Link to Phoenix New Times Shocking Article about Paul Babeu hypocrisy and intimidating his ex Mexican gay lover.

http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2012-02-16/news/paul-babeu-s-mexican-ex-lover-says-sheriff-s-attorney-threatened-him-with-deportation/

I am concerned about the representation of Kal and Tariq’s relationship on LA Complex. I am cognizant that Kal is a rapper in the closet but why does Kal and Tariq’s relationship have to be abusive? Why does Kal beat Tariq that’s not love that’s domestic violence!

Why are black men being depicted as violent? I think violence at the end is weird and abhorrent!

Why does Kal have to be a rap artist? I think that’s just lazy writing so a black gay man has to be on the down low? Give me a break!  Why couldn’t Kal and Tariq be country western singers or something else? I don’t know but the whole hip hop industry thing reeks of racism.

One argument is the writers of LA Complex are illustrating gay relationships can be toxic and violent just like heterosexual relationships.

However, since there is a paucity of black gay men on television aren’t the LA Complex writers reinforcing racist and sexist stereotypes about black gay men?

Are the writers of LA Complex trying to say black gay love is violent? Would the writers of LA Complex write a white gay couple in this negative light? I doubt two white gay guys would have a violent relationship on Canadian television.

White homosexual characters in films and on television are depicted as loving and romantic. By contrast, a black gay couple’s relationship is depicted as abusive which makes me sick!

I abhor violence and to see Tariq in a pool of blood at the end of the scene makes me want to vomit!

Whitney Elizabeth Houston, 1963-2012

A look back at the star from one of her closest friends

BY ROBYN CRAWFORD

David Corio/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty

I met her when she was 16. It was at a summer job. I was working at a community center in East Orange, New Jersey, and she was working just like the rest of us. She was there to work. She introduced herself as “Whitney Elizabeth Houston,” and I knew right away she was special. Not a lot of people introduced themselves with their middle names back then. She had peachy colored skin and she didn’t look like anyone I’d ever met in East Orange, New Jersey.

She was nothing like the Whitney Houston she became but at the same time she was already there. She knew, and so did everyone around her. She was doing shows in Manhattan with her mother, and she’d change her clothes in the car and get on stage and do her thing. She hadn’t signed her contract yet. But she was modeling for Wilhelmina because she was discovered on the street. She was walking in front of Carnegie Hall and someone walked up to her and said, “There’s a modeling agency upstairs that’s looking for someone just like you.” She walked upstairs and they signed her. That’s what it was like, that’s what she gave off. She looked like an angel. When my mother first met her, she laughed and said, “You look like an angel, but I know you’re not.” And she wasn’t. But she looked like one.

She chose the life she lived, and she chose it from the beginning. She knew the life better than anyone. Her mother was Cissy Houston, and she had been on the road with Dionne Warwick. She got her chops singing in church, and her mother said to her, “You know, you can always sing for free. You can always sing in church. You don’t have to choose the professional life.” But she chose because she’d been chosen. Some people sing just because. She was never like that. She had to put on her gear. She knew it was going to be a job and that’s how she treated it. Once she committed to something, she finished it. Not long after I met her, she said, “Stick with me, and I’ll take you around the world.” She always knew where she was headed.

And we went around the world. I was her assistant and then her executive assistant and then her creative director. I was her point person for the day-to-day. I traveled all around the world first-class and anyone who ever worked for her will tell you her checks never bounced. You knew she was going to take care of you. She wasn’t going to be in a five-star hotel while you were in a two. I flew the Concorde the way some people ride the bus. She shared the fruits, and she changed a lot of lives. The record company, the band members, her family, her friends, me — she fed everybody. Deep down inside that’s what made her tired.

It was never easy. She never left anything undone. But it was hard. The Bodyguard was great when it was done, but it was a lot of work. She did the movie, she did the music, she did everything — and when she was done, she was done. She nailed it. The music supervisor brought her Linda Ronstadt’s version of “I Will Always Love You” way before Kevin Costner brought Dolly Parton’s version — and she always knew what she could do with it. So when Kevin came in and played it for her and told her he wanted her to sing it for the movie, she said, “Fine.” She wasn’t much for showing off what she had, except when she had to.

I always compare her performance of that song with a great athlete hitting his peak — with Michael Jordan in the playoffs. It was the absolute pinnacle of what she could do, of what anyone could do — and then she had to keep on doing it. Everybody wanted to hear her sing that song, and so she sang it. It didn’t matter whether she had a cold, or wasn’t in good voice; she had to deliver it, and she had it arranged so she could deliver every last note. And even if the note wasn’t there, the feeling was. A lot of her songs were like that. They were a lot to deliver, but she delivered them every note, every time.

It’s so strange that she died when she did. February was her month. Her first album was released on Valentine’s Day, right around the time of the Grammys, right around the time of Clive Davis’s party. It was an orchestrated thing. She was Clive’s girl, his great discovery. And she died right before Valentine’s Day, right before the Grammys, right before Clive’s party. Of course, she was going. I don’t know if she was singing, I don’t know what kind of pressure she was putting on herself. But she was going, that’s for damned sure.

People thought they had to protect her. She hated that. And that’s what people don’t understand: She was always the one doing the driving. Someone just called and told me that the family kept Whitney from seeing her. Nobody kept Whitney from doing anything. She did what she wanted to do. When people left her or were told to leave, they could never believe that Whitney would never call them — but she never did. She was working hard to keep herself together, and I think she felt that if she admitted any feeling of sadness or weakness she would crumble. One time, back when we were young, we were out, we were partying, and I said, “Listen, I have to go. I’m tired. I can’t make it.” And she looked at me with her eyes wide and said, “I’ve got to make it.”

And that was Whitney. She could not pick up the phone, and that meant it was too painful. I have never spoken about her until now. And she knew I wouldn’t. She was a loyal friend, and she knew I was never going to be disloyal to her. I was never going to betray her. Now I can’t believe that I’m never going to hug her or hear her laughter again. I loved her laughter, and that’s what I miss most, that’s what I miss already.

I’m trying not to think of the end. I’m trying not to listen to all the reports. All these people talking about drugs — well, a lot of people take drugs, and they’re still around. Whitney isn’t, because you never know the way the wind blows. I just hope that she wasn’t in pain and that she hadn’t lost hope. She gave so much to so many people; I hope that she felt loved in return. She was the action, for such a long time. She’s out of the action now. I hope she can finally rest.

Read more: http://www.esquire.com/the-side/music/whitney-houston-6654718#ixzz1mKLvHmd7

I am really proud of Wendy Williams she was so honest talking about her past problems with drug addiction. Wendy was so brave to speak about how difficult her drug addiction affected her life. I think Wendy never had Whitney Houston on her show because she felt Whitney wasn’t honest about her battle with drugs.

I remember when I was a child in the 1980s my mother always played this Whitney Houston song!  Whitney Houston and Jermaine Jackson’s duet Take Good Care of My Heart is a romantic song.  The passionate lyrics, the excellent singing, are just wonderful!

According to the Associated Press, pop legend Whitney Houston died today in Los Angeles she was forty-eight years old.  Whitney Houston was the most important female solo pop star of her generation because she broke down racial barriers.

Although Madonna sold more records than Whitney Houston she lacked the vocal talent and class. Whitney’s success illustrated to the music industry that a black female singer can become an international superstar. Houston had all the ingredients an incredible singing voice, flawless beauty, intelligence, and a sense of humor.

In the early 1980s, Diana Ross was successful after leaving the Supremes but she wasn’t able to maintain her 1960s and 1970s success.

MTV rarely broadcast the videos of black female entertainers until Whitney Houston emerged and became a crossover success.

African American entertainers struggled just to reach wider audiences due to racial discrimination in the early 1980s.

Whitney Houston’s  crossover success  had an incredible cultural impact with black and white audiences.

At the 1989  Soul Train awards, Whitney Houston was booed by the African American audience they accused her of  ”acting white”, “singing white”, and ignoring the “black” audience.

Some blacks even called Houston “whitey” because they believed she had abandoned the black community.

Clive Davis the president of Arista Records wanted Whitney to appeal to white America so her records had less soul. Davis was concerned that Whitney not appear “too black” to offend white

American audiences.  Davis carefully marketed Houston to be as bland and boring as possible.

Davis was focused on record sales but I personally believe Whitney felt shackled to this boring, pop princess image.

The pop songs Whitney sang were successful and popular with white audiences but her songs lacked soul.

Although some music fans love Whitney’s adult contemporary songs some blacks viewed her as a traitor for singing pop songs.

Whitney also appealed to the gay community she was a  gay icon. Houston reached a global audience and she demonstrated with her talent, poise, and beauty that an African American woman can become

a global superstar.

Whitney inspired a new generation of female artists such as Christina Aguilera, Mary J Blige, Mariah Carey, Brandy, Beyonce, and Monica.

Houston’s success continued in the 1990s with hit films and soundtracks such as The Bodyguard, Waiting to Exhale, and The Preacher’s Wife. 

The media was obsessed with Houston’s marriage to R&B bad boy Bobby Brown the couple married in 1992 and divorced in 2007.

Whitney was tired of the pop princess image and she wanted to stop the facade of not being her true self.

I think Whitney’s marriage to Bobby Brown was her way to reclaim her African American identity.

Bobby Brown was everything Whitney Houston wasn’t he was brash, outspoken, and he was also very popular with young black audiences in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Houston’s sound changed from contemporary pop to R&B with her 1998 album My Love Is Your Love.

In the early 2000s, Whitney could no longer hide her drug addiction and she was  honest about her struggles with alcohol, marijuana,  and rock cocaine.

In the year 2009, Whitney tried to make a comeback with the album I Turn To You it sold well but the tour was a disaster.

Houston appeared disorientated on stage forgetting the lyrics to songs and  her powerful voice was destroyed due to years of drug use.

Whitney’s decline was similar to 1950s  jazz diva Billie Holiday because drug addiction ultimately ruined their lives.

Of course, many people probably wonder why did Whitney Houston start using drugs?

Whitney Houston was one of the biggest stars in the world and she had a public image that she was the perfect person.

I think people need to realize celebrities are also people with public personas and private personalities.

Sometimes for some stars it is difficult to deal with the pressures of fame.

The intense media scrutiny Whitney Houston endured was difficult because she was so famous.

Every little thing Whitney did in her private life was analyzed in detail by the mainstream press and the vociferous tabloid media.

We will probably never find out the truth but drug addiction is very serious and real.

Some people think a quick visit to rehab can cure an addiction but for some people they struggle with drugs for the rest of their lives.

The mainstream white media was very negative towards Whitney Houston when she admitted to using narcotics and alcohol.

By contrast, black publications and media outlets such as Essence Magazine, Ebony, Upscale, Jet, supported Whitney with tough love.

The black press did not condemn Whitney Houston and treat her like she was a pariah like the mainstream white media.

People struggle with drug addiction regardless whether they are famous or ordinary people.

Whitney tried to kick her drug habit and turn her life around.

Some people easily attack Whitney Houston but I guess they lived perfect lives and never had personal demons?

It is so easy for people to criticize another person even though they never walked a mile in that individual’s shoes.

I believe Whitney Houston was a great singer and it is so sad and disappointing she died so young at the age of forty eight.