During a Fox News segment on Thursday, Brazile urged the show’s anchor, Harris Faulkner, to show her “just a little bit of respect” during a tense moment when the two discussed the impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump. The veteran democratic political strategist is currently a contributor on the right-leaning network.
Faulkner asked Brazile about Republican complaints that Democrats are singularly focused on impeachment to the detriment of more important issues, according to The Daily Beast.
“We just had Stephanie Grisham, White House press secretary, talking about other things that need attention,” Faulkner said, referring to an interview she conducted with Grisham. “USMCA. I hear Democrats say, ‘We can walk and chew gum at the same time.’ We are going to actually have to see them do this. There are like 20 days left for Congress until the end of the year, between 16 and 20 days—working days to get things done.”
Brazile said she lives in D.C. and knows that the city and Congress are functioning just fine, which made Faulkner ask why then Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumerclaimed that things “could all fall apart with impeachment” because the government could shut down on Nov. 21.
“In his estimation, which is quite incendiary—and I haven’t seen this based on fact—the president could shut down the government to stop impeachment,” the Fox anchor said.
“How irresponsible would that be?” Brazile fired back.
“Oh, you don’t have any proof that that would even happen,” Faulkner responded, cutting Brazile off. “And Schumer’s throwing gasoline out there!”
“Harris, can you give me just a little bit of respect?” Brazile asked, which made Faulkner respond: “Go ahead, I respect you. You know I do.”
The former interim Democratic National Committee chair said she also “extremely” respected Faulkner, and had in fact even changed her travel plans in order to squeeze in the interview.
“This is NOT a slave movie,” Debra Martin Chase declares, her passion for her latest production, Harriet, crackling through the phone. “This is a movie about freedom and empowerment. This is a movie that says we cannot control the circumstances into which we are born, but we can control what we do once we get here.”
After weeks of what she jokingly calls a “high-class grind,” traveling to film festivals and promotional screenings across continents and U.S. cities in the run-up to the film’s official opening in L.A., Martin Chase is taking this one last call, her one last interview, before she packs it in for the night.
It’s 24 hours before the film’s premiere and her goal for the evening is simple: Put her feet up, get quiet, and get ready for the bright lights and big adventure of the Nov. 1 kickoff. But even a few hours of “prelaxing” is going to be easier said than done.
The fact is, Martin Chase will not—cannot—bring herself to go quietly into this good night until she makes her point to potentially “slave fatigued” moviegoers out there about what Harriet is—and isn’t.
“Listen, I saw Twelve Years A Slave its opening weekend,” she says. “It needed to be made, I thought it was brilliant, and I was thrilled that it won [the Academy Award for] Best Picture. It was absolutely deserved. But I won’t ever watch it again, because I can’t. It’s too painful.”
Celebrating Harriet
Although Harriet tells the life story of the woman called Moses by the slaves she led through the Underground Railroad to freedom, director Kasi Lemmons places the film’s emphasis on the woman and how she came to be, not on the horrors she faced, fought, and ultimately defeated.
“Harriet Tubman could not read, she could not write, she was destined to be a slave for her entire life and she decided ‘no, that’s not going to be my story,’” Martin Chase says, her voice brimming with awe. “That story needed to be told. And we felt an enormous responsibility to get it right.”
The film’s release—into a dynamic era when women are seizing the mic in every media platform to tell their truths and topple the patriarchy—arguably couldn’t be better timed.
“A lot of us are waking up every day feeling hopeless and helpless, and this film is a reminder to all of us that we can each make a difference, in our families, in our churches, our communities, our countries, our world,” she says. “Harriet saved herself, members of her family, and countless others. She changed people’s lives, she changed the course of history. This is an action hero origin story. She was a badass!”
From One Badass to Another
As the first African American female producer to score a deal at a major studio (her company, Martin Chase Productions, was affiliated with the Walt Disney Co. from 2001 to 2016 and is now affiliated with Universal Television), Martin Chase has her own badass story to tell.
But despite having great instincts borne out by a career change from Harvard-trained lawyer to pioneering Hollywood producer, and a great track record that includes several hit films, she’s nervous, and for good reason.
If Harriet succeeds at the box office, she believes the door for more films featuring underrepresented stories, casts, and productions teams will continue to inch open. If not, it may slam shut. Martin Chase has no doubt that movies such as Wonder Woman, Black Panther, and Hidden Figures—all major successes that exceeded box office expectations in both the U.S. and abroad, with stories and casts that defied stereotypical Hollywood ideals and thinking—have pushed the industry toward greater inclusion, making it possible for Harriet to get its chance. Nonetheless, few were more surprised than Martin Chase was when it did.
“Hollywood doesn’t make movies about black women and it doesn’t make period movies about black women,” Martin Chase says. “We were prepared to raise the money for a smaller production if we had to, but then the Focus Features people said they were in. I was amazed, and they have been fantastic.”
Tonight’s Harriet premiere represents the culmination of a five-and-a-half-year journey for Martin Chase. She first believed in this film and championed it alongside its screenwriter Gregory Howard (best known for Return of the Titans). She helped gather a top-drawer team including the black female actress turned director Lemmons (her directorial debut was 1997’s beautifully original Eve’s Bayou); Terence Blanchard, who has composed more than 40 original film scores including BlacKkKlansman, for which he received an Oscar nomination; and a cast led by Cynthia Erivo, who won both a Tony and a Grammy for her turn as Celie in Broadway’s 2013 revival of The Color Purple.
A moment for making history
Despite Martin Chase’s serious doubts about the studio system, Focus Features (which backed Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman) enthusiastically signed on. And despite some initial criticism for casting a Brit who had never starred in a major motion picture to play one of America’s most valiant and revered black sheroes, Erivo has already gotten critics’ raves. The New York Times lauded her “precise and passionate performance,” while Martin Chase, who calls Erivo a “warrior” and “a major, major talent,” says she is nothing short of “transcendent” in the role.
The whole team endured filming during Virginia’s “coldest, rainiest fall ever,” according to Martin Chase, who was proud to help shepherd the final product to this moment. And she makes no bones about it: This moment is what it’s all about.
In Hollywood today, all films are judged by their opening weekend stats and that clock starts ticking tonight. “I’m always nervous,” she says. “We’ve been tracking well and I’ve been through this, but it never gets easier. You just don’t know until you know.
“This movie is about celebrating—celebrating courage, celebrating power, celebrating taking control of your destiny,” she says.
Harriet Tubman controlled her destiny and went on to change the fates of countless others who might never have tasted freedom without her bravery, her tenacity, and her faith. The story of her life has finally been brought to the big screen but the destiny of this film, and the many other black stories waiting and deserving to be told, is now in moviegoers’ hands.
Want your voice to be heard? Buy those tickets, now!
“This is NOT a slave movie,” Debra Martin Chase declares, her passion for her latest production, Harriet, crackling through the phone. “This is a movie about freedom and empowerment. This is a movie that says we cannot control the circumstances into which we are born, but we can control what we do once we get here.”
After weeks of what she jokingly calls a “high-class grind,” traveling to film festivals and promotional screenings across continents and U.S. cities in the run-up to the film’s official opening in L.A., Martin Chase is taking this one last call, her one last interview, before she packs it in for the night.
It’s 24 hours before the film’s premiere and her goal for the evening is simple: Put her feet up, get quiet, and get ready for the bright lights and big adventure of the Nov. 1 kickoff. But even a few hours of “prelaxing” is going to be easier said than done.
The fact is, Martin Chase will not—cannot—bring herself to go quietly into this good night until she makes her point to potentially “slave fatigued” moviegoers out there about what Harriet is—and isn’t.
“Listen, I saw Twelve Years A Slave its opening weekend,” she says. “It needed to be made, I thought it was brilliant, and I was thrilled that it won [the Academy Award for] Best Picture. It was absolutely deserved. But I won’t ever watch it again, because I can’t. It’s too painful.”
Celebrating Harriet
Although Harriet tells the life story of the woman called Moses by the slaves she led through the Underground Railroad to freedom, director Kasi Lemmons places the film’s emphasis on the woman and how she came to be, not on the horrors she faced, fought, and ultimately defeated.
“Harriet Tubman could not read, she could not write, she was destined to be a slave for her entire life and she decided ‘no, that’s not going to be my story,’” Martin Chase says, her voice brimming with awe. “That story needed to be told. And we felt an enormous responsibility to get it right.”
The film’s release—into a dynamic era when women are seizing the mic in every media platform to tell their truths and topple the patriarchy—arguably couldn’t be better timed.
“A lot of us are waking up every day feeling hopeless and helpless, and this film is a reminder to all of us that we can each make a difference, in our families, in our churches, our communities, our countries, our world,” she says. “Harriet saved herself, members of her family, and countless others. She changed people’s lives, she changed the course of history. This is an action hero origin story. She was a badass!”
From One Badass to Another
As the first African American female producer to score a deal at a major studio (her company, Martin Chase Productions, was affiliated with the Walt Disney Co. from 2001 to 2016 and is now affiliated with Universal Television), Martin Chase has her own badass story to tell.
But despite having great instincts borne out by a career change from Harvard-trained lawyer to pioneering Hollywood producer, and a great track record that includes several hit films, she’s nervous, and for good reason.
If Harriet succeeds at the box office, she believes the door for more films featuring underrepresented stories, casts, and productions teams will continue to inch open. If not, it may slam shut. Martin Chase has no doubt that movies such as Wonder Woman, Black Panther, and Hidden Figures—all major successes that exceeded box office expectations in both the U.S. and abroad, with stories and casts that defied stereotypical Hollywood ideals and thinking—have pushed the industry toward greater inclusion, making it possible for Harriet to get its chance. Nonetheless, few were more surprised than Martin Chase was when it did.
“Hollywood doesn’t make movies about black women and it doesn’t make period movies about black women,” Martin Chase says. “We were prepared to raise the money for a smaller production if we had to, but then the Focus Features people said they were in. I was amazed, and they have been fantastic.”
Tonight’s Harriet premiere represents the culmination of a five-and-a-half-year journey for Martin Chase. She first believed in this film and championed it alongside its screenwriter Gregory Howard (best known for Return of the Titans). She helped gather a top-drawer team including the black female actress turned director Lemmons (her directorial debut was 1997’s beautifully original Eve’s Bayou); Terence Blanchard, who has composed more than 40 original film scores including BlacKkKlansman, for which he received an Oscar nomination; and a cast led by Cynthia Erivo, who won both a Tony and a Grammy for her turn as Celie in Broadway’s 2013 revival of The Color Purple.
A moment for making history
Despite Martin Chase’s serious doubts about the studio system, Focus Features (which backed Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman) enthusiastically signed on. And despite some initial criticism for casting a Brit who had never starred in a major motion picture to play one of America’s most valiant and revered black sheroes, Erivo has already gotten critics’ raves. The New York Times lauded her “precise and passionate performance,” while Martin Chase, who calls Erivo a “warrior” and “a major, major talent,” says she is nothing short of “transcendent” in the role.
The whole team endured filming during Virginia’s “coldest, rainiest fall ever,” according to Martin Chase, who was proud to help shepherd the final product to this moment. And she makes no bones about it: This moment is what it’s all about.
In Hollywood today, all films are judged by their opening weekend stats and that clock starts ticking tonight. “I’m always nervous,” she says. “We’ve been tracking well and I’ve been through this, but it never gets easier. You just don’t know until you know.
“This movie is about celebrating—celebrating courage, celebrating power, celebrating taking control of your destiny,” she says.
Harriet Tubman controlled her destiny and went on to change the fates of countless others who might never have tasted freedom without her bravery, her tenacity, and her faith. The story of her life has finally been brought to the big screen but the destiny of this film, and the many other black stories waiting and deserving to be told, is now in moviegoers’ hands.
Want your voice to be heard? Buy those tickets, now!
Andrea Lee said she had an epiphany the day she left R. Kelly and their 13-year marriage.
“The day I escaped from him, it was a realization that these gates on our property was not to keep people out… but to keep me in,” Lee told Extra’s Jenn Lahmers in an interview to raise awareness of domestic violence.
Drea, as she’s known, alleges that Kelly physical, sexually and emotionally abused her. She discussed the abuse first in the docu-series Surviving R. Kelly which aired early this year. She now says that she received loads of criticism from people questioning why it took her so long to come forward.
“It was really hard… the victim shaming, the victim blaming, the backlash I was not prepared for,” Drea told Extra. “I thought, ‘Here I am coming forward, this is about women… women’s empowerment, we’re in this together, and I just want to give validity to these women’s stories and hopefully if they don’t believe them at least they’ll (believe) the ex-wife. It was the complete opposite.”
Drea and Kelly divorced in 2009. She said many people believe she is lying to try and claim Kelly’s money, but she said that couldn’t be further from the truth.
“There’s no price tag on any woman’s soul… You can’t put a price on a life… At the end of the day, women are fighting for their lives… That’s why I often say you may love R. Kelly, but you might not like Robert,” she told Extra.
Kelly, who is currently in a Chicago jail, was recently indicted on 13 new federal sex abuse charges, which include conspiracy to receive child pornography, receiving child pornography, producing child pornography, enticement of a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity, and conspiracy to obstruct justice.
Kelly is also facing an indictment in New York on charges of racketeering for allegedly operating a criminal enterprise, and recruiting women and girls to engage in criminal sexual activity.
In a statement, Kelly’s attorney Steve Greenberg said the charges are duplicative of earlier charges for which he was acquitted. “The conduct alleged appears to be largely the same as the conduct previously alleged against Mr. Kelly in his current State indictment and his former State charges that he was acquitted of. Most, if not all of the conduct alleged, is decades old.”
Greenberg added that Kelly looks forward to “the truth coming out and to his vindication from what has been an unprecedented assault by others for their own personal gain. Most importantly he looks forward to being able to continue to making wonderful music and perform for his legions of fans that believe in him.”
Drea has repeatedly gone after Kelly for outstanding child support. A judge recently ordered back child support payments to be deducted from Kelly’s music royalties.
John Witherspoon had us rolling just hours before he died.
Witherspoon, 77, posted a 15-minute video to his YouTube channel on Oct. 28 cooking what he called “Poor Man’ Gumbo.” He wore little more than an apron and a chef’s toque blanche, and discussed how important it was to create a good roux.
He explains that this time in the kitchen is going to be a special occasion, as he drops a little wisdom on us. Witherspoon aims to show fans the difference between a gumbo for people with money, and those that can’t quite afford “shrimp and lobster… Alaskan King crab.”
Early on in the video, Witherspoon explained the reason why he hadn’t posted to his YouTube page in a year was because he has been working.
“Now I know I haven’t been here for a while, but I’ve been busy doing other things,” Witherspoon said in the clip. “We about to do the Boondocks, and we gonna do another Friday, but I’ve been around working on the road, because I’ve been very, very busy and got a big schedule this year.”
He was in fact set to reprise his role as Mr. Jones in the cult classic Friday franchise. He was also due to return to The Boondocks, according to Deadline.
In the YouTube video, Witherspoon also discussed topics including homeless people, President Donald Trump and Amber Guyger, the former Dallas police officer sentenced to 10 years in prison for murdering Botham Jean.
But unfortunately Witherspoon died on Tuesday, Oct. 29 in his Sherman Oaks, California home.
Witherspoon’s family has long called the actor and comedian “one of the hardest working men in show business.” In announcing his death, his wife and sons tweeted: “It is with deep sadness we have to tweet this, but our husband & father John Witherspoon has passed away. He was a Legend in the entertainment industry, and a father figure to all who watched him over the years. We love you “POPS” always & forever.”
It is with deep sadness we have to tweet this, but our husband & father John Witherspoon has passed away. He was a Legend in the entertainment industry, and a father figure to all who watched him over the years. We love you “POPS” always & forever.
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