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April 18, 2026
‘ I’ll be performing live with Clark Atlanta and Morehouse Drumline,’ T.I. posted on social media.
On April 18, the “Rubber Band Man,” T.I., will be taking the field for Atlanta United’s HBCU Night at his hometown’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The evnt stats at 7 p.m. ET.
The recording artist filmed a video clip for sports and Hip-Hop fans and invited them to take in his performance at the Georgia venue.
“T.I., the king, here, letting you know, April 18th, you can catch me at the Mercedes-Benz Dome, man. You know what I’m saying? The stadium. It’s going to be HBCU Night, and I’ll be performing live with Clark Atlanta and Morehouse Drumline.”
“So, hey, I suggest you get your ticket right now, man. It’s going all the way down. 
A-Town, you know what’s happening.”
A post shared by TIP (@tip)
Atlanta United FC will play Nashville SC.
Providing the musical backdrop for the game will be CAU’s “Mighty Marching Panthers” Marching Band and Morehouse’s “House of Funk” Marching Band throughout the night, as they will also back the Atlanta rapper during his show, where he is expected to perform many of his hits, HBCU Gameday reports.
Before the game even starts, the bands will join the Supporters March from Lot 17 and be in the Supporters Section before joining T.I. for the halftime show.
In addition to T.I.’s performance, Atlanta will be treated to the voice of FlyGuy DC, also an alumnus of Clark Atlanta. For the first time, he will be the in-game host for Atlanta United. Before the game, he will be joining club host Joe Freihofer on the pre-match show.
A post shared by Fly Guy DC The G.O.A.T. (@iamflyguydc)
A panel, “ATL UTD HBCU Night: Conversations & Careers in Sports Panel presented by Truist,” has also been planned and it will feature prominent HBCU alumni.
The discussion will be moderated by Vern Gwynn, vice president of Workplace Banking Financial Empowerment at Truist, and will feature a dynamic panel of industry leaders and creatives, including Keenan Litmon, co-owner of Cam Kirk Studios; Porchia Marie, ATL community marketing manager at Foot Locker; Taylor Polidore Williams, actress in “Beauty in Black,” Netflix’s #1 most-watched show; Ardelia Austin, senior manager of Entertainment & Live Events; and Ivy Scott, Atlanta United’s Integrated marketing operations director.
Tickets can still be purchased by using this link.
RELATED CONTENT: Winston-Salem State University’s Red Sea of Sound Marching Band Will Perform At LA Clippers-San Antonio Spurs Game
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Learn the cyber safety basics that can help you avoid fake delivery alerts, toll scams, and account warnings. Read now to protect your phone and your money.
Cyber safety begins with knowing that the most dangerous link on your phone isn’t from a stranger, assuming the number they’re contacting belongs to the person they’re looking for, it’s from a number you don’t recognize that sounds exactly like USPS, your bank, or the IRS. The FTC confirmed that in 2024, consumers reported $470 million in losses from text message scams, more than five times the 2020 total. 
People in low-income communities can face heightened exposure to these scams due to existing financial access gaps and distrust of institutions. When a scammer posing as a bank or government agency sends a threatening message about your account, the pressure to respond quickly feels real. Knowing what to do when it comes to cyber security threats is the single most effective defense available.
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Cyber safety is your ability to use connected devices, such as your phone, laptop, or apps, without handing over your personal information, money, or account access to criminals operating behind convincing-looking messages and websites. Most people think that type of cyber crime is something that just happens to corporations or tech companies.
The reality is that the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center receives more than 3,000 complaints every day from ordinary people who got hit through email, text messages, and social media.
Text-based attacks have a specific name: smishing, which blends “SMS” and “phishing.” Smishing is now the fastest-growing form of consumer fraud in the U.S., according to the FTC, and it works because mobile users are more likely to trust a text than an email and less likely to scrutinize a shortened link on a small screen.
These scams follow predictable patterns, such as fake package delivery notifications claiming your shipment failed and asking you to click a link to reschedule, fake toll alerts saying you owe a small amount and include a link to pay, or even scams like bank account warnings claiming suspicious activity and asking you to verify your credentials immediately. All of them count on urgency, as they want you to click before you think.
The FBI has warned that smishing campaigns can move rapidly from state to state. A toll scam that targeted one region rolled to new states within weeks, collecting financial and personal data from people who assumed the message was legitimate because it referenced a real toll service by name. Scammers can scrape that detail easily and leave you in a vulnerable position. 
The most reliable protection against smishing is to create a habit, not depend on an app. When you receive an unexpected text with a link, the correct move is to go directly to the company’s official website or app rather than touching the link in the message. If your bank genuinely needs to reach you, the same information will be waiting inside your account app when you log in independently. 
The FBI recommends never clicking links in unsolicited texts and always looking up official contact information rather than using what the suspicious message provides. The second step is the one people skip most often. Scammers count on you using their number or their link to “verify,” but that verification goes directly to them, not any real company.
If you must, two-factor authentication on your email and financial accounts adds a critical layer that stops most credential-theft attacks even if a scammer does get access to your password. Enable it everywhere it’s available, and use an authenticator app rather than SMS codes where possible, since a SIM swap attack can route your text-based codes to a scammer’s device.
Clicking a bad link can deliver more than a phishing page. Some links install malware that locks your device or encrypts your files and demands you to pay to restore access. This sort of ransomware affects individuals and small businesses at rates most people don’t realize. 
Understanding Ransomware Recovery matters if you’ve already had a device compromised, because paying a ransom doesn’t guarantee your data returns and often marks you as a target for repeat attacks.
Good cyber safety practice reduces your attack surface without requiring technical expertise. Never reply to a suspicious text, even to ask the sender to stop; responses confirm that your number is active and invite more contact.
Forward suspicious texts to 7726 (SPAM) to report them to your carrier, and file a complaint with the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov if you’ve been targeted or lost any money.
Also, keep your phone’s operating system up to date. Carriers and manufacturers patch security vulnerabilities regularly, and staying current closes doors that older software leaves open. An unpatched device is significantly more vulnerable to malware delivered through bad links.
Look for urgency, unexpected requests, vague sender information, and links that don’t match the company’s actual domain. Legitimate businesses don’t text you to ask for passwords or account verification through a link. When in doubt, go to the official website directly rather than engaging with the message at all.
You should try to disconnect from Wi-Fi and mobile data immediately. You also need to change the passwords for any accounts you used to enter credentials, run a security scan on your device, and contact your bank if you entered any financial information. Report the incident to the FTC through reportfraud.ftc.gov. 
Cyber safety requires consistent habits, knowing what to look out for, and a willingness to slow down when a message creates a sense of urgency. The $470 million lost to text scams in 2024 came from people who were busy, distracted, or trusting. Protecting yourself means protecting your money, identity, and your family’s financial security.
Continue browsing articles on this site for more on internet safety, technology, and community topics worth bookmarking.

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April 18, 2026
Blavity is coming to your TV through a new partnership with OTTera.
 Blavity Media Group (BMG), the online platform for Black culture and millennial‑driven content, is expanding into connected TV advertising through a new partnership with OTTera.
The partnership adds connected TV (CTV) placements to BMG’s portfolio for the first time. Through OTTera’s network, advertisers can now distribute ads across more than 600 live streaming platforms and 2,000 FAST channels, expanding its reach to nearly 100 million users on platforms including Samsung, Vizio, Hisense, Sony, and Roku. 
Additionally, the partnership will bring sports content to the BMG platform, leveraging OTTera’s FAST channel portfolio of live and on-demand programming.
Morgan DeBaun, the CEO and founder of Blavity, underscored how the partnership will broaden the company’s reach.
“Black culture has never been confined to one screen, and neither should the brands that want to show up authentically for our audience. This partnership with OTTera means that for the first time, a brand can walk into BMG and leave with a campaign that reaches Black America from their morning scroll to their living room couch. That is a first in Black media, and we built it,” said DeBaun in a statement. 
Blavity Media Group reaches over 32 million monthly users across its various brands, including Blavity, AfroTech, 21Ninety, Travel Noire, Home & Texture, and Shadow & Act.
“Blavity has built a cultural engine that brands trust, and this partnership extends that power into connected TV at scale. Together, we’re creating a new standard—where reaching Black audiences isn’t fragmented across platforms, but unified across every screen,” said Stephen Hodge, CEO and co-founder of OTTera.
OTTer has experience working with Black-owned media platforms. The company has partnered with AfroLandTV, a streaming service that offers Nollywood films and shows from across the African continent, and the  Remy Network, a streaming platform owned by rapper Remy Ma. 
The partnership with Blavity Media Group marks OTTera’s largest partnership with a Black-owned media company to date.
Last month, BMG announced a new partnership with The Gathering Spot (THG), the private social club for Black business professionals. The partnership aims to connect brands with influential Black business professionals. 
LATEST POSTS: Blavity Media Group Named Exclusive Sales And Activation Partner For The Gathering Spot

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Gus Casely-Hayford, the director of the new V&A East Museum in east London © Lewis Vorn
The V&A brand is expanding with the launch of the long-awaited V&A East Museum in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, east London, this month. Its director, Gus Casely-Hayford, is promising “a fresh look at contemporary culture through the V&A’s global collections”.
The new five-storey building, due to open on 18 April, joins the V&A East Storehouse, which opened in 2025, and will sit alongside venues for the BBC, Sadler’s Wells East and London College of Fashion, which together make up the East Bank cultural quarter. The V&A East Storehouse, which opened last May, has already drawn more than 500,000 visitors. The original Victoria and Albert Museum was founded on Pall Mall in 1852 and moved to South Kensington in 1857.
Casely-Hayford declines to give a visitor figure target for the first year of V&A East but points out that research conducted in the first six months of opening showed that more than 31% of visitors to V&A East Storehouse were between the ages of 16 and 35, more than 45% of UK audiences were from minority ethnic groups, and 55% of visitors were Londoners.
British artist Thomas J. Price’s 18ft bronze sculpture A Place Beyond (2026) greets visitors on the forecourt of the museum David Parry/PA Media Assignments
The new museum, Casely-Hayford says, is for “everyone”; he describes how his team has focused on creating open and public spaces and programming that meets the needs of younger audiences, those living, working and studying in the four Olympic boroughs (Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest), as well as people who “may not have felt comfortable in museums previously”.
“At V&A East, and across our two sites, we’re deeply embedded in our local communities,” Casely-Hayford says. “We’re locally rooted with a global outlook. We’ve created our sites with and for our audiences and have spoken to and consulted with over 30,000 local people and creatives through education and career initiatives, preopening events and activities, working in partnership with organisations and collectives across east London.”
Every aspect of the new institution has been developed in collaboration with the V&A East Youth Collective, a paid consultation programme for young people living, working and studying across east London. “Our V&A East Youth Collective community has helped shape everything from the design and content of V&A East Museum’s Why We Make galleries and our shops, to ticket prices, the V&A East brand, creative commissions, staff uniforms, co-productions with local artists and creatives, and much more,” Casely-Hayford says.
Entrance to V&A East Museum’s Why We Make galleries © David Parry for the V&A
The Why We Make galleries feature more than 500 objects from across the V&A’s collection, highlighting themes from representation to wellbeing, justice and environmental action. “The gallery themes are topical and based on what our audiences told us that mattered to them: identity, representation, health and wellbeing, and how we all have a responsibility to create a more sustainable future for everyone,” Casely-Hayford says.
The section “Breaking Boundaries”, for instance, examines how creatives have tried to push disciplines in new directions, helping break down barriers of gender, race and class; it features radical ballet costumes by the performance artist Leigh Bowery and his creative collaborator, corset maker Mr Pearl.
V&A East will also launch a rolling six-month commissions programme called New Work, debuting pieces by artists including Tania Bruguera of Cuba, who has made a stained-glass installation, Carrie Mae Weems and the Turner Prize-nominated artist Rene Matić. A major sculptural installation by Thomas J. Price depicting a Black woman will greet visitors at the entrance (the next series of creative commissions will be revealed later this year).
Still from Carrie Mae Weems’ V&A East New Work commission, The Long Goodbye. On view in the Film Room inside V&A East Museum’s Why We Make galleries © David Parry for the V&A
The museum opens with the exhibition The Music Is Black: A British Story (18 April-3 January 2027), charting the influence of Black British music from 1900 to the present day through music trailblazers such as Winifred Atwell, Janet Kay, Stormzy and Little Simz. The show also highlights the impact of the Windrush generation and explores Caribbean influences on the UK music scene.
In addition, the exhibition includes works from important Black British artists such as Sonia Boyce, Tam Joseph, Vicky Lindo, and Bill Brookes and Frank Bowling. Sokari Douglas Camp’s recent sculpture Red Coats and Flags (2023) traces connections between African musical masquerades, Caribbean carnival traditions and carnival celebrations around Britain.
“This is our soundtrack, the music that over the course of the last century helped to shape our nation,” Casely-Hayford says. “You could say this is a story of diversity but that would be to not give it its due … this is our shared story, eloquently, exquisitely crafted into poetry. I hope it is an example of how culture has and can draw us together, build links across time and geography that are meaningful and lasting.”
Inside V&A East Museum’s inaugural exhibition, The Music is Black: A British Story © David Parry for the V&A
In 2020, Casely-Hayford wrote an influential opinion piece in The Art Newspaper about tackling inequality in the arts following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, saying: “I still find it hard to fathom that we have never formally and robustly confronted our colonial past.” His aim, he added, was to “build a sector that embraces and benefits from the glorious diversity of our nation”.
He reinforced this message last year, telling The Guardian that V&A East will be “unapologetically diverse”. Whether museums today can satisfy all audiences is debatable, but Casely-Hayford stresses that “we are proud to celebrate the cultural and demographic complexity of the people we serve. It is what we were created to do.”
When asked about the most challenging ethical issue museums face today, Casely-Hayford says: “Being funded through public subsidy in a time when resource is tighter than in recent memory, we must demonstrate how we offer distinct and important value to our audiences.” V&A East is free to access with charges for temporary exhibitions.
The museum is launching as debate intensifies around whether national UK museums, which offer free entry to all, should start charging visitors, especially foreign tourists. “We believe it’s fundamental that access to the UK’s national collections and institutions remains free; we don’t want to put up barriers or make accessing museums prohibitive,” he says.
Outside V&A East Museum’s Why We Make galleries © Hufton+Crow
Asked about funding in general, Casely-Hayford points out that the V&A overall is partially funded by the UK government alongside income generated from across its venues. “To supplement income that will be generated by the V&A and other sources of funding, an uplift to our ongoing grant in aid was agreed in 2020-21 as part of the business case approved by the UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport,” he says. This extra sum of £9m sustains the programme of exhibitions, events and education work across all the V&A museums, as well as maintaining collections and permanent galleries and displays.
According to figures provided by the Greater London Authority (GLA), London’s governing body, the total cost of V&A East is £115m. The GLA has meanwhile committed to cover operational funding gaps of up to £12m over 15 years for both the V&A Storehouse East and the new museum, if required.
V&A East Museum does not have a separate collection—displays are drawn from the V&A’s overarching collection—nor its own acquisition budget, adds Casely-Hayford. “Acquiring items for display at our two V&A East sites, and that speak to V&A East’s vision and mission, is a strategic collecting priority for the V&A.” New acquisitions include Yinka Ilori’s Captain Hook armchair from the series If Chairs Could Talk (2015).
• The Music is Black: A British Story, V&A East, 18 April-3 January 2027
The Victoria and Albert Museum outpost is now due to open in 2025 but its open storage space is still on track for 2024
From the idyllic Slovenian countryside to the heart of Los Angeles, here are ten of the biggest new and expanded museums opening this year
The British cultural historian will take up his role at the Victoria and Albert Museum’s new branch in the spring
The institution will join venues for the BBC, Sadler’s Wells East and London College of Fashion in the new East Bank cultural quarter

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Mary Mary’s Tina Campbell and husband Teddy Campbell are reportedly headed for divorce after over two decades of marriage.
Love has come to an end for Trecina “Tina” Campbell — one half of gospel duo Mary Mary — and her husband Glendon “Teddy” Campbell. According to court documents obtained by PEOPLE, Teddy filed for divorce with the Los Angeles County Superior Court on April 13. Per TMZ, the drummer and singer cited irreconcilable differences as the reason for the split. 
The couple had been together for more than two decades, marrying in August 2000, but have been separated since June 2024, PEOPLE noted. Teddy has asked the court to grant him “child visitation” and “parenting time” for their two minor children, Santana Campbell, 13, and Glendon Theodore Campbell II, 16. Spousal support was marked as “for future determination,” according to documents, which also note that the couple do not share any “quasi-community property.”
RELATED CONTENT: Erica And Tina Campbell On Why It’s Time To End Reality Show
Neither Tina nor Teddy has publicly commented on the divorce.
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The former couple previously faced a public cheating scandal in 2014, when Teddy was accused of infidelity. The situation was documented on the WeTV reality show Mary Mary, which aired from 2012 to 2017. Teddy admitted in one episode that he had multiple affairs behind the songstress’s back, and was dealing with “guilt,” from his actions.
Tina also opened up on the show about the emotional weight of Teddy’s cheating.
“I don’t want to hold on to somebody I can not trust,” she said in one clip from the show in 2014. “I never kissed another man. I never went out with another man, I’ve never entertained the wrong conversation, I never cheated in my head, I never did anything. I was 190 percent committed to that man and this is what you did? Every time I was gone you stole my life away from me. I’m angry.”
Following the infidelity, the couple reconciled and were trying to work on their marital issues. Tina Campbell revealed that Teddy had an affair with a woman who once worked for her and was “like a godmother” to her children during an interview on Steve Harvey in 2015.
“It broke my heart,” Tina said on the show at the time. “It devastated me and I spazzed out. I destroyed three cars, I cut up and crashed up and tried to stab and plotted murders and all kind of crazy stuff because I was angry, and I started doing all of that. I said I’m practicing dying every day. Either I’m going die wrong or live right, and so we’ve been working on living right.”
Divorce is never easy. Sending thoughts and prayers to Tina Campbell and Teddy.
RELATED CONTENT: “I Prayed And I Asked God, ‘God, Don’t Let This Be My Life’”: Tina Campbell Talks Fighting To Save Her Marriage After Infidelity
Teddy Campbell Files For Divorce From Mary Mary Singer Tina Campbell Following Infidelity-Filled 25-Year Marriage was originally published on madamenoire.com

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Exile, a vessel built from steel barrels to bring Cubans across the Florida Straits, passed Miami’s famed Freedom Tower en route to Antonia Wright and Ruben Millares’s studio Photo: Rudy Duboué
Until recently, a large, rusted vessel hung from a steel beam in the Miami studio of artists Antonia Wright and Ruben Millares. The craft is made of steel barrels welded together, with two cone-like drums topping either side. In the centre, an oxidised engine is connected with makeshift wires; four wooden planks span the raft’s barrels, providing structure and seating. Two bullet holes are visible in the wreckage, as are signs of human life: the word “Mami” is scrawled on the vessel, as is a small child-like sketch of a boat.
This vessel, salvaged from the shores of Key Biscayne in 2022 and towed back to Wright and Millares’s studio along the Miami River, is now the focal point of their exhibition at Piero Atchugarry Gallery, Exile (until 2 May). It speaks volumes about the dire circumstances facing Cuban migrants—for whom the situation in their home country is so desperate that many are willing to risk their lives on a 93-mile journey across the Straits of Florida in a makeshift boat.
“Empathy is what I used to think art was about,” says Wright. “But then I realised we would never know what this experience is. I can imagine it. I can interview people and hear their experience. I can watch films. But the actual terror they feel, I don’t think you can ever really get there. So then we realised, maybe it’s not empathy that’s the goal, but embodiment.”
Antonia Wright and Ruben Millares, Exile, 2026 Photo: Rudy Duboué. Courtesy of the artists and Piero Atchugarry Gallery
Life in Cuba has devolved into a catastrophe in recent months. For Cubans who have lived away from the island for years, the possible fall of the revolutionary government is a prospect mired in contradiction: exuberance at the possibility of a Cuba freed from dictatorship; despair knowing that leaders in the US—especially president Donald Trump and secretary of state Marco Rubio—are mostly interested in the economic resources they can extract from the island; and fear for those who remain on the island facing hunger, disease and shortages of fuel and electricity.
“I cannot explain to you how dire things are,” says the Cuban American artist Coco Fusco, whose recent retrospective at El Museo del Barrio in New York and the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona dealt in part with the treacherous realities of the Cuban revolution. “Cuba looks like a country that has been bombed. Garbage is piled up like mountains and buildings collapse everywhere; the schools are a mess and the hospitals are completely overrun. My relative broke their hip and died because she couldn’t find gas to drive herself to the hospital. This happens every day.”
Coco Fusco, La plaza vacía (The Empty Plaza), 2012 (still) Collection of El Museo del Barrio, New York. Acquisition enabled by VEZA New Media Fund 2022 and headline supporters South SOUTH and Niio
Despite the mounting evidence that Cuba is a failed state, president Miguel Díaz-Canel’s government remains defiant and continues to strangle free expression on the island. The government blocked all internet access during protests in 2021 and arrested 19 artists including Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara. Most of them have been in jail ever since. Last month, the Cuban government arrested the duo behind the dissident TikTok account El4tico, Ernesto Ricardo Medina and Kamil Zayas Pérez, who had shunned Cuban artists’ typical practice of “creative resistance” in favour of more bluntly documenting what is really happening in Cuba.
Would-be migrants from the island now face an impossible choice: stay, suffer and risk imprisonment, or find a way to the US and risk arrest, detention and deportation. Historically, Cubans arriving in Miami by foot or by raft were afforded automatic residency thanks to a policy known as Wet Foot, Dry Foot. When president Barack Obama eased the trade restrictions between the US and Cuba in the final months of his presidency, he eliminated this policy. The move proved to be a lose-lose for him: hard-line Cubans in the US saw his attempt at rapprochement as a sign of sympathy for the Cuban Communist party, while Cubans newly arriving in the US lost their right to residency.
Antonia Wright, Home, 2026 Courtesy of the artist and Piero Atchugarry Gallery
The shifting US policies have done little to dissuade Cubans from fleeing north. Since 2021, more than one million Cubans have left the island, the majority to seek asylum or humanitarian parole in the US. Many of the country’s artistshave left, too. Some of the most prominent, like Tania Bruguera and Tomás Sánchez, have not returned to Cuba since the 2010s. Other artists who not that long ago spent the majority of their time on the island—like Reynier Leyva Novo, Amaury Pacheco and Nestor Siré—say that returning feels impossible under the present circumstances.
“This is the longest I’ve ever been away from Cuba, since I never left the island for more than six months at a time, and now I’ve been gone for almost a year,” says Siré, a multimedia artist who was based in Havana and whose research probes how technological infrastructures shape, and are shaped by, everyday social life. “What’s happening now is laying the groundwork for a social and humanitarian crisis similar to a country that’s been bombed or is at war. It’s also incredibly difficult that nobody really talks about it much internationally, especially in Europe, where I am now.”
Ruben Millares, Paint by Number, 2017 Courtesy of the artist and Piero Atchugarry Gallery
In their exhibition, Wright and Millares reflect on this experience, shared by new migrants and the around one million Cubans exiled after the 1959 revolution. The exhibition is charged with both violence and a sense of the uncanny. It includes Wright’s cyanotypes under smashed glass, which evoke brutality and fragility in a single, visceral gesture. Works from Millares’s Paint by Number series are also on view, in which the artist takes numbers from financial documents and transforms them into silkscreen prints, akin to reducing people to a series of jumbled numbers on a canvas. The salvaged boat sculpture, Exile, is installed in a darkened room with a warm, hazy light shining out of the bullet holes and embedded speakers playing sounds that register as vibrations before they are heard.
Standing near the humming hull, the artists’ intention is clear. The glowing sculpture “makes me think of the boat as an immigrant body”, Millares says. “Having my body be close to it and feel the vibration, I can, for a moment, be inside the body of someone who had to ride in this to get to a better place.”
Since the passage of the country’s repressive Decree 349, the state has gone to great lengths to silence critical voices—but artists refuse to be silenced
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Open letter also says that the regime is ‘using art to salvage its public image’

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The Street Fighter trailer just dropped. These upcoming movies could be the next $1 billion box office hits.
The new Street Fighter trailer just dropped and sparked fresh buzz around upcoming blockbuster movies.
Hollywood is lining up major releases with global appeal, including Spider-Man: Brand New Day, The Odyssey, and The Mandalorian & Grogu.
These films carry massive expectations and built-in audiences. Several have a real shot at crossing the $1 billion mark worldwide.
Here are 15 upcoming movies that could dominate the box office.
Please note listed release dates are expected but subject to change.
Release Date: May 22, 2026
Star Wars returns to theaters with one of its most popular characters in Grogu. The franchise’s global fanbase alone puts this in the billion-dollar conversation.
Release Date: August 28, 2026
This long-delayed Looney Tunes film has major curiosity behind it after nearly getting shelved. If families show up, it could surprise at the box office.
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Release Date: June 26, 2026
DC looks to build momentum with a fresh take on Supergirl. If the new DC universe clicks, this could be a breakout hit.
Release Date: June 19, 2026
Pixar returns to one of its most reliable franchises. Nostalgia plus family appeal gives this a strong path to $1 billion.
Release Date: July 10, 2026
Disney taps into one of its most beloved modern animated hits. The original’s popularity and soundtrack give this major global upside.
Release Date: June 30, 2027
Shrek returns after years away, bringing massive nostalgia with it. If families and millennials show up, this could explode at the box office.
Release Date: July 17, 2026
Christopher Nolan’s next epic will dominate IMAX screens worldwide. His track record plus spectacle gives it serious billion-dollar potential.
Release Date: July 31, 2026
Spider-Man remains one of the safest bets in Hollywood. The last film cleared $1B easily, and this one should draw massive crowds again.
Release Date: October 16, 2026
The newly released trailer has fans talking about this reboot. If it connects globally, especially overseas, it could overperform.
Release Date: May 8, 2026
The sequel promises bigger fights and more iconic characters. Strong fan support could push this beyond expectations.
Release: April 24, 2026
The Michael Jackson biopic brings one of the biggest global icons ever to the big screen. His worldwide fanbase and cultural impact give this real billion-dollar upside if the film connects.
Release Date: August 14, 2026
A mysterious sci-fi project with a strong cast could break out. These types of films can explode if word-of-mouth hits.
Release: Expected December 2026
Denis Villeneuve continues the Dune saga with the next chapter centered on Paul Atreides. The previous film crossed $700M, and growing global interest could push this installment toward the $1 billion mark.
Release: December 18, 2026
Marvel brings the Avengers back together in one of the most anticipated films in years. With the franchise’s history of billion-dollar hits, this is one of the safest bets on your entire list.
Release: Expected 2027
Robert Pattinson returns as Batman in one of DC’s most anticipated sequels. The first film made over $770 million, and with strong word-of-mouth, this follow-up could push into billion-dollar territory.
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15 Upcoming Movies That Could Make $1 Billion was originally published on newstalkcleveland.com

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April 17, 2026
“Who the hell wrote that, please?”
While celebrating tax breaks for small businesses as part of his “Big Beautiful Bill Act,” President Donald Trump admitted not knowing what a “corner store” is. 
Speaking at a roundtable in Las Vegas during Tax Week, Trump promoted his no tax on tips policy, which pushes larger tax refunds for tipped workers and small businesses. But while reading some of the talking points given to him, he began questioning some things.
“The Great Big Beautiful Bill also slashed taxes on millions of American small businesses, including restaurants, dry cleaners, corner stores….what is a corner store?” the president asked the crowd. “I’ve never heard that term. I know what a corner store is, but I’ve never heard it described… A corner store. Who the hell wrote that, please?” 

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Social media users in the comment section were taken aback by Trump not being familiar with the term, which describes a small grocery store, as he was born and raised in Queens, New York, where a corner store is seen at almost the end or beginning of every street.
“You cannot be from New York and not know that. That was deliberate,” @transvilla420 wrote. 
@ch0ngkenny wondered how Trump “has all these black friends and doesn’t know what a corner store is?” The sentiment was echoed by newscaster Don Lemon in an Instagram post.
“Wait til he hears the word bodega,” @suegreene22 wrote. 
This isn’t the first time Trump has spoken out about how other Americans refer to groceries. In April 2025, during a “Liberation Day” speech, he claimed the term “groceries” was old-fashioned, according to People, and provided his own definition.
“It’s such an old-fashioned term but a beautiful term: groceries,” he said at the time. “It sort of says a bag with different things in it.”
Not knowing what a corner store is, is not a good look for Trump as Americans are struggling to keep cabinets full due to the the rising costs. According to NBC News, though costs of some goods, like eggs, have gone down by 30% since spring 2025, the average price of items like orange juice and beef have increased by 22% and 15%, respectively, during the same timeframe.
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Although her life ended tragically, Dr. Cerina Wanzer Fairfax’s story represents excellence, care, and community rather than just tragedy.
On April 16, 2026, women across the country were once again confronted with the sometimes fatal reality of domestic violence, as communities began grieving the loss of Dr. Cerina Wanzer Fairfax. The accomplished dentist and mother was reportedly killed by her husband, former Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax. Authorities suspect the incident was a murder-suicide, unfolding as the couple navigated what Fairfax County Chief of Police Kevin Davis described as a “complicated or messy divorce.”
In the hours since her death, many headlines have reduced Dr. Wanzer Fairfax to the role of a politician’s “wife.” But those who knew her are pushing back, saying her life represented so much more.
“I definitely would put politician’s wife at the bottom of the list,” said Dr. Wanzer Fairfax’s friend, turned patient, Terron Sims II, to WUSA9. “She was one of the most loving, caring people. [It’s important] that Cerina is a real person and an accomplished person and one of the best in her field.”
Dr. Wanzer Fairfax was the founder and head of Dr. Fairfax and Associates Family Dentistry, where her work extended far beyond clinical care. According to her practice’s website, she earned her bachelor’s degree from Duke University in 1999, where she met her husband, and later received her Doctor of Dental Surgery degree magna cum laude from VCU’s Medical College of Virginia School of Dentistry in 2005. After completing her residency in VCU’s Advanced Education in General Dentistry program, she went on to build a two-decade career serving patients across Northern Virginia.
“It wasn’t just a profession for her. It was an expression of love and compassion. It was her way of service to others,” Sims recalled. “She and her staff were really progressive in helping all of her patients meet all of their financial needs”.
Even after graduating, Dr. Fairfax remained an active member in the VCU alumni network, having won the Alumni Association Award for “Outstanding Graduate of the Last Decade” by the VCU School of Dentistry in 2015. 
“Her loss is deeply felt by many who knew her. As a clinician and alumna, Dr. Fairfax embodied the ideals of our profession—dedication to her patients, commitment to growth, and a deep sense of purpose in her work each day. I know she was a mentor, role model, and friend to many in our school,” interim dean Dr. Jeffrey Johnson wrote in a statement, per WTVR CBS 6. “At times like this, we are reminded of our community’s strength and the enduring bonds that connect us across time and place. On behalf of our school, we extend our heartfelt condolences to Dr. Fairfax’s family, friends, colleagues, and all who were fortunate to know her. Please keep her children and loved ones in your thoughts during the days ahead.’”
Beyond her alma mater, she was an active member of several professional organizations, including the American Dental Association, the Virginia Dental Association, the Northern Virginia Dental Society, and the Omicron Kappa Upsilon Dental Society. As her website describes, Dr. Fairfax was “committed to serving not only her patients but others as well through participation in community outreach programs, volunteer and sponsorship opportunities, vocational training programs, and contributions to local charities and nonprofits intended to aid individuals and/or organizations helping those in need.”
“Dr. Fairfax loved giving back through volunteer work and contributions to local charities focused on helping those in need,”  Ryan Dunn, CEO of the Virginia Dental Association, told the outlet. “As we remember Dr. Fairfax, we honor the impact she made and the connections she helped build within the VDA and her community.”
In her spare time, she loved reading, running trails with her dogs, practicing yoga, traveling, and spending time with family. A proud mother of two kids, Cameron and Carys, those close to Dr. Fairfax remember her devotion to her children. As Rep. Jennifer McClellan, who met the late mother of two through her husband’s political career, recalls, Dr. Fairfax’s kids were “the people she cherished the most.” According to Sims, her death came as they were planning college trips.
Now, as her two teenagers navigate the unimaginable loss of both parents, loved ones are rallying around them, determined to ensure they feel supported, loved, and reminded that “whatever dreams, hopes, plans that they had before this tragedy, they still know that they can be those.”
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A look into the real tangible issues impacting our neighborhoods and our wallets
D.L. Hughley’s Notes from the GED Section, challenged the mainstream narrative we are fed daily, urging our communities to look past manufactured global anxieties. Instead, he wants us to focus on the immediate, tangible issues impacting our neighborhoods and our wallets. His breakdown offered a raw look at how systemic priorities leave everyday people behind.
The segment first exposed how leadership uses fear as a tool for constant distraction. For decades, politicians have pushed urgent narratives about foreign powers enriching uranium and plotting our destruction. Hughley pointed out that a massive portion of the nation’s wealth goes directly to the military to combat these unseen enemies. This relentless fear-mongering justifies funneling money away from vital community programs. They keep the public terrified of distant threats, ensuring we do not question where our tax dollars are actually going.
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Hughley then broke down the numbers to reveal the true dangers to our safety. While foreign terrorism dominates news cycles, the actual reality looks entirely different. Since the tragic events of September 11, a relatively small number of citizens have lost their lives to foreign extremists. In stark contrast, domestic threats and everyday gun violence claim tens of thousands of lives regularly. He emphasized that the most immediate threat to our physical safety is right here at home. We lose far more community members to local violence and a lack of proper healthcare than to any overseas conflict.

The conversation naturally shifted to the everyday economic hurdles that truly terrorize families. The real danger is not a distant political regime, but the inability to afford basic human needs. Rising costs for groceries, gas, housing, and medical care are the actual crises hitting our pockets hard. Hughley bluntly noted that foreign republics have nothing on corporate giants like Bank of America or Chevron when it comes to draining our daily livelihoods. True affordability is the central issue we face, yet it constantly takes a back seat to massive defense spending.
Finally, Hughley tackled the devastating impact of billionaire-driven policies on our most vulnerable. He called out figures like Elon Musk and a system designed to enrich the ultra-wealthy at the direct expense of the working class. When crucial social safety nets like Social Security, Medicare, and school lunch programs face severe cuts to fund tax breaks for billionaires, the cost is measured in human lives. He estimated these ruthless cuts cost thousands of lives annually, far exceeding the toll of any hypothetical foreign attack.

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Dive into the world of black maternal health, uncovering issues and solutions. Learn how to drive positive changes and improve outcomes.
The maternal health crisis in America has a specific face, and it belongs to Black women; research consistently identifies preventable causes, such as delayed diagnosis, untreated hypertensive conditions, structural inequalities in access to care, and providers who routinely dismiss pain and symptoms in Black patients.
Because of this, Black maternal health sits at the center of one of the most persistent and well-documented public health failures in the United States, a gap between what care should look like and what Black mothers actually receive. The CDC’s most recent data confirms that in 2024, maternal morbidity rates for Black women were 44.8 deaths per 100,000 live births, which is more than three times higher than the rate for white women at 14.2.
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These deaths aren’t mysterious, and the gap is not shrinking on its own; the women most affected deserve far more than acknowledgment. 
The factors driving the racial disparity in Black maternal health outcomes are overlapping and structural. Black women face significantly higher rates of conditions like preeclampsia and postpartum hemorrhage, and when those conditions arise, they’re more likely to be undertreated. According to a report by the American Heart Association, provider-related delays in diagnosis and treatment contribute to roughly half of maternal deaths from hypertensive disorders, and implicit bias plays a documented role in those delays.
Access to continuous, culturally competent care is also uneven in ways that carry real consequences. In Georgia, a state commonly cited as having the second-highest maternal mortality rate in the country, many counties are classified as rural, creating conditions where Black women travel long distances for prenatal appointments only to receive care from providers who lack cultural familiarity with their community. That combination of distance, distrust, and dismissal heightens risk at every stage of pregnancy and into the postpartum period.
Preeclampsia, a rise in blood pressure during pregnancy, doesn’t affect all women equally. The Preeclampsia Foundation reports that Black women are approximately 60% more likely to develop preeclampsia than white women, and their risk of dying from it is substantially higher. Early, consistent prenatal care is the most reliable way to catch and manage this condition before it becomes life-threatening. 
Researchers and advocates across the country have identified several concrete interventions that work. Doulas, professionals who provide physical, emotional, and informational support through pregnancy and postpartum, have documented impacts on reducing birth complications, including:
The evidence is particularly strong for community-based doulas who share the cultural and racial background of the patients they serve.
Representation in the provider workforce matters too. Studies consistently show that Black patients have better health outcomes when they can access Black physicians and midwives. Expanding training pipelines, loan forgiveness programs, and scholarship funding targeted at Black obsteric professionals directly addresses a structural gap in who delivers care and who patients trust enough to be honest with.
Nearly half of maternal deaths happen within the first year after delivery, not in the delivery room. Many Black birthing people rely on Medicaid for pregnancy and postpartum care. For decades, Medicaid coverage ended after 60 days postpartum, leaving women without coverage during precisely the period when cardiovascular complications, mental health crises, and postpartum hemorrhage can turn fatal. Extending that coverage to a full year is one of the most impactful structural changes advocates have pushed for. 
Managing chronic conditions before, during, and after pregnancy is another critical piece. Understanding what is chronic care management and how it integrates into maternal care helps women with pre-existing conditions like hypertension and diabetes receive coordinated support throughout the perinatal period, reducing the risk that those conditions escalate into emergencies. 
Individual providers and health systems cannot fix structural racism alone, which is why policy advocacy is inseparable from clinical improvement. The Black Maternal Health Momnibus, a package of 14 federal bills, addresses everything from data collection and implicit bias training to community health worker funding. Supporting this legislation, contacting elected officials, and contributing to the organizations pushing it forward create the kind of systemic change that clinical reforms alone cannot deliver.
Community-based organizations are doing critical work right now that doesn’t wait for federal action. Groups like the Black Women’s Health Imperative, the National Black Doulas Association, and Ancient Song are:
Multiple factors contribute:
No single factor explains the gap; the disparity is the product of a system that consistently underserves Black women at every stage of the maternal care continuum.
Bringing in a trusted support person, such as a doula, family member, or friend, to prenatal appointments and labor provides both emotional support and an additional voice if concerns get dismissed. Documenting symptoms, asking providers to explain their clinical reasoning, and seeking second options when something feels wrong are all concrete ways to push back within a system that too often requires self-advocacy to navigate safely.
Black maternal health is not a niche issue; it’s a measure of whether the healthcare system functions equitably for everyone. The data is clear, the solutions are proven, and the communities are already doing the work. What’s needed now is sustained attention, policy support, and the kind of systemic accountability that matches the urgency of this crisis, ultimately improving maternal outcomes for Black women and racial disparities in childbirth.
Want to learn more about topics related to Black maternal healthcare? Browse additional articles on this site covering topics related to health, community, and advocacy that are worth exploring.

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April 17, 2026
Stormy Wellington is barred from making any future earnings claims unless they are truthful, non-misleading, and supported by written evidence
Multi-level marketing influencer Stormy Wellington is speaking out after settling a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) lawsuit alleging she used deceptive earnings claims to recruit participants into two different companies.
Under the settlement terms, Wellington is now permanently banned from misrepresenting potential earnings through her company, Farmasi. She is prohibited from making direct statements or using suggestive lifestyle imagery, such as photos of luxury goods. This ban extends to any other future business ventures she may promote. In an interview on the Isaiah Factor Uncensored podcast, Wellington stands behind her business practices. However, she says her future endeavors will have to be presented and worded carefully.
“There are some things that I use as a marketer. There are some things that I use as strategies, you know, I’m a manifestor. I believe that life and death is in the power of the tongue.” Wellington said. “I learned through this experience that you can’t do that when you become a woman of my caliber. You can’t say things that’s based on wishful thinking.”
Additionally, she is barred from making any future earnings claims unless they are truthful, non-misleading, and supported by written evidence at the time the claim is made. This evidence must remain available for inspection by the FTC at any time. Furthermore, the settlement outlines a notification process, requiring Wellington to inform all current participants in her recruitment network of the court order and the strict terms prohibiting deceptive financial claims.
The FTC’s legal action centers on Wellington’s role as a top-tier “Life Changer” at TLC and a high-ranking “Influencer” at Farmasi. According to the complaint, Wellington utilized social media platforms and YouTube videos to report baseless earnings claims, allegedly promising recruits they could earn between $100,000 and $1,000,000 within short timeframes. Federal investigators characterized these recruitment efforts as aggressive, citing a specific instance in which Wellington vowed to create “60 new millionaires in 2026.”
These promises of guaranteed wealth contradicted the hard data. The FTC noted that Farmasi’s own 2023 income disclosure revealed that fewer than 1% of active participants actually reached a six-figure income. Furthermore, the agency accused Wellington of using deceptive imagery to mislead the public, frequently showcasing luxury homes, high-end vehicles, and expensive travel to imply that such a lifestyle was a probable outcome for anyone joining her sales network.
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An exhibition view of Rothko in Florence at the Palazzo Strozzi, with Untitled (1952-53) seen on the left and No. 13 (White, Red on Yellow) (1958) on the right Photo: Ela Bialkowska, OKNO Studio
The works: ★★★★★
The show: ★★★★★
In the hushed, monastic cells of Florence’s Museo di San Marco, Mark Rothko’s canvases pulse with spiritual intensity. The permanent works of art in these small abodes, within a former Dominican convent, are Fra Angelico’s frescoes, designed to engross their inhabitants in quiet contemplation. Rothko’s paintings are a new arrival, part of the city’s latest major exhibition. Seen alongside the early Renaissance works, they are like abstracted distillations: a beam of yellow light on rich red next to an angel in prayer or forbidding layers of blue and brown alongside a brooding crucifixion. In dialogue with Fra Angelico’s works, they also help to invest otherwise plain rooms with awesome emotional weight.
Rothko in Florence is the Palazzo Strozzi’s new exhibition exploring how the Tuscan city and its art shaped the American artist (1903-70), who visited three times in the 1950s and 60s. The show is co-curated by Rothko’s son, Christopher, and stretches across three locations. The bulk of the 70 works—a fine selection from private collections and major museums including New York’s Museum of Modern Art, Tate in London and the Centre Pompidou in Paris—are shown at the Palazzo Strozzi, offering a focused account of Rothko’s creative evolution. A handful displayed elsewhere—five at San Marco and two in the Michelangelo-designed vestibule of the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana—provide the exhibition’s key.
You might question whether the world needs another big Rothko exhibition, especially after the mammoth retrospective featuring more than 100 of his works at Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris in 2023. Rothko is, of course, an artist at the height of his posthumous fame, with one of his works recently offered at Art Basel Paris for $40m. Yet Rothko in Florence does something new through the originality and force of its thematic focus. If placing his works alongside Fra Angelico makes them radiate, hanging a pair of 75cm by 55cm studies for the Seagram Murals (commissioned in 1958 for New York’s Four Seasons restaurant) in Michelangelo’s vestibule is almost suffocating. Their black columns on bright red mimic how the Renaissance artist’s austere stone stairwell entraps you in a narrow, vertically arranged space. More than simply conveying the expressive power of his works, the installation reveals how Rothko, inspired by the masters, devised a new language by thinking spatially.
Accompanied by his wife, Mell, the near penniless artist first visited Italy on a tight budget in 1950. During his time there, he feasted on artistic wonders that he had only ever contemplated in books, such as the Roman Forum, perfectly preserved buildings in Pompeii, and Giotto’s enveloping frescoes at the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua. Later, in his unfinished book The Artist’s Reality, Rothko wrote at length about the golden age of the Italian Renaissance. His Rothko Chapel in Houston, completed posthumously in 1971 with 14 dark canvases displayed inside, shows he was thinking of art as something that defined space, much as Fra Angelico had at San Marco.
Rothko was sometimes explicit about the influence of Renaissance art. “He achieved just the kind of feeling I’m after,” he once said of Michelangelo’s vestibule at the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, in reference to his own Seagram Murals, which were never hung in the restaurant (Rothko eventually withdrew from the commission) and are now displayed in major museums including Tate Modern. “He makes the viewers feel as though they are trapped in a room where all the doors and windows are bricked up, so that all they can do is butt their heads forever against the wall,” he added.
The show is taking place at three venues, including the Museo di San Marco (pictured) Photo: Ela Bialkowska, OKNO Studio
The show is a typically ambitious undertaking by the epoch-straddling Palazzo Strozzi, which ended a blockbuster Fra Angelico show in January and has also shown contemporary artists like Ai Weiwei and Tracey Emin in its 16th-century halls and courtyard. An awkward ticketing system—visitors must buy separate entry for each of the three venues—means some effort is required to see the exhibition in full. But the rewards are considerable; a carefully thought-through layout and meticulous attention to detail helping make this a revelatory show (Christopher Rothko, who has shared curatorial duties with Elena Geuna, has been trying to bring the project to fruition for 15 years).
It would be easy to read the core showing at the Strozzi—the site of impressive canvases like a blistering yellow-on-red from the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao—as a simple chronological exposition. It sets us up with the artist’s geometric figurative works, such as Interior (1936), with grey pilasters, blocked-in windows and lithe statues that hint at the Medici Mausoleum in Florence’s New Sacristy—a place Rothko could have only seen from photographs. From there, we pass through his fluid neorealism and the muted blotches of his transitionary multiform phase, followed by the throbbing yellow and orange blocks of the 1950s, the more meditative earthiness of the following decade and the cool greys on blacks created shortly before his untimely death in 1970.
More than a plain retrospective, however, the thesis of Rothko’s preoccupation with space emerges with greater ease and power than the authoritatively insightful programme essays can convey. Walking through the Strozzi’s halls, you can feel the artist interacting with that dimension in different ways as he searches for a new artistic language, from works that are simply concerned with space to ones that essentially create it. Standing in front of the large, rough-surfaced canvases of the 1960s—with layers of reds that could have been inspired by Pompeii—the viewer feels invited to step into the painting. Careful hanging just inches from the floor accentuates its surroundings, as if turning the works into thresholds. Curatorial precision helps create the overall effect. At the San Marco, Rothko’s paintings glow in soft spot-lighting, showing how these works, like Fra Angelico’s frescoes, appear to emanate the very moods and emotions the viewer perceives. Darkened windows and calibrated lighting at the Strozzi allow for a similar result. In a room entirely filled with large red canvases, the simmering rage of Four Darks in Red (1958) hangs heavily in the air.
The Seagram Murals were not decorations but installations that would have morphed the restaurant they were conceived for (“I have made a place,” Rothko once said of them). Part of that effect lies in the way the paintings were created to speak to one another. The curators cleverly guide us through his vision, closing the exhibition with an octagonal room—reminiscent of Florence’s Baptistery, or even the Rothko Chapel—where a chorus of assorted works surround the viewer like brilliant stained-glass windows. Within the Renaissance walls of Palazzo Strozzi, the exhibition has created a chapel of its own.
The New York Times’s Elisabetta Povoledo suggests it is appropriate to stage an exhibition in a city Rothko loved. “Sixty years after his last trip to Florence, Rothko is back in a way he might never have imagined,” she writes. In Domus, Maria Cristina Didero lavishes praise not only on the exhibition—describing it as “compelling”, and singling out the “exceptional” and “rarely seen”preparatory drawings—but also the venue. The Palazzo Strozzi “stands out for the scholarly quality of its programme,” she writes.
In 1974, fresh after graduating from the experimental studies programme at Syracuse University’s visual and performing arts department, Bill Viola moved to Florence to work at Art/Tapes/22, one of the first video art production studios in Europe
The exhibition brings together more than 140 works, including key altarpieces reconstructed with the help of some detective work
The Palazzo Strozzi mixes Viola’s videos and installations with the Old Masters that inspired them

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The Edison Achievement Award will honor Rihanna’s remarkable versatility and influence, celebrating her groundbreaking contributions to the entertainment industry.
Congratulations are in order for the Bajan beauty Rihanna. On April 14, the singer and Fenty Beauty founder and CEO was crowned with the 2026 Edison Achievement Award, “the organization’s highest honor recognizing individuals who are reshaping industries and the world through innovation,” according to a press release.
The Edison Awards spotlight the world’s most impactful innovations, providing honorees with community, credibility, visibility, and the connections needed to drive market growth. According to the CEO of the Edison Awards, Frank Bonafilia, Rihanna has exemplified all of these qualities, breaking new ground across “music, beauty, fashion, and philanthropy while setting new standards for creativity, inclusivity, and global influence.”
Bonafilia added, “She embodies the spirit of Thomas Edison, by using inclusive innovation as a catalyst for progress. We are honored to recognize her with this year’s award.”
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Rihanna will be honored virtually with the 2026 Edison Achievement Award on April 16 in Fort Myers, Florida, alongside Adam Silver, Commissioner of the National Basketball Association.
Over the years, the mother of three has built a remarkable career. She has earned nine Grammy Awards and received 34 nominations, with her first win coming in 2008 for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for “Umbrella” with JAŸ-Z. Additional standout wins include “LOYALTY” with Kendrick Lamar (2018) and “The Monster” with Eminem (2014), which both scored wins in the Best Rap/Sung Collaboration category.
In 2023, she delivered a historic Super Bowl Halftime Show performance that drew more than 118.7 million viewers, making it the second most-watched Super Bowl in history, according to Nielsen Fast National data and Adobe Analytics.
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The wins did not stop there. At just 29, Rihanna launched Fenty Beauty with 40 foundation shades, nearly four times the industry standard at the time, addressing long-overlooked consumers with darker skin tones and prompting the global beauty industry to rethink inclusivity. Time Magazine later named it one of the 25 Best Inventions of 2017, while the “Fenty Effect” transformed how brands approach representation.
She continued to expand her influence by building a business empire that includes Fenty Skin, Fenty Hair, and the Savage X Fenty fashion line, becoming the first Black woman to lead an LVMH luxury brand. Across these ventures, she challenged the notion that serving a broad audience limits success, demonstrating that inclusive products can achieve both cultural impact and exceptional commercial performance.
In 2012, she founded the Clara Lionel Foundation to address systemic global issues, from climate resilience and emergency preparedness to health equity and cultural preservation. More recently, her partnership with the Mellon Foundation has supported Caribbean arts infrastructure, highlighting how innovation can uplift both communities and commerce.
A true trailblazer indeed. Congrats to Rihanna! 
RELATED CONTENT: Rihanna Secures 5 Million Bag To Perform At Pre Wedding Celebration In India
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Taraji P. Henson calls Broadway “bootcamp” as she makes her debut in Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, highlighting the energy and impact of live theater.
Oscar-nominated actress Taraji P. Henson is stepping into a new chapter of her career, describing her Broadway debut as both demanding and deeply rewarding.
Henson is starring in a revival of ‘Joe Turner’s Come and Gone,’ a classic written by August Wilson. The production, directed by Debbie Allen, began previews on March 30 at New York’s Barrymore Theatre and is scheduled to officially open on April 25 for a limited run through July.
Speaking during a recent television appearance on ‘Live with Kelly and Mark,’ Henson described the experience of performing live as “bootcamp,” noting the intensity of appearing on stage multiple times a week. “Broadway is a different animal,” she said, emphasizing the immediate connection with audiences that theater offers compared to film and television.
The play is set in 1911 and follows Black Americans navigating the upheaval of the Great Migration. Henson plays Bertha Holly, co-owner of a Pittsburgh boarding house, alongside Cedric the Entertainer, who portrays her husband Seth Holly.
“It’s so alive,” Henson said of the stage experience, pointing to the dynamic exchange between actors and audience. She added that each performance feels different, making theater uniquely unpredictable and engaging.
The role also carries personal meaning for Henson. She recalled meeting August Wilson during her time at Howard University, describing the opportunity to now perform in one of his works as a “full circle” moment.
The production explores themes of identity, displacement, and healing, with a storyline centered on a man searching for his wife after years of forced labor. These themes, Henson noted, remain relevant today.
The cast includes a mix of established and emerging actors, which Henson praised, saying she is confident in the future of theater talent.
As opening night approaches, Henson said she embraces the nerves that come with live performance, viewing them as part of what keeps the work authentic and energizing.
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