Comedian Icons Chris Rock and Kevin Hart announced “Rock Hart: Only Headliners Allowed,” a joint comedy tour starting this summer.

The tour will kick-off starting July 21 at the Jones Beach Theater on Long Island, New York, and makes stops across New Jersey and New York City, including Madison Square Garden, before ending on July 25 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

“When Chris and I realized we were both going to be on tour this year we immediately knew we needed to do something special,” Hart said in a statement to The Root.  “We have been friends and mentors to each other for 20 years, but we have never shared a headlining stage together – until now!!! I cannot think of a better way to celebrate the return of live comedy than to co-headline a show with my brother Chris Rock. This is a major moment in comedy and one for the history books.”

Along with the announcement of his joint tour with Rock, Hart has also recently been announced as a headliner for this year’s Essence Festival of Culture. 

Bloomberg News reported yesterday (2/8), that media tycoon Byron Allen is making a bid to buy the Denver Broncos from the Bowlen Family Trust, if the sale goes through, Allen would become the first Black majority owner of an NFL team.  Allen reportedly in a statement told the business network that he was encouraged to consider NFL franchise ownership by a pair of prominent league power players.

“NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft came to me in November of 2019 and asked me to take a good look at buying an NFL team,” Allen’s statement reads. “And after serious consideration, I strongly believe I can effectuate positive changes throughout the league. And for that reason, I will be making a bid for the Denver Broncos.”

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Detroit native Allen started his career as a standup comedian before hosting the long-running interview show “Kickin’ it with Byron Allen” starting in 1992.  He founded Entertainment Studios in 1993 and has overseen its growth into a powerful media conglomerate.

The company’s portfolio includes a stake in regional sports networks formerly owned by Disney and ownership of The Weather Channel, which it purchased in 2018.

Forbes placed the value of the Broncos franchise at $3.75 Billion, though it is expected to sell for more than $4 Billion, said to be a record price for a U.S. sports team.   While it’s difficult to pinpoint Allen’s exact net worth is hard to determine, but is said to be somewhere just under $500 Million.

The Broncos announced the franchise was for sale on Feb. 1, a long expected announcement since the death of former owner Pat Bowlen. The late long-time owner of the franchise left control to a trust just prior to his death.  The trust hopes to find new ownership prior to the start of next season.

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Four men have been arrested in connection with the Overdose death of Michael K. Williams, actor who starred in HBO’s Iconic “The Wire.”

Williams was found dead in his Brooklyn penthouse apartment in September 2021 from an overdose of fentanyl-laced heroin. A relative who hadn’t heard from Williams in a couple of days had gone to check on him and found his body.

On Wednesday, federal authorities announced the arrest of Irvin Cartagena, aka “Green Eyes,” on narcotics conspiracy charges.

Hector Robles, aka “Oreja,” Luis Cruz, aka “Mostro,” and Carlos Macci, aka “Carlito,” were charged as members of the fentanyl and heroin conspiracy.

Since at least in or about August 2020, the drug trafficking organization the “DTO” has been operating in the area of 224 South 3rd Street in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, prosecutors claim. They say DTO sells heroin laced with fentanyl and a fentanyl analogue on the street in front of, and from an apartment inside of, the apartment building located at 224 South 3rd Street, among other places.

They say around September 5, 2021, members of the DTO sold Williams heroin, which was laced with fentanyl and a fentanyl analogue, with Cartagena actually handing over the drugs, surveillance video showed. The surveillance images show Williams in a black tracksuit taking a plastic bag from Cartagena while he’s standing behind trash cans on a street in Williamsburg. Another picture shows the two exchanging cell phone numbers.

Hours later, Williams was found dead inside his apartment.

Prosecutors say a screenshot from a surveillance video shows a drug dealer selling fentanyl laced heroin to actor Michael K. Williams.

Cartagena was arrested Tuesday in Puerto Rico.  Robles, Cruz, and Macci were arrested in New York and were expected to be in front of a Manhattan federal judge on Wednesday.

Cartagena, 39, of Brooklyn, Robles, 57, of Brooklyn, Cruz, 56, of Brooklyn, and Macci, 70, of Brooklyn, are each charged with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute fentanyl analogue, fentanyl, and heroin, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 5 years in prison and a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison.  Cartagena is also charged with causing the death of Williams in connection with the narcotics conspiracy, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison. 

“We will continue to hold accountable the dealers who push this poison, exploit addiction and cause senseless death,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams, no relation to the actor, said on Wednesday. 

Peter Frankel, a former federal prosecutor, explained why this is a federal case. 

“You’ve got a high-profile death, you’ve got fentanyl, which is ravaging our society, and you have a situation where if this went to state court, you’d be looking at all four of them getting out the night that they were arraigned and no prosecution for homicide,” Frankel said. “So, I think for all those reasons, you see the feds involved here and you may see the feds getting involved more and more in street-level drug deals.”

Williams, 54, was famous for his role as Omar Little in the TV series “The Wire” and as Chalky White in “Boardwalk Empire.” He also appeared in the movies “12 Years a Slave,” “Assassin’s Creed,” and others.

Yahoo has reported today that Whoopi Goldberg has been suspended from “The View” for two weeks after facing wide criticism for her remarks that the Holocaust was “not about race.”

Goldberg’s suspension was announced in a statement released by ABC News public relations on Tuesday night.

“Effective immediately, I am suspending Whoopi Goldberg for two weeks for her wrong and hurtful comments,” reads a statement attributed to Kim Godwin, president at ABC News. “While Whoopi has apologized, I’ve asked her to take time to reflect and learn about the impact of her comments. The entire ABC News organization stands in solidarity with our Jewish colleagues, friends, family and communities.”

Goldberg’s comments on “The View” reached the highest level of decision makers at Disney, Variety can confirm. According to sources, Peter Rice, the chairman of Disney General Entertainment Content, was consulted on the public fallout for Goldberg.

Goldberg’s remarks emerged during a conversation on Monday’s broadcast of “The View,” in which the co-hosts discussed a Tennessee school board’s ban of “Maus,” a nonfiction graphic novel about cartoonist Art Spiegelman’s father’s experience surviving the Holocaust.

“Let’s be truthful about it because [the] Holocaust isn’t about race,” Goldberg said on Monday’s episode. “It’s not about race. It’s about man’s inhumanity to man.”

The remarks drew immediate sweeping criticism from Jewish organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League and the U.S. Holocaust Museum.

 Rihanna dropped social media influencer Ari Fletcher as a Savage X Fenty brand ambassador after her controversial comments about domestic violence went viral a few weeks ago.

In late December, Ari appeared on a podcast where she spoke up about her relationship with rapper MoneyBagg Yo. During the conversation, she shared that she wanted him to “pull a gun on her” to show her how much he loved her if she tried to leave him. “Like, pull your gun out and show me like, ‘B*tch leave. I wish you would walk out the door,” she jokingly said. “I’m going to just sit down because I got a son, and I’m not trying to die – I got a son. So I’m only staying because I got a son, and I don’t want you to shoot me,” she continued.

After her comments went viral, social media was quick to condemn her, jumping in to defend domestic violence victims and calling Ari out for such ignorant statements. And the backlash didn’t just come from music fans, but from those who work on behalf of domestic abuse victims alike. But, instead of apologizing, Ari took to the internet and doubled down on her comment, telling the social media critics to mind their own business and stay out of her love life. Even going on Instagram Live to tell victims that “we do not care.”

Fast forward to this weekend, and it looks like Rihanna has taken action against the social influencer, removing all instances of Ari from the Savage X Fenty website which has led fans to speculate that the personality has lost her brand partnership deal with the brand following the controversial statements.