EthnicMajority

(Los Angeles Times) LMFAO’s head-pounding “Party Rock Anthem” pulsated through North Hollywood’s El Portal Theatre as a multiracial group of young performers stormed the stage, promising in song to provide a lively evening of laughs. They then launched into a rapid-fire parade of sketches filled with gleeful raunch and pokes at racial stereotypes.

The performance had the usual trappings of a night out at any comedy club around town. But little about this invitation-only night was typical. The actors, writers and directors were all amateur, and they were mostly people of color — young blacks, Latinos, Asians, Indians — performing original material they had helped to develop before a crowd of managers, agents and creative executives from major networks and studios.

The event marked the culmination of this year’s CBS Diversity Sketch Comedy Showcase, an annual talent forum that also functions as a three-month boot camp designed to boost the chances of minorities hoping to land roles on TV comedies and dramas.

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(New York Times) “Patriotic,” “jingoistic,” “old-fashioned,” “corny” and “inspirational for teenage boys.” Those are the words of George Lucas, the executive producer of “Red Tails,” describing his whiz-bang action film about African-American fighter pilots in World War II on “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart.”

Mr. Lucas financed the $58 million movie, which the major studios didn’t want to touch, because of the box office limitations of its mostly African-American cast. “It is exactly like ‘Flying Leathernecks,’ only this one was held up for release since 1942, when it was shot,” Mr. Lucas said. In structure and tone, “Red Tails” proudly harks back to the 1940s and ’50s, when good guys were good, and bad guys bad.

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(Huffington Post) Once upon a time stars Anglicized their names to appeal to a broader market. A Mexican-American musician, most famous for the early rock-and-roll hit La Bamba, changed his name from Richard Valenzuela to Ritchie Valens at the encouragement of record executives. Charlie Sheen was born Carlos Estevez. Anthony Quinn was once Antonio Rodolfo Quinn-Oaxaca.

But more and more it seems celebrities are changing their names to be more appealing to their audiences by reinforcing their Hispanic heritage. Journalist Geraldo Rivera used to be Gerald, and Carlos Mencia? His real name is Ned!

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(LostRemote) Univision, the leading media company serving Hispanic America, launched a new iPhone app for news called Noticias Univision, which can be downloaded here. Univision Network has a huge reach, serving 97% of US Hispanic households. The app’s main purpose for now will be to deliver their 24/7 news coverage, and later this month users will be able to “report breaking news by uploading photos and videos,” and share their favorite Noticias Univision content with friends and family on Facebook and Twitter, according to their release.

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(Reuters) The taping of the BET Honors, hosted by Black Entertainment Television was held at the historic Warner Theatre in downtown Washington.

It brought out stars including singers Patti LaBelle and queen of soul Aretha Franklin, as well as Washington political figures such as former Secretary of State Colin Powell and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.

The politics-meets-glamour event fits in with the recently ramped up efforts by Obama to help her husband, President Barack Obama, win a challenging re-election bid in November.

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(The Blaze) The latest non-controversy surrounding a GOP presidential hopeful involves a moment where Rick Santorum allegedly said, “I don‘t want to make black people’s lives better by giving them someone else’s money.”

As a result of this supposedly “racist” comment, some political pundits at MSNBC are convinced that, whether he meant to or not, Rick Santorum is engaged in a covert Republican operation to “lure…white working class“ voters by using racist ”dog-whistle” politics.

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(The Root) Is Hollywood backsliding when it comes to providing high-quality, realistic roles for African-American women? According to the veteran black film and TV actresses, industry insiders and everyday observers the Daily Beast's Allison Samuels talked to in a piece exploring the issue, the outlook doesn't look great. Check out some highlights of the piece here:

Kim Wayans: I didn’t think we’d still be having this same conversation so many years later … The 90s were so bright and promising for people of color in Hollywood, and I for one thought it would only get better with the chance for me and other black actresses to portray any number of characters and in all types of stories.

Debbie Allen: I remember in the 80s when my sister Phylicia (Rashad) was on the The Cosby Show and I was on Fame, girl, you couldn’t tell me that it wasn’t a brand new day for black women and the way we were portrayed in film and television … No one could have told me we’d go in the complete reverse in the decades to come.

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(New York Times) A rare collection of almost 38,000 coins is expected to raise between $25 million and $35 million for the Hispanic Society of America, Sotheby’s New York announced Thursday. The collection, assembled more than 100 years ago by Archer M. Huntington, the founder of the Hispanic Society, will be offered as a single lot in sealed bid auction beginning Thursday and ending next March.

Considered one of the most important collections outside of Spain related to Spanish history, it includes the “50 Excelentes,” a gold coin weighing nearly five ounces created in the 15th century, during the period of Christopher Columbus’s voyages to the New World. The coin, according to a statement from Sotheby’s, “is the largest gold coin from the 15th century that survives today.” In addition, there are more than 400 Roman gold coins that span the full history of Rome, including examples struck under Julius Caesar.

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(Voice of America) For many years, actors whose ancestors came from Asia and the Pacific Islands landed few major roles in Hollywood. And when they did appear, they were often typecast. But recently, the face of Asian Pacific Islanders in film and TV has been changing.

In a recent documentary, “To Whom It May Concern: Ka Shen’s Journey,” actress Nancy Kwan looks back on her life. Ka Shen is her Chinese name. She was born in Hong Kong to a Chinese father and English-Scottish mother.

Kwan made her acting debut in 1960, in "The World of Suzie Wong." She was one of the first Asian actors to star in a Hollywood film.

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(ThyBlackMan.com) The Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) has been struggling as of late. That’s not breaking news. Desperate times call for desperate measures and that too is not breaking news. You can best be sure, OWN executives made the announcement of targeting African-American  viewers as a weather balloon, a message in the bottle, smoke signal… call it what you want. This information was released specifically so the network could gauge if there will be any initial uptick in chatter in Black media; how the move is perceived and whether it will translate to expanded viewership.

Be careful what you ask for…

With that in mind, know that Mo’Kelly’s thoughts will also be in their stack of press mentions. OWN president Erik Logan and Discovery Communications CEO David Zaslav, I’m speaking to you. 

The inherent selling point of OWN was found in its name, the “Oprah Winfrey Network.” It was to be an extension and expansion of its mogul and namesake’s media vision. People literally the world over love Oprah Winfrey. The  assumption that such love extends to all things related to Oprah, yet not necessarily starring Oprah, has turned out to be a misguided one.

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