December 13 - 19, 2014
Entertainment
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TURKS AND CAICOS WEEKLY NEWS
West and Usher to receive 2015 BET honours
Doctors, nurses and other staff who show “courage and mercy” were singled out by the magazine for praise.
2014 Time ‘Person of the Year’ goes to Ebola workers TIME magazine has named Ebola healthcare workers in West Africa its ‘Person of the Year’ for 2014. Doctors, nurses and other staff who show “courage and mercy” were singled out by the magazine for praise. “The rest of the world can sleep at night because a group of men and women are willing to stand and fight,” said Time’s editor, Nancy Gibbs. The runner-ups included Ferguson protesters, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba. Nearly 6,331 people have been killed by the Ebola virus, most of them in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. About 349 healthcare workers have died after contracting the disease.
Henry Gray from Doctors without Borders, said: “We are happy for this recognition but will be even happier when the last Ebola treatment centre is closed and the crisis is declared over.” The White House expressed its approval as well. Speaking for President Barack Obama, Press Secretary Josh Earnest said he “could not be prouder of the brave men and women who have committed themselves to this effort in a foreign land”. “But we must not forget that in order to bring this epidemic under control on the front lines, indeed the only way to prevent additional cases here in the United States, we need more of these medical professionals” Mr Earnest continues. Several US aid workers contracted the virus in West Africa and returned to the US for treatment. (BBC)
Reggae star Banton hoping for an early release date GRAMMY winning reggae artiste, Buju Banton, who was convicted on cocaine trafficking charges in 2011, has filed a motion in court in an attempt to secure an earlier release date. The Tampa Bay Tribune reports that Buju,whose given name is Mark Myrie, filed his own motion from prison asking to be released early based on a recent change in federal drug sentencing guidelines. This would mean an earlier release date and deportation to Jamaica. Buju is currently serving a mandatory ten-year sentence for his conviction on a charge of conspiracy to distribute cocaine. He is scheduled to be released in 2019. However, the amendments do not apply to those serving minimum mandatory sentences under the law. This would only be possible where the convicts cooperate with investigators or at give a full confession to their crimes.
Buju Banton, who is scheduled to be released in 2019, was convicted on cocaine trafficking charges in 2011.
According to the paper, this is unlikely to happen, as Buju has maintained his innocence since being arrested. Buju was convicted in February 2011, days after he won a Grammy award for his album, “Before the Dawn.” (CMC)
US rapper Kanye West will receive the visionary award at the Black Entertainment Television (BET) honours. The 37-year-old is one of five acts to be honoured for their achievements in art, music, theatre, technology and business at the ceremony. R&B star Usher, whose hits include Yeah and Confessions, will receive the music award for his twodecade career. Phylicia Rashad, best known in the UK as The Cosby Show’s Clair Huxtable, is to receive the theatrical arts award. Her credits on Broadway and in regional theatre include August: Osage County, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, Medea and Raisin in the Sun, for which she won a Tony Award. Director of the National Museum of African Art, Dr Johnnetta Betsch Cole, will pick up the education award. John W Thompson, who replaced Bill Gates as chairman of Microsoft earlier this year, will be honoured with the technology and business award. West, who among the acts being rumoured as a headliner for next year’s Glastonbury Festival, is one of the most successful rappers of his generation.
Kanye West is one of five African-Americans to receive BET honorary awards next year.
His sonically adventurous, genredefying albums have generated hits like Gold Digger, Stronger and Black Skinhead, while his innovative live performances have incorporated ballet, Margiela masks and striking production design from Britain’s Es Devlin. The performer’s notoriously spiky interviews and awards show interventions have also made headlines around the world. The BET Awards were established
in 2001 to honour African Americans and other minorities working in multiple disciplines. Past honourees include Dr Maya Angelou, who received the literary arts award in 2012 and Whitney Houston, who received the entertainers award in 2010. The 2015 Honours, presented by Wayne Brady, will take place at the Warner Theatre in Washington on 24 January and will be shown on the BET channel on 23 February. (BBC)
Diddy punches Drake ‘three times’ during brawl outside Miami club: sources IN A nightclub brawl early Monday, rap mogul Diddy left a muchyounger Drake seeing stars over Miami Beach, sources told the Daily News. Tension at the swanky LIV nightclub boiled over into fisticuffs between the millionaire entertainers that ended with Drake on the wrong end of a Diddy smackdown. Witnesses said 45-year-old Sean Combs clocked the 28-year-old “Worst Behavior” singer about 4 a.m. outside the Fountainbleau hotel on posh Collins Ave. in a brawl capping an Art Basel Miami bash. “Drake definitely got the s--t kicked out of him,” said Bullet magazine editor Ray LeMoine, who’d been partying at LIV earlier that weekend and got a flurry of texts from friends who’d stayed behind. “I heard they were taking him to the hospital.” Drake left the club after the two scuffled, sources said. “Diddy punched Drake three times,” a witness who was at the club at the time of the fight told The News. Sources confirmed that Diddy and Drake were both staying at the upscale hotel during the weeklong Art Basel festival. Diddy and Drake were among a
Drake, left, and Sean (Diddy) Combs, right, are reportedly at odds after a brawl broke out early Monday over a snide comment by Drake.
bevy of musicians celebrating DJ Khaled’s birthday late Sunday into the early morning hours Monday when the melee broke out. “Diddy put hands on that boy … And he ain’t go 0-100 … That
boy left,” wrote DJ Sam Sneak on Twitter, alongside an emoji of a sleeping face. “Drake at the hospital smh,” he also wrote. “He dislocated his shoulder. Yall pray for Drake.”