Daily News Feed 11.18.08

Real Housewives causes uproar
Watching The Real Housewives of Atlanta, you might think it’s easy to get wealthy African-Americans to talk about money. Concluding its maiden season on Bravo tonight, the reality program chronicles the conspicuous consumption of five well-off women who have ordained themselves among Atlanta’s elite. Four of the Housewives are African-American. But the show has hit a raw nerve within the black community — lighting up the Internet and the airwaves with charges that it perpetuates negative stereotypes with its focus on catfighting women who shamelessly lord their wealth and generally misbehave. A particular sore point is the consistently egregious grammar the Housewives stars use. Houstonian Phyllis Williams, well-known for her philanthropic work, recalled flipping channels on her television on Election Night — from the historic speech of President-Elect Barack Obama to a Real Housewives episode in which two wealthy women learn to let loose on a stripper pole. “I was appalled,” she said. “This is not what elite women are about.” (Continue Reading…)

Prince: I knock on doors as a Jehovah’s Witness
He’s long been a god of the music scene but now bizarre little singer Prince has revealed he is a practicing Jehovah’s Witness, spreading the word around his local LA neighbourhood. The purple one, 50, reportedly told America’s New Yorker magazine that he joined the following two years ago and is determined to knock on as many doorsteps as possible to convert others. He said of the unsuspecting locals in his area: ‘Sometimes people act surprised, but mostly they’re totally cool about it.’ (Continue Reading…)

Sean Levert’s Family Files Wrongful Death Lawsuit
The family of LeVert member, Sean Levert, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Cuyahoga County in Ohio for what is now being viewed as an avoidable demise. On March 30, Levert died in Luthern Hospital an hour after being taken from the Cuyahoga County jail. He was sentenced the week before to one year and 10 months behind bars for failing to pay about $91,000 in child support. (Continue Reading…)