogler’s horror film, which became one of 2025’s biggest box office successes and earned multiple Academy Award nominations and wins. Set in the 1930s Mississippi Delta, the film follows twin brothers Smoke and Stack who are both played by Michael B. Jordan, as they return home to open a juke joint that becomes the site of a deadly vampire attack.
Universal said guests entering the haunted attraction will be transported into the film’s juke joint setting, where characters including Remmick, Bert, Joan, Sammie, Annie, Pearline, and Cornbread will appear throughout the experience. Visitors will also encounter the film’s vampires as they move through scenes inspired directly by the movie.
In a joint statement, producers Ryan Coogler, Zinzi Coogler, and Sev Ohanian said they were excited to see audiences continue connecting with the project through the live attraction.
“Sinners Halloween Horror Nights gives fans the chance to step even deeper into the world of the film,” the producers said, adding that the attraction allows fans to experience the music, atmosphere, and tension from the movie in a new format.
Universal Orlando creative executive Mike Aiello also described the project as a natural fit for Halloween Horror Nights, citing the film’s mix of horror elements and broad audience appeal.
This year’s Halloween Horror Nights event will run for 42 nights and include eight haunted houses, scare zones, live entertainment, and the Terror Tram attraction.
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The Wortham Theater Center, home to the Houston Grand Opera, which will sponsor a prize at this year’s Untitled Art Houston fair. Courtesy Houston Grand Opera

Untitled Art Houston, which launched last year, will expand the range of prizes available for exhibitors and their artists at the fair’s second edition in October. With the existing prizes from its debut edition, the monetary value of the prizes combined at this year’s edition could be as high as $113,200. The fair, which will return to George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston from 2 to 4 October, has announced new prizes with a range of local sponsors.
One of those Houston partners is the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, the top-ranked cancer hospital in the United States, which will commit at least $20,000 for its inaugural acquisition prize. The prize will support MD Anderson’s Art Experience Program, which facilitates the display of contemporary art in hospital facilities. Public Art of the University of Houston System will also launch a new acquisition prize, pledging $25,000 to purchase work from exhibitors at the fair. Founded in 1969, the programme oversees a collection of more than 800 works across five campuses in the university system.
Hotel Daphne, a boutique hotel in Houston’s The Heights neighbourhood, announced it will spend between $30,000 and $50,000 at the fair to acquire up to three works for its permanent collection to display at the hotel. The fourth new prize is sponsored by the Houston Grand Opera, which will award between $7,500 and $10,000 to an artist participating in the fair, as well as commissioning a new work and providing a residency with the opera during the upcoming rehearsal season.
“The evolution of our prize partnership programme reflects a broader commitment to artists that doesn’t end when the fair closes,” Michael Slenske, director of the Houston fair, said in a statement. “These partnerships create tangible pathways, whether through acquisition, institutional support or residency opportunities, for artists to deepen their practices and engage new audiences.”
Two residency prizes introduced for the fair’s inaugural edition will also continue: the PAC Art Residency Prize will offer a four-week residency in Houston tied to the fair’s 2027 edition, while the Casa Santa Ana Residency Prize will send an artist to Panama City for a six-week residency and exhibition. Last year’s prize winners were Teresa Serrano presented by Barbara Davis Gallery, and Ana Villagomez presented by Nino Mier, respectively.
Two additional prizes were given at Untitled Art Houston last year: the Hotel Lucine Artist Retreat Prize, which went to Shuling Guo, and the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston Commission Prize, which was awarded to Estefania Puerta.
The Texan fair’s inaugural edition got off to a strong start for dealers who brought more affordable works
The city’s first major art fair will bring around 60 galleries to Atlanta, organisers say
The organisers said “an overwhelming response” encouraged them to grow the number of stands beyond their initial plans

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Snoop Dogg delivered a headlining set at the newly opened Tailgate Beach Club in Las Vegas, with Tony Hawk also in the building.
Tailgate Beach Club, nestled inside the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, held its grand opening party last weekend. We had the pleasure of attending the festivities, which featured skating legend Tony Hawk, members of the Las Vegas Raiders, and a special headlining set from Snoop Dogg.
As reported over on CASSIUS, Tailgate Beach Club held its grand opening on May 16 in Las Vegas, and we were in the building to take all of the festivities in. As advertised, the dayclub offers a panoramic view of large LED screens for patrons to take in the sports and live music action, large pool areas, and cabanas for rental.
Among the celebrities in the building were San Fransciso 49ers stars George Kittle and Nick Bosa, along with other members of the team. Los Angeles Rams star Kyren Williams also hit the red carpet ahead of the party.
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The legend Tony Hawk, who was there with his skating team, graced the building with his presence and was alarmingly chill despite his vaunted legacy as one of the top thrill seekers out there.
Along with Hawk, several cast members of Love Island USA, including Daniela N. Ortiz Rivera, Ciaran Davies, Charlie Georgio, Courtney “coco” Watson, and Pepe Garcia, also showed up. Castmates from previous Love Is Blind seasons were also present.
With DJ Whoo Kid warming up the crowd ahead of Snoop Dogg’s arrival, the sunny Vegas skies made for a raucous but largely harmonious time at Tailgate. Snoop, who strolled in cool as ever, took to the stage and ran through several of his hits with Tha Dogg Pound’s Kurupt joining him for a lively performance of the “It Ain’t No Fun” track.
In all, Tailgate Beach Club has all the designs one could ask for, and, as a live performance venue, Snoop Dogg showed and proved that revelers visiting the space will no doubt enjoy all of the venue’s scheduled events to come.
To learn more about the club, click here.
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Photo: Getty Images (except where noted)
Snoop Dogg, Tony Hawk & More Ring In Tailgate Beach Club In Las Vegas was originally published on hiphopwired.com

21 Black Beauties From The ’90s Who’ve Been Fine Forever
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The 30 Most Beautiful Black Women In Hollywood
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Tadeusz Kantor (1915–1990). Emballage, Cricotage and Madame Jarema is on view at the at the Procuratie Vecchie in Venice Photo: David Levene
Almost 70 years after their work was first shown in Venice, two artists regarded as central figures in the 20th century Polish avant-garde—the artist, playwright and theatre director Tadeusz Kantor and the painter, sculptor and actress Maria Jarema—are the focus of a collateral exhibition during this year’s Biennale that highlights the interdisciplinary and intertwined nature of their work.
Organised by the Warsaw-based Starak Family Foundation at the Procuratie Vecchie on the northern side of St Mark’s Square, the exhibition, Tadeusz Kantor (1915-1990) Emballage Cricotage and Madame Jarema (until 22 November), brings together major paintings, monotypes, sculptural works, theatre props and costumes, culminating in a room dedicated to Kantor’s internationally renowned theatre piece, The Dead Class (1975).
Tadeusz Kantor, Bench (The Dead Class) (1975–82) Photo: Bozzy and Savary, courtesy of Galerie Kaléidoscope); Courtesy © Lech Stangret & Dorota Krakowska / Tadeusz Kantor Foundation
In the period following the end of the Second World War, Kantor and Jarema became key figures in Kraków’s avant-garde scene, co-founding the highly influential Cricot 2 theatre group in 1955. Work by Jarema was exhibited at the 1958 Venice Biennale, before her death later that year at the age of 49, while Kantor, who went on to attract significant international acclaim, featured in the Polish pavilion two years later.
According to the show’s curator, Ania Muszyńska, the Procuratie exhibition, “is first and foremost, an exhibition devoted to Tadeusz Kantor”, with over 60 works on display spanning “the key phases of his artistic practice”, from the 1950s through to his last painting series, produced between 1997 and 1990.
Tadeusz Kantor Photo: © Wojciech Plewiński
Describing him as, “one of the most important and widely recognised Polish artists of the 20th century”, Muszyńska says Kantor played a “truly foundational” role. “It was Kantor”, the curator explains, “through his extensive contacts in the West and the unique possibility of travelling internationally with Cricot 2, who became a conduit for new artistic ideas and tendencies, bringing them into Poland. He created Poland’s first informel painting, the first assemblage, the first performance, and the first happening.”
At the same time, Muszyńska says, “it was essential for me to present Maria Jarema as a figure fundamental to the formation of Kantor’s radically free and avant-garde understanding of art.” Works in the exhibition by Jarema include nine monotypes from the Starak Collection and specially reconstructed costumes based on designs Jarema produced for her first two theatrical collaborations with Kantor.
While Jarema’s work has not previously been as widely known as that of Kantor, she has recently begun to attract greater attention, with a large exhibition currently presenting her pieces in dialogue with those of acclaimed international peers at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw.
“Jarema’s importance to Kantor”, Muszyńska notes, “was fundamental. As a slightly older artist, she introduced him to the ideas of the pre-war avant-garde, of which she herself had been an active participant.”
Portrait of Maria Jarema Photo: © Courtesy of the artist’s family
The relationship between the two, the curator says, was unique, with Kantor usually seen as “an authoritarian figure” who “very rarely spoke of other artists with admiration and almost never acknowledged that another artist’s work had influenced his own.”
A particularly moving item in the exhibition for Muszyńska is a letter-poem written by Kantor to Jarema. “They were never romantically involved,” she explains, “yet they remained intensely connected and mutually fascinated by one another. Within the canon of post-war Polish art, these are two absolutely fundamental figures — not only as artists and personalities, but as creators who rebuilt the language of the avant-garde after the catastrophe of the Second World War.”
Art historian Andrey Sarabyanov is planning a new exhibition of forgotten pieces by Kandinsky, Rodchenko and Stepanova
Kandinsky and Rodchenko wanted to bring art to the masses by sending it to regional museums, now much of it has come back to Moscow

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The deal comes as her Netflix crime drama ‘Nemesis’ sits at No. 1 in the U.S. and 15 other countries.
Courtney A. Kemp is taking her talents to Apple TV+. The Emmy-nominated creator behind the “Power” universe and the hit Netflix crime drama “Nemesis” has signed a new multiyear overall deal with Apple TV+ through her production company End of Episode.
As theGrio previously reported, Kemp’s new show “Nemesis” was generating serious buzz ahead of its Netflix premiere, with fans of the “Power” universe called in to expect something equally high-stakes, and Kemp’s career arc has been one of the most studied in Black television, from her record Starz deal through her Netflix expansion. Deadline broke the news exclusively Thursday morning, reporting that the deal will see her develop and create series exclusively for the platform, with Apple also receiving a first-look on film projects.
“I’m so grateful to Zack [Van Amburg], Jamie [Erlicht] and Matt [Cherniss] for welcoming me to the Apple family,” Kemp said in a statement. “With their impeccable taste and strong support for their creators’ visions, Apple is the perfect place to develop my next projects. I couldn’t be more thrilled to bring my audience to Apple for more hard-hitting, high-stakes, multilayered stories that uplift the culture, yet reach beyond to universal viewership.”
The announcement comes at a significant moment in her career. “Nemesis,” the Los Angeles-set cat-and-mouse crime drama she co-created with Tani Marole, is currently the No. 1 series in the U.S. and 15 other countries on Netflix. “Power: Origins,” a continuation of the “Power Book III: Raising Kanan” storyline and part of the “Power” franchise she built from scratch, is currently shooting in New York.
Kemp built the “Power” universe over nearly a decade on Starz, eventually generating four spinoffs — “Power Book II: Ghost,” “Power Book III: Raising Kanan,” “Power Book IV: Force” and “Power: Origins” — all produced through End of Episode. She signed with Netflix in 2021, with “Nemesis” being the first major creative output from that deal. With the move, she now brings that momentum to her third major streaming home.
Apple notes that Kemp will continue using her platform to champion inclusion and create opportunities for underrepresented voices in the industry.

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The Tate Britain Garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2026 featuring Barbara Hepworth’s Bicentric Form (1949)
Photo: Jason Ingram
Visitors to the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Chelsea Flower Show in west London can get a sneak preview of Tate Britain’s new garden which will feature key sculptures from the collection.
The Tate Britain Garden offers “a taster of the forthcoming Clore Garden at Tate Britain”, designed by Tom Stuart-Smith and scheduled for completion in 2027. After the show, the garden will be transferred to Tate Britain on Millbank.
At the heart of the RHS Chelsea garden is Bicentric Form, a 1949 sculpture by Barbara Hepworth that was the first work Tate acquired by the artist. “Hepworth was very progressive in showing her work in a garden context and we are using very bold textures and forms as a counterpoint to the dark, smooth stone of the sculpture. I think she would approve,” says Stuart-Smith in a statement.
Tate Britain director Alex Farquharson tells The Art Newspaper that the “sculptures [featured in the final garden] will go from classic modern to contemporary; they will be [located] there for years and years. In each case, there will be this beautiful dialogue with planting. The whole garden will reframe the building.” He says that the museum’s Millbank entrance will close shortly.
“Previewing plant species that will be seen in the Clore Garden, The Tate Britain Garden showcases planting that thrives in central London’s now virtually frost-free environment and rising temperatures, such as Mediterranean fig trees and foliage like Schefflera shweliensis, native to the Eastern Himalayas,” says a Tate statement. A wildlife pond also forms part of the design.
Installation of Barbara Hepworth’s limestone sculpture, the first work from the national collection to be exhibited in a garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show
©Tate Photography (Sonal Bakrania)
Recycled elements are a prominent feature. Existing stone from the Millbank site has been cut and repurposed as paving while a central bench is cast from reused materials, including the paving from Tate Britain and locally sourced cockleshells from the Thames Estuary.
Roland Rudd, the Tate’s chair of trustees, told The Times last year that the new garden will be transformative. “At the moment, let’s be honest, when you go to Tate Britain it is awful,” Rudd said. “You have got these rows of bushes [at the front] and they look very old, they look manky. People tend to relieve themselves behind them.” Farquharson says on the forthcoming changes: “We’re absorbing the taxi rank but you’ll still be able to be dropped off… the taxis will all move to the side. There will be a section of the garden in front of the steps.”
The Tate Britain garden at Chelsea is funded by the Clore Duffield Foundation and Project Giving Back, the grant-giving charity that funds gardens for good causes (the Clore Garden on Millbank is backed by the Clore Duffield Foundation and the Julia Rausing Trust). In the meantime, the museum will open Living Gardens, a year-long free display from 15 June, that will bring together works inspired by horticulture, featuring artists such as Derek Jarman and Christine Kühlenthal.
The galleries are set to reopen in May after funding goals were reached
Stephen Deuchar, director of the Tate Britain, talks about the new thematic displays and future major survey shows of New British art, Blake and Spencer
Scholar with an international outlook who was director of the Henry Moore Foundation and executor of his mother-in-law, Barbara Hepworth
British artist Hew Locke has been selected for Tate Britain’s Duveen Galleries commission, while Barbara Hepworth gets a survey at Tate St Ives

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The hits made them stars, but the deep cuts made us fans! See if you know any of these “B-Side Bangers” by The Notorious B.I.G.
With every passing year since 1997, hip-hop as a whole has never quite come to grips with the premature loss of rap king The Notorious B.I.G., also known to many simply as Biggie.
As we come to a day where many will be remembering his great gift of lyricism, there will never be a birthday that goes by where we don’t wonder how much greater the game would be right now with Christopher Wallace still around.
RELATED: B.I.G. Forever – 25 Deep Cuts To Honor Biggie On The Anniversary Of His Death
With just two studio albums to his name, one he unfortunately died just two weeks prior to its release, you’d be surprised at how much he was able to record paired with the expertise he brought to each and every session. Guest features, mixtape drops and even live performances all were good enough to be released as singles; thankfully, it resulted in a vault of deep cuts to balance out the chart-topping singles and greatest hits we all know and love.
As we join rap fans today in celebrating Biggie’s would-be 54th birthday (May 21), take a bigger look into his catalog by checking out a roundup of his best deep cuts. Even though his time here was brief, this list stands as a testament that he had so much more to give.
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*Contains a sample from “Still Can’t Stop the Reign (Album Version)” by Shaquille O’Neal.
*Contains sample from “My Downfall” off Life After Death (1997).
*Contains samples from “You’re Nobody (Til Somebody Kills You)” off Life After Death (1997) and “Come On” off Born Again (1999).
*Contains a sample from “Stop The Brakes” (1994). It’s believed that 2Pac recorded his verse just hours before the infamous 1994 shooting at Quad Studios.
*Contains sample from “Niggas Bleed” and “Somebody’s Gotta Die” off Life After Death (1997).
*Includes previously unreleased verse.
*Contains a sample of “Dead Wrong” from Born Again (1999).
*Contains sample from the original version of “The What” off Ready To Die (1994).

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May 21, 2026
The leading civil rights group is urging Black student-athletes to reconsider playing in Southern states where new congressional maps could be redrawn.
The NAACP is leading the call for Black athletes to boycott Southeastern Conference (SEC) schools as Republican-controlled southern states redraw their voter maps, thus diluting Black voting power following the Supreme Court’s recent decision to gut the Voting Rights Act.
National backlash over voting rights intensified last month following the SCOTUS’ ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, which struck down a map with two majority-Black districts as racial gerrymandering in The Pelican State. As a result, Republican-led states like Alabama and Florida quickly redrew congressional lines, giving GOP congressional candidates an advantage ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. Voting rights advocates argue that by redrawing political maps, Republicans are eliminating majority-Black districts. In response, the NAACP launched a campaign on Tuesday calling on Black student-athletes to boycott colleges in Southern states where new congressional maps have the potential to be redrawn.
“The NAACP will not watch the same institutions that depend on Black athletic prowess to fill their stadiums and their bank accounts remain silent while their states strip Black communities of their voice,” NAACP National President and CEO Derrick Johnson said in a statement, according to NBC News.
The civil rights organization is urging Black recruits to withhold their commitments from universities primarily in the NCAA’s Southeastern Conference, which includes schools in Tennessee, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, and Georgia.
The Supreme Court’s monumental decision in Louisiana v. Callais unleashed a tidal wave throughout the South. Since then, Republican states in the South, all of which have at least one majority-Black district, have been working to reset the maps in their favor. Tennessee, for instance, became the first Southern state to pass a new redistricting map that eliminated a majority-Black district in Memphis. The hastily drawn map is among several working their way through state legislatures across the South that are expected to wipe out districts representing majority-Black areas that overwhelmingly vote for Democratic leaders.
In light of the redistricting backlash, comedian and political commentator D.L. Hughley has also voiced support for an SEC boycott. During an interview with The Tennessee Holler, Hughley urged Black athletes not to support states opening the door for racial gerrymandering, which he described as a new era of Jim Crow.
“I don’t understand why a 4/5-star athlete would go to a school where the state is ushering in a new iteration of Jim Crow,” he said. “If you can’t run in a state, don’t run in a state.”
Hughley called for Black college athletes to boycott SEC programs, citing the conference’s $1.03 billion in revenue, driven by Black football and basketball players.
“If you’re a four- or five-star athlete, you can get NIL money anyway. You don’t need to go there. If it was up to the southern states, they would still be having slave labor, which is what they used athletics for. If athletes stop going to the Tennessee and the Louisiana, the top-tier athletes, ESPN and presidents of schools, chambers of Congress would start having conversations.”
He continued, “Let’s be clear. What they’re doing now is ushering in a new iteration of Jim Crow. It’s kind of cliche to say it, but they’re actually living up to it now. They made the ruling not even a week ago, and you see Louisiana and Tennessee and other states jumping on it. You can’t tell it’s not about race when one group of people thinks that they have the right to tell another group of people the parameters for their vote.”
RELATED CONTENT: NAACP Sues Elon Musk’s xAI Over Alleged Pollution From Southern Data Centers

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