Lawrence Taylor

by Maya Carpenter 

Not long after he was on Dancing with the Stars, New York Giants Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor allegedly paid $300 for sex to a 15-year-old girl. According to YBF.com, Taylor has been charged with 3rd degree rape (sex with a minor) in New York. Luckily, his wife, Lynette, is supporting him every step of the way. She says he’s innocent, according to YBF.

Taylor’s lawyer says that the whole thing was a set-up and Taylor is very much innocent. However, police reportedly found a condom on the scene at the hotel.

It seems like former Giants players have a problem with staying faithful. Another ex-Giant, Tiki Barber, has been in the headlines for leaving his pregnant wife for a former NBC intern. There was a question if Barber, 35, was going to be able to keep his job at NBC as a contributor, but The New York Daily News reported that he would in fact keep his job. However, his wife, Ginny, has filed for divorce. Ginny is pregnant with twins and is to deliver in June, according to the Daily News. Barber is not shying away from flaunting around the former intern, Traci Johnson, as they’ve been reportedly seen at the Vancouver Olympics.

Former Giant, Tiki Barber.

In other news, with all the talk about Hollywood newcomer Gabourey Sidibe’s nasty attitude, Essence decided to refute rumors that she had a bad attitude during the White House Correspondents Dinner

Gabourey Sidibe

May 1. According to BlackAmericaWeb.com, Washington Post reporter Jonathan Capeheart went over to her table to express his admiration and to tell her about a story he had written on her. She was eating and talking with a friend and asked him to “come back in five minutes.” Apparently his colleague had forewarned him that she was becoming quite the mean girl. Of course Capeheart did not like her attitude, so he blogged about it.

The word quickly spread about that evening.

According to Essence.com, Capeheart took Sidibe’s behavior as mean, when she was really just eating and talking with a friend and was in the midst of excitement. Sidibe is in no way “indebted to reporters,” Essence reporter Yolanda Sangweni, said on Essence.com. No one can really say whether Sidibe is a “mean girl,” but with all the negative paparazzi she already gets, if she wants to catch an attitude, she has a right to.

On a lighter note, VH1 has been producing some of the latest reality shows, and the network does not seemed to be slowing down. Currently, it’s been focusing on African Americans finding love. Most recently it has cast LisaRaye McCoy, who has a reality show on TVOne, Stacey Dash and Lauren London in its first-ever scripted series called Single Ladies.

According to BlackAmericaWeb.com, the show will be a mix between the CW’s Girlfriends and HBO’s Sex in the City. It will revolve around the romantic relationships of three friends, according to the site. According to Vibe magazine, Queen Latifah is writing the script. McCoy told the magazine that this series would be something women can relate to, since Girlfriends is no longer on the air. She said it would be similar but more risqué.

Denzel Washington and Steve Harvey.

Speaking of girlfriends, BET’s second season of My Black is Beautiful is trying to revamp the way black women feel about themselves and embrace beauty. The show is full of celebrity guest hosts. They include actress Tasha Smith, singer Leela James, actress/comedienne Kim Coles, and TV personality Alesha Renee. According to BlackAmericaWeb.com, the six-episode, half-hour show talks about health, beauty, wellness, fashion and pop culture trends. BET is trying to make a few comebacks. Common will have a show called Vindicated on BET about wrongly jailed people who have been freed from prison. It will detail life after they’ve been freed.

Comedian and radio host Steve Harvey hosted his 1st Annual Steve Harvey Foundation Gala in New York and was presented with $1 million by Oscar-winning, Tony Award nominee Denzel Washington. Harvey has a mentoring program for young men. Washington is currently on tour for the Broadway show Fences.

Terrence Howard and Jennifer Hudson.

Terrence Howard and Jennifer Hudson are set to star in an upcoming biopic, The Nelson Mandela Story. Howard will play Mandela, who was South Africa’s first black president; Hudson will play Mandela’s now ex-wife, Winnie.