FIRST LOOK: ‘R&B Divas LA’ With Kelly Price, Lil Mo
As the second season of “R&B Divas Atlanta” comes to a close with its last episode airing on June 19, TV One amps up to debut its sister spin-off show “R&B Divas LA” on July 10, where fans can catch up on the lives of Kelly Price, Chante Moore, Dawn Robinson, Lil’ Mo, Claudette Ortiz and Michel’le.
WATCH HERE:
These West Coast Divas attempt to take over the City of Angels
Episode one of the show airs July 10 at 10 pm on TV One.
Chroniclers, will you be tuning in next month?
Jay-Z Signs First NBA Baller, Kevin Durant, to Roc Nation Sports
It’s official, NBA Baller Kevin Durant has been signed to Jay-Z’s Roc Nation Sports. Read the official announcement below.
It’s official, NBA Baller Kevin Durant has been signed to Jay-Z’s Roc Nation Sports. Read the official announcement below.
Join us in welcoming Oklahoma City Thunder Small Forward to the Roc Nation Sports/CAA family! Read up on him below:
Born on September 29, 1988, just outside the nation’s capital, in Suitland, Maryland, Kevin Wayne Durant is a high-profile professional basketball player. After playing college basketball for only one season at the University of Texas, Austin, he was chosen second overall in the first round of the 2007 NBA draft by the Seattle SuperSonics.
Durant’s success started with the PG Jaguars, an Amateur Athletic Union youth basketball team in Prince George’s County, Maryland. The team won two national championships during Durant’s tenure. To this day, Durant wears a No. 35 jersey in honor of Charles Craig, his AAU coach and childhood mentor, who died at the age of 35. Kevin was mentored and trained by a man name Taurs (stink) Brown. Taurs trained kevin on basketball skills, academic skills, and life skills. Kevin spent a lot of time with him learning about life and basketball. He is a large part of the reason why Kevin is who he is today.
During high school, he played for the National Christian Academy and Montrose Christian School, both in Maryland, and for basketball powerhouse Oak Hill Academy, located in Virginia. After his senior year, he was named to Parade magazine’s “First Team” list, and to USA Today’s “First Team All-American” list, capturing attention from major college basketball recruiters nationwide.
College Career
Durant received offers from top Division I colleges, and although prompted by his friend, point guard Tywon Lawson, to join him and play with the University of North Carolina Tar Heels, Durant signed with the University of Texas Longhorns in Austin. Russell Springman, a Longhorn assistant and Maryland native, had been in touch with Durant since his freshman year of high school.
Durant received offers from top Division I colleges, and although prompted by his friend, point guard Tywon Lawson, to join him and play with the University of North Carolina Tar Heels, Durant signed with the University of Texas Longhorns in Austin. Russell Springman, a Longhorn assistant and Maryland native, had been in touch with Durant since his freshman year of high school.
As a Longhorn, Durant started in every game during his freshman year of college, averaging 25.8 points per game (first in the Big 12, fourth in the nation) and 11 rebounds per game in 35 games. He scored 20-plus points 30 times, and put up 30-plus points 11 times. He was named the Big 12 Tournament’s Most Valuable Player after hitting a tournament record of 92 points and leading the Longhorns to the second round of the National Collegiate Athletic Association Men’s Basketball Championship, where they lost to the University of Southern California.
As a freshman, Durant received the Oscar Robertson and the Adolph F. Rupp awards, and was the first freshman to win both honors.
NBA Career
After just one year of college basketball, Durant declared himself eligible for the 2007 NBA Draft. In June of that year, he was chosen second overall in the first round by the Seattle SuperSonics. Around that same time, Durant signed a $60 million, seven-year endorsement deal with Nike, a major deal at the time, exceeded only by LeBron James’s Nike contract.
After just one year of college basketball, Durant declared himself eligible for the 2007 NBA Draft. In June of that year, he was chosen second overall in the first round by the Seattle SuperSonics. Around that same time, Durant signed a $60 million, seven-year endorsement deal with Nike, a major deal at the time, exceeded only by LeBron James’s Nike contract.
In his rookie season, Durant was selected as a member of the NBA’s All-Rookie First Team and was named the NBA’s “Rookie of the Year.” After the 2007-08 season, the Seattle SuperSonics relocated the organization from Seattle, Washington to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, becoming the Oklahoma City Thunder. Durant continues to thrive with the franchise. In 2013, Durant ended the season with a 51 percent shooting rate, a 41.6 percent three point shooting rate, and a 90.5 free throw shooting rate, Durant became the youngest player in NBA history to join the 50–40–90 Club. His 2013 campaign was called “one of the greatest shooting seasons in league history.”
Durant has been named an NBA All-Star three times (2010-12) and to the All-NBA First Team three times (2010-12). He also led the league three times as NBA scoring champion (2010-12), becoming only the eighth player in NBA history to do so.
Durant has also played internationally, and was named 2010 FIBA World Championship MVP by the International Basketball Federation. Additionally, he was chosen to play with the 2012 U.S. Olympic basketball team. At the 2012 Olympic Games in London, the U.S. basketball team took home the gold medal.
Congrats Mr. Grant!
Brandy Takes Birthday Girl Sy'Rai & Friends To DISNEYLAND
Brandy was on full on mommy duty this week as she took the fam to Disneyland for daughter Sy'Rai's 11th birthday.
Sy'Rai (rocking braids), whose daddy is producer Robert Smith, had a Disney filled b-day When she recently turned 11. Mommy Brandy took her and her friends and fam to Disneyland and they were all spotted posing it up with Minnie Mouse.
Looks like Brandy was trying to be in disguise as well with all these clothes on. She tweeted on Monday to her baby girl:
"Happy Birthday my sunshine Sy'rai!!! You have changed my life #angel #angel #angel #angel"
Sweet! Brandy's in the midst of planning her wedding with fiance Ryan Press, who seems to already be taking on the role as stepdaddy to Sy'Rai based on the cutesy pics of the two that Brandy posts.
Sweet!
And You Thought You Had It Bad: Katy Perry Dishes About Her Divorce And John Mayer
As ladies, we have many reasons to envy Katy Perry. Right now, she is one of the biggest popstars in the world behind hits like “California Girls” and “Teenage Dream.” And not to mention, the girl is STUNNING! But in the latest issue of “Vogue,” the pop princess reveals her bumpy love life.
First, Katy dishes about her quickie marriage and sudden divorce to comedian, Russell Brand.
She stands firm that she was in love with him when the two married, but the marriage started to deteriorate. Despite being dumped over a text message, it seems as if Katy isn’t bitter. When asked why she thinks the marriage failed, she takes the high road and blames HER success, saying that more often than not, men can’t handle their equals. GIRL POWER ALL THE WAY!!!!
Then, Katy starts to talk about her infamous relationship with John Mayer, insisting that it wasn’t/isn’t just a rebound. She openly admits that she is still in love with him. Despite their on again, off again relationship, Katy only has nice things to say about Mayer, calling him a “beautiful mind, tortured soul.”
We don’t know about you, but it’s HARD to speak so nicely about exes, especially ones that don’t deserve it (ahem, BRAND). But we give props to Ms. Katy for doing so!!!!
Star Jones uses Judy Smith (The Real Life Olivia Pope) to Clean Up Messy Jobs
Judy Smith aka the real Olivia Pope was honored recently at a gala.
Even Star Jones counts on Washington, DC, fixer Judy Smith — the inspiration for Kerry Washington’s character Olivia Pope on ABC series “Scandal” — as her go-to gal when she’s in a bind.
“I’ve known her for 20 years,”
Jones told a crowd that included “CSI: NY” actor Hill Harper, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model Ariel Meredith and CBS newsman Maurice DuBois at the International Urban Technology Center gala at Capitale.
Of the crisis-management whiz, Jones added,
“I’ve got her number on speed dial . . . If I listened to her advice more often, I wouldn’t have gotten into half the trouble I’m in.”
Smith, who was honored at the event, has represented Monica Lewinsky and, as Jones’ diplomatically described another client,
“a certain vice president when he . . . had a shooting incident with a friend,” referring to Dick Cheney.
Everyone can use a fixer. Even Star Jones admits the value.
Judy Smith lent a wonderful example for the TV Olivia Pope. Do you wish YOU had a fixer for your everyday snafus?
RHOA’s Cynthia Bailey and Peter Thomas Are Expecting Their First Child ?
Congratulations are in order for Cynthia Bailey and husband Peter Thomas, they are expecting their first child together.
According to Counter Culture Beauty:
Congratulations must go out to Cynthia Bailey of the Real Housewives of Atlanta! It was confirmed today that the supermodel and reality tv star is expecting her first child with husband Peter. This will be her second child as she has a daughter with actor Leon. I’m sure the Bravo camera crews are currently filming the newly pregnant Cynthia as she lets the cat out of the bag. Definitely expect to see something about her pregnancy on the 4th installment of the extremely popular Real Housewives series. Congrats again!!!
UPDATE: Cynthia has denied the claim and said SHE ISN'T PREGNANT...
WOMP!
Dwight Howard & girlfriend Christine Vest welcome baby boy?
We know Dwight Howard is a dad. The exact number of children is up in the air and up for speculation depending on who you ask. What I can tell you is that it appears he has at least 4 children. His oldest son Braylon with ex-Basketball Wives cast member Royce Reed plus, two daughters by two different women. And per Royce, you can add a baby brother to the fold. Royce congratulated Dwight and his girlfriend, Christine Vest on the birth of their son.
Earlier this year Royce posted a collage with Braylon, herself and the other two of Dwight’s kids’ mothers.
Royce also added on Twitter that Dwight hadn’t seen Braylon since February and that she had no idea the couple was expecting.
This is what Sylvester Stallone’s 91 year Old Mom looks like after Plastic Surgery
Jackie Stallone has spoken about her plastic surgery regrets – saying countless botched procedures have left her looking ‘like a chipmunk with a mouth full of walnuts’.
The 91-year-old socialite opened up for the first time about her health since she suffered a terrifying heart attack two months ago.
In an interview she also spoke about her ‘horror’ year in which she watched her daughter Toni Ann Filiti die in her own home – just six weeks after the tragic death of her grandson Sage.
Defiant Jackie – mother of Hollywood screen icon Sylvester – told how she doesn’t fear death and is proud to look so striking when most people her age are confined to nursing homes.
But when asked if she still uses cosmetic surgery, Jackie said: ‘I do and actually I’ve got too much, I look like I've got a mouth full of nuts, it’s Juvederm (a cosmetic filler), too much of it. I feel as though I look like a chipmunk.’
Explaining what Juvederm is, she continued: ‘It plumps [you] up here (pointing at her cheeks) but it looks like you have a mouth full of walnuts.
However Jackie, who still attends red carpets in high heels and mini-skirts, is clearly a lot fitter than most people her age.
Describing how she has kept so fit and healthy, she says: ‘I use a bag of spinach a day, every morning for breakfast I steam a bowl of it and boil an egg on it. That’s the secret to my longevity.
‘Who do you know that looks as good at 91? I am healthy. Here I am with a husband half my age, he’s 60.’
Jackie, who lives in an upmarket condo a stone’s throw from Santa Monica beach, does tap dancing classes three times a week, has a physical trainer twice a week and spends two hours a day playing her piano.
She says: ‘I don’t waste my time going to silly Hollywood parties. You have to be a role model for seniors. And actually I became a role model for the movie stars at 50, because what they dread more than anything is getting old and shot. But I get more popular as I get older.’
‘Hollywood fears age, but I think old is coming in. I think cougars are coming back. We’d all like to get there, get there like me. Not on a walker, not in a nursing home,’ she said.
Asked what procedures she’s had, Jackie said: ‘I’ve had chemical peels, I’ve had three of those and about 50 injections. ‘
‘No Botox, I don’t need that, what I want Botox wouldn’t help. I don’t have wrinkles in my forehead, I genetically don’t have that, that’s something I can be thankful for.’
Jackie still passionately believes in plastic surgery – but thinks Beverly Hills
She said: ‘I’m all for everything to make it (you) look good - anything and everything. But most of the plastic surgery in Beverly Hills
‘Just because it’s Beverly Hills
'You take Elvis Presley’s wife, doesn’t she look like she's frozen in space and in time. Like a statue, frozen.’
‘Did you ever see Bing Crosby’s wife Kathy Crosby? They took too much out of her eyelids and she looks basically like she’s got two headlights there.’
However one person Jackie admires is Joan Rivers.
She said: ‘I think one of the best jobs is Joan Rivers. But they can’t seem to do anything for her body it doesn’t match the face. Her body is all-decrepit and she’s walking like she needs a cane.
‘Her face even though it’s marble, I’d like to meet her doctor. I don’t know him but if I did I'd be there.’
Recently Jackie has had more to worry about than plastic surgery – suffering her THIRD heart attack in February (the other two both happened within three months of each other when she was 75.)
She said: ‘I’ve had three. My answer is screw it, if you’re going to go it’s a good way to go. You go in one piece and you go gracefully.’
Jackie blames the health scare on a devastating past year in which Sage died of a heart attack at just 36 and her daughter Toni-Ann passed away from lung cancer. The pair died within six weeks of each other last summer.
She said: ‘I saw my daughter die a day at a time of lung cancer, lying there, upstairs. I have on my counter with her ashes in an urn. Every day I couldn’t wait to go to bed at night and yet I hated to get up every morning because I knew what I was going to face, nothing was going to be any good. “I’d have to get out of bed and go to Toni Ann.
‘Too have Toni Ann here and then have Sage die - it was just too much.
‘When you see all of that you have to have a heart attack, I was due for a heart attack.’
Jackie spoke out just two days before what would have been Toni’s 49th birthday and Sage’s 37th (they were both born on May 5).
She said: ‘This time last year Toni Ann it was her birthday and Sage’s on May 5 and he came over to celebrate with her. Sage brought a little cake over and chocolate ice cream, and we were cheering her up. That was May.
‘Two months later he was dead and three months later she was dead. That was a horror. Who would have dreamed the following year both of them would be dead? It’s horrible.’
Asked if the double tragedy had made her make plans for her own passing, Jackie joked: ‘I want to be cremated, I don’t know if I should throw my ashes over Saks Fifth Avenue
‘I love both stores because if you don’t like something, they just take it back… everything!’
Last month Jackie was photographed buying her groceries in a 99 cents store. Laughing about the photos Jackie told how she enjoys picking up bargain basement vegetables for her healthy diet – and she revealed Sylvester does too.
She said: ‘I go three times a week to the 99 cents store and I buy vegetables and I grind them up. I go there primarily for the spinach, broccoli, a load of carrots, and a stalk of celery. I don’t eat the canned junk. Then I put it in my juicer.’
‘I normally try to duck and hide. My kids sneak in there too and they try to hide too. Yes Sylvester does – he buys spinach, his brother Frankie too.’
‘Just because they have money doesn’t mean they want to spend money. I remember Barbra Streisand one day called and told me she was so mad because potatoes were like five cents more in the store, so she drove 20 miles to save five cents on a pound of potatoes, would you believe it? She just felt it was a robbery. You see these people remember when they were very poor.’
‘That’s where we’re cheap. We’re not cheap when it comes to spending money on ourselves, but when it comes to food, a bag of spinach is a bag of spinach.’
Jackie is very close to her sons Sylvester and Frank who both live in LA, and sees Sly ‘all the time’ and he often comes round to help her with DIY.
She said: ‘Whenever I want to remodel the house, or change a fixture Sylvester comes. He’s very creative. He’s the one who say’s ‘you don’t need that’, ‘more is less’. I will say ‘but I like this table’ and he will be ‘yeah but you don’t need it’.’
Hugely proud of Sylvester’s achievements Jackie still has embarrassing stories to tell about the Hollywood icon’s childhood.
‘He was so flat-footed when he was little and mortified, so I put him in tap dancing school when he was about four years old. He hated every day of it, thought it was sissy. Now he makes fun of me but let me tell you something, it strengthened his arches and look how it paid off,' she revealed.
‘All the Rocky movies are all choreographed and he did all the choreographing. He doesn’t know how to box anymore than I do, that was from the ballet and the tap that he studied.’
Jackie also told how the Rocky star was getting “all F’s” at school and afraid for his future she got him a summer job at her and husband Frank’s beauty salon when he was aged 16.
However things went wrong on day one when he accidently died a customer’s hair GREEN.
Laughing Jackie recalled: 'I didn’t think he’d ever amount to anything, so his father and I gave him a job for the summer working on people’s hair.
'I remember the first customer, I said "Sylvester first you’ll start by learning how to wash a head of hair", now for Christ’s sake how tough is that?
'I had a gallon of nail polish remover and a gallon of shampoo on the counter but Sylvester didn’t look at the labels. So this old Jewish woman with bleached blonde hair was in and Sylvester washes her hair and then he calls me over and her hair was green because he washed it with nail polish remover.
'So I said here just wrap a towel around her head and you and I go out to lunch and just tell your father.'
Jackie – who has spoken before about being no fan of her ex-husband who died last year aged 91 – told how Frank senior was far from polite when the old lady complained.
She said: 'His father Frank was nasty, he had no patience and he treated women like shit but he was a great hairstylist.'
‘So Frank Stallone goes over, yanks the towel off her head and sits her up and she lets out this big scream and he screams back at her ‘you must have wanted that color or you wouldn’t have got it that color’.
'Eventually he threw her out of the door. In those days the salon was as big as my patio so she wouldn’t sue us because we had nothing.’
Jackie gives Sylvester all the credit for his success, but is also proud of the colorful life she has led.
She claims to have had some type of friendship with a stellar list of celebrities through her 50-year career as an astrologist, including: Princess Diana, Michael Jackson, Mikhail Gorbachev, Lord and Lady Mountbatten and even Nelson Mandela.
Among her closest friends in tinseltown now are Cher ’s mum Georgia Holt, 86, Katherine Jackson, 83 and Zsa Zsa Gabor, 96.
Contemplating her 91 years, Jackie said: ‘I have seen everything, I’ve see children, I’ve seen grandchildren, I’ve seen fame, I’ve seen my son’s fame, I’ve seen my own, I’ve been around the world, I’ve had the best and the worst of it, the best and the worst of men, I’ve been engaged so many times, I’ve been married four times and divorced. I’ve left men at the church.
She adds: ‘I haven’t missed a damn thing, there isn’t a movie star I haven’t met, heads of state, all the royal families around the world I’ve met and really I’ve felt very much at home with them all.’
Magic Johnson’s Son EJ, Stunts For His Miami Birthday With Champagne & Designer Bags
It was a celebratory time for Magic Johnson’s eldest son, EJ (real name Earvin Johnson III), as he celebrated his 21st birthday in Miami
Now of legal drinking age, EJ and his friends celebrated in Miami
A few months ago, the media caught wind that EJ was openly gay. In a YouTube interview, EJ explained the experience:
I always wanted to come into the spotlight. I always had dreams and plans of doing my own thing and creating my own image, so it came a little sooner than I thought it would but this is still something I knew I would be going through and would have to experience.
And as expected, he stated that the public’s reaction has been mixed:
It’s almost like they’re attacking me for being me and so to that I can only say, ‘Well, I can only be myself, so I don’t know really what you want me to do. I am very, very, very blessed to have the family that I do. My parents have always been super supportive. My sister and I have always been really close and she’s been really supportive as with my brother. When it was time to come out, I was, obviously, scared as most people are. After I got all the love and support from my family then I knew I could go out and conquer the world, I guess.
Album Sales Predictions: Kanye West, J. Cole, Mac Miller, & Kelly Rowland
All eyes are on the charts as Kanye West, J. Cole, Mac Miller, and Kelly Rowland battle it out After a full day in stores, early estimates are in.
The biggest showdown is between Kanye and Cole. According to HITS Daily Double, Kanye’s Yeezus is on track to outsell Cole’s Born Sinner with 375-400k, while Cole’s sophomore set is predicted to move 290-315k units based on one-day estimates.
That would give Kanye the second biggest debut of the year behind Justin Timberlake’s The 20/20 Experience (968k) and Cole the fourth largest debut after Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories (339k).
Mac Miller’s second album Watching Movies With the Sound Off is approaching the 95-105k range. His 2011 debut Blue Slide Park
Kelly Rowland is facing off with her male counterparts with her fourth album Talk a Good Game, which is expected to sell 60-65k copies in its first week. Her previous set, 2011’s Here I Am, entered at No. 3 with 77,000.
Final sales will be released Wednesday, June 26.
Christina Milian shows off her dancer's body in skintight jeans as she unveils new preteen brand in Vegas
She has built up a successful career as a singer and television presenter.
And Christina Milian is now funneling her knowledge and experience into an animated musical brand for preteens.
The 31-year-old showed off her slender frame in tight jeans as she shopped her new Shelby Star brand at the Licensing Expo in Las Vegas
new preteen brand Shelby Star at the Licensing Expo in Las Vegas
The singer looked gorgeous in the jeans, which she paired with a cropped black-and-brown patterned blouse and strappy white heels.
She wore her newly dyed red hair in loose tumbling curls over her one shoulder, and added shine with a rosy pink lipgloss.
\Christina looked in a buoyant mood as she posed at the expo in front of her new animated creation, which was picked up by licensing firm memBrain to build a licensing program for her brand.
Shelby Star, created by Christina and her mother Carmen, is a 'charismatic, smart and bilingual 12-year-old musician whose bubbly personality, positive attitude and unique sense of style have set the stage for superstardom,' wrote the star on Twitter.
'I'm so happy to FINALLY present my baby girl to the world!' she added.
Christina posted an excited picture of her and her mother in front of a picture of Shelby Star, with the caption: 'sharing a moment with my partner and co-creator @MamaMilian of @Shelbystarworld!'
Mother daughter love: Christina tweeted an excited picture showing her and her mother Carmen posing in front of the Shelby Star picture
'Kids today seek authenticity from their favorite music artists to the brands they wear,' said Jennifer Sullivan, president of memBrain. 'We are thrilled to work with Christina and Carmen because they bring a level of real-world credibility to this property.
'Shelby Star is poised to be a leading children’s entertainment brand because it demonstrates how real kids can achieve their dreams through creativity and tenacity and it legitimately comes from industry insiders who know what it takes to make it big.'
The Licensing expo has operated for over 30 years, according to the event's website, and brings together licensors and agents and helps facilitate licensing deals.
Drake Covers GQ Talks Sex, Love, Feud With Chris Brown, & New Album
Drake is on the cover of the July issue of GQ so make sure you go pick up your copy on newsstands today. In the issue Drake talks everything from Chris Brown to his sex life so this is a definite must read. Click after the heartbeat to see a few highlights…
On other rappers hating on him:
“You notice they don’t criticize the music itself, though…I’m okay with that.”
On being abstinent, sort of:
“You know the way fighters don’t fuck before the fight? Sometimes I feel like I’m so focused on training my body and getting my mind right to create this album that sex isn’t one of my main priorities. If someone is around that I know and trust, I’m down. But I’m not going to end up with some stranger at this party.”
On Chris Brown drama:
“I hear he has everything he could want now. I don’t want my name to be synonymous with that guy’s name. I really don’t. I wish we could sit down just like you and me are right now, and talk it out man-to-man. But that’s not going to happen. I’m not confrontational, but if someone challenges, I’m not going to back down. If I think about it too much, I feel it wrapping around my foot, like I get a feeling it could end really badly…Like, it gets really dark.”
On love:
“[Will Smith said] It’s not about wanting anymore, you need that person. Hearing that, I don’t know if I’ve ever felt that way…I’ve made a lot of music about love being the only thing I’m missing. I think this is the first album I’ve made saying, ‘I’m okay, I’m enjoying it right now.’ Maybe this is my time to grind it out, make a run for it, and add some memories with my boys.”
On “Started From The Bottom:”
“I think a lot of people wish their favorite rapper wrote it—as if a song like that should be gangster—but I was the one who wrote it, and everyone has their bottom.”
“As for my whole story, I wouldn’t change a thing. I’ve told bits and pieces of it—and I’ll tell more. Maybe because I had friends who grew up in the hood, I could have acted like I had, too, and perpetrated a different lifestyle, and it would be eating away at me because it wouldn’t be the truth. i’m actually here in front of you living the truth. I wake up in the morning and my heart is light, man. It’s not heavy. I don’t have skeletons in the closet on their way out. This is my real age, my real name, my real past, and I’m good with that.”
On Nothing Was The Same:
“This is my fucking moment to say if I wanted to rap all the time, really rap, I would, but I also love to make music. I’ll do this for you right now. But it’s for me, too. It’s my story…I’m trying to get back to that kid in the basement. To say what he has to say. And I’m trying to make it last.”
Magic Johnson Sued By Prepaid Credit Card Company
With so many businesses in Magic Johnson's portfolio, there is bound to be a disgruntled partner or two. A pre-paid credit card company is suing the NBA legend for allegedly breaking a deal to create the Magic Cash Card.
The New York Post reports:
Magic Johnson is the latest A-list star to get into a legal battle over prepaid credit cards in their name. Florida-based Celebrity Cards International filed a suit yesterday in Florida District court claiming the NBA Hall of Famer broke an agreement to market and sell a Magic Cash Card, and in turn made a similar deal with a competitor, OneWest Bank.
The suit claims Celebrity Cards' CEO Reed Wallace struck a deal with Johnson to market the cards with his image, and in 2004 sold 2,000 Magic Cards through direct response ads on TV. But shortly after, wrangling over ownership of the trademark began when Wallace's company was bought. According to the suit, Wallace was able to reacquire ownership of Johnson's trademark, but Johnson had filed a cancellation action and partnered with OneWest to release its own Magic Cards without permission from Celeb Cards.
According to Celeb Cards lawyer Robert Hantman, “The actions of defendants are so shocking and appalling . . . and so out of character for Magic Johnson that it is hard to believe, but justice will prevail if not ‘by Magic. ' ” Reps for Johnson did not respond to requests for comment by press time.
Sounds like the pre-paid credit card game can get filthy.
AND FINALLY FROM “THE CRAZY PEOPLE SHOPPING AT WALMART” FILES
‘Pack It Tight’
Bottom Biscuits at the drive-thru! That’s what America
HAVE A GREAT DAY ALL!
EFREM
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