BY SYDNEE WALCOTT

This year rapper Kanye West has been at the centre of many controversies.

So far West had been banned from performing at the 2022 Grammy Awards, he received a one-day suspension from Instagram after making racist comments towards The Daily Show host and 2022 Grammys host Trever Noah (who had voiced concerns over the rapper’s conduct) and had continuously trolled ex-wife Kim Kardashian and her now former ex-boyfriend, comedian Pete Davidson.

The controversy does not end there as West continued to stir up more controversy this month.

The rapper recently received backlash from many celebrities after spending more than three hours making insulting comments towards different celebrities and going on an antisemitic rant while he made an appearance on a now-removed episode of Revolt TV’s Drink Champs podcast.

During the podcast, West also made misinformed comments on the death of George Floyd by claiming Floyd did not die by having former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneel on his neck, but by a fentanyl overdose.

On October 18^th, 2022, the family of George Floyd announced their plan to file a $250 million lawsuit against West, his business partners, and associates for the comments he made on Floyd’s death.

Roxie Washington, the mother of Floyd’s only daughter, filed the lawsuit and will be suing for harassment, defamation, misappropriation, and inflicting emotional distress.

Lawyers representing the family also issued a cease and desist letter to West for his comments and said they were a “Repugnant attempt to discount George Floyd’s life and to profit from his inhumane death.”

While fentanyl was found in Floyd’s system, a toxicology report did not identify it to be part of his cause of death.

Chauvin, who was found guilty of violating Floyd’s civil rights and has been convicted of murder and manslaughter in Floyd’s death, is currently serving a 21-year federal sentence and a 22 1/2-year state sentence, which will be served concurrently.

Due to all the controversy that has been surrounding Kanye West in recent months, people and organizations have been urging companies who have worked with West to sever their business ties with him.

As of Friday, October 21^st, 2022, one of those companies recently decided to part ways with the rapper.

The French luxury fashion house Balenciaga became the first company to sever ties with West after the rapper made a series of anti-Semitic comments and misinformation on the death of George Floyd.

According to a statement sent to the Women’s Wear Daily, Kering, the parent company to Balenciaga, provided a statement them with a short statement saying:

“Balenciaga has no longer any relationship nor any plans for future projects relating to the artist.”

West has had a long history with the luxury brand due to the close relationship he had with the luxury fashion house’s creative director, Demna Gvasalia.

Balenciaga has since removed the rapper’s look from his runway debut at Paris Fashion Week and a section featuring the Yeezy Gap Engineered by Balenziaga collaboration from their website.

While Balenciaga severed their ties with West, the Anti-Defamation League, Campaign Against Anti-Semitism and many celebrities are calling for Adidas to also end their partnership with the rapper.

Adidas, who has been collaborating with West since the release of his Yeezy brand in 2015, currently have their business partnership with the rapper ‘under review.’

Amid all of his most recent controversies, it seems as if Kanye West has an ally who has recently come to his defence.

Candace Owens came to the defence of her friend as she has threatened to sue the family of George Floyd in response to the lawsuit they filed against West after the rapper claimed it was a drug overdose that contributed to Floyd’s death and not police brutality.

According to Mediate, Owens based Floyd’s family in a recent podcast of her show after it was announced that his family will be suing West over the comments he made on Floyd’s death.

“I’m also sick of frivolous lawsuits. You know, if this is actually considered credible – if you sue somebody because you’re feeling ‘emotionally distressed’ because of them going out and saying things – well then I think that I have grounds to sue George Floyd’s estate,” said Owens during her podcast episode.

Owens said she is considering seeking lawyers’ advice to file a complaint against Floyd’s family.

BY SYDNEE WALCOTT

For those who love to learn about history and contemporary issues through artwork, the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) is giving people the opportunity to explore these topics through paintings and photographs at an exhibit they have available for a limited time.

From October 5^th, 2022 until February 20^th, 2023, the AGO will hold its first major retrospective of paintings created by late painter, Denyse Thomasos.

The exhibit, known as “Denyse Thomasos: Just Beyond,” is set to feature more than 70 paintings and works on paper from almost 40 years ago alongside archived photographs, sketches, interviews, and documentary footage of Thomasos at work.

The day before the exhibit was open to the public, members of the media had the chance to get a view of the exhibit through a press preview curated by: Renée van der Avoird, Assistant Curator, Canadian Art, AGO; Sally Frater, Curator of Contemporary Art, Art Gallery of Guelph and Michelle Jacques, Head of Exhibitions and Collections/ Chief Curator.

The first piece of work viewers will notice as soon as they enter the exhibit will be a large-scale photograph of the artist working on a piece called Hybrid Nations.

In 2005, while the AGO was undergoing a major renovation, contemporary artists were invited to the gallery to create site-specific wall works. Thomasos created a massive mural that contained a mixture rendition of a computer-generated panopticon, a building designed to have consistent surveillance of occupants from one authoritative point without the occupants knowing if and when they were being watched or not.

The piece also included hand-painted details of structures and rigid cells that delegate into curved forms that surrounded the computer-generated panopticon.

Thomasos hoped this piece would remind viewers there is a connection between the present-day prison industrial complex and the transatlantic slave trade.

The exhibition will also include some of Thomasos’ earlier work from when she was a graduate student who started as a figurative painter.

In an untitled self-portrait, created when Thomamsos was an undergraduate student at the University of Toronto, Renée van der Avoird, one of the exhibit’s curators, describes how the artist portrays herself as a very strong and serious artist.

The painting features Thomasos sitting on a chair with brushes and paint underneath the chair.

“It’s really an opportunity, 10 years after passing to look at the impact of her work,” said Sally Frator, one of the guest curators. Frater describes the exhibit as a celebration of her work and the sheer brilliance of her artistry practice.

Two things Frater looks forward to when the public has the opportunity to look at Thomasos’ work is the interest in hearing the reactions of people who are encountering her work for the first time and hearing the experiences of people who knew Thomasos through work and through those who have maintained a friendship with her and seeing all of her work being featured in the AGO.

“I think it is entirely fitting that this retrospective is opening in Toronto,” said Frater who shares how Toronto has been formative to Thomasos’ development as an artist.

After the exhibit concludes in Winter 2023, it will make a few more stops at the Remai Modern in Saskatoon in Spring 2023, and at the Vancouver Art Gallery.

Thomasos, who was born in Trinidad and Tobago and raised in Toronto, received her BA in painting and art history from the University of Toronto in 1987, attended the Skowhegan School of Painting & and Sculpture in 1988, and enrolled at Yale University where she would receive her MFA in painting and sculpture in 1989.

That same year, Thomasos would have her first solo exhibition at the Alpha Gallery in Boston.

Thomasos’ was at the height of her career with major museum shows, gallery representation in New York and Toronto, and achieving many prominent awards when she passed away in 2012.

BY JANIECE CAMPBELL

Nicki Minaj shares a trailer for her upcoming documentary!

Trinidadian-born rapper, Nicki Minaj, is giving fans a sneak peek at her upcoming six-part documentary series entitled Nicki.

Nicki shared the two-minute trailer for the series, alongside a caption:

“I took some time to perfect this very intimate, delicate, electrifying, inspiring body of work,” she writes. “As I decide on a home for this project, I can’t help but reflect on what I’m including in this doc. Some things are so personal, it’s scary. It’s like NOTHING you’ve seen before & I need it to be handled with care. Love you so much. Thank you for the continued support.”

The trailer begins with a video of the rapper in New York, when she was young and unknown, and is then followed by clips of her dive into early fame. “You don’t get a manual on how to be a famous rapper,” she says in the clip. “You just learn it as you go.” Produced by Canadian company, Bron Studios, the series bills itself as “a story so raw.”

For now, there is no sight of a release date but she teased on Instagram that the doc would be “coming out sooner than you think.”

Ne-Yo asks for privacy amid cheating accusations from wife

Ne-Yo is fighting to keep a very publicized allegation under wraps.

His wife, Crystal Renay, took it to social media to announce that she will not be staying with her husband after claiming he has been unfaithful to her for eight years.

Crystal shared a personal update about her marriage on Instagram that reads: “8 years of lies and deception. 8 years of unknowingly sharing my life and husband with numerous of women who sell their bodies to him unprotected … every last one of them! To say I’m heartbroken and disgusted is an understatement. To ask me to stay and accept it is absolutely insane. The mentality of a narcissist… I am not a victim. I’m choosing to stand tall with my head held high. If someone can’t love you the way you deserve then it’s up to you to love yourself. With no hate in my heart, I wish him nothing but the best.”

Social media users went into a frenzy after noticing that Ne-Yo seemingly “liked” her post.

The following day, Ne-Yo released a statement of his own: “For the sake of our children, my family and I will work through our challenges behind closed doors. Personal matters are not meant to be addressed and dissected in public forums. I simply ask that you please respect me and my family’s privacy at this time.”

About a month ago in an interview with Billboard, Ne-Yo spoke on his marital issues and how over the course of the pandemic, he and his wife considered getting a divorce. These problems seemed to blow over since he claimed that they renewed their vows this year.

The pair also welcomed their third child together just a little over a year ago, in June 2021.

NBA legend, Bill Russell, passes away at 88 years old

The NBA has lost a great alum, who revolutionized the game of basketball at a time where the country was heavily racially divided.

Leaving behind the legacy of a true champion, he was an essential part of the Boston Celtics dynasty that won 11 championships in 13 years. Russell also earned his last two NBA titles as a player-coach — the first Black coach in any major U.S. sport. A Hall of Famer, five-time Most Valuable Player and 12-time All-Star, Russell was voted the greatest player in the NBA history by basketball writers in 1980. He remains the sport’s most decorated champion, as he also won two college titles and an Olympic gold medal.

Russell died with his wife by his side. A statement was released shortly after.

“Bill’s wife, Jeannine, and his many friends and family thank you for keeping Bill in your prayers. Perhaps you’ll relive one or two of the golden moments he gave us, or recall his trademark laugh as he delighted in explaining the real story behind how those moments unfolded,” the family statement said. “And we hope each of us can find a new way to act or speak up with Bill’s uncompromising, dignified and always constructive commitment to principle. That would be one last, and lasting, win for our beloved #6.”

A cause of death has not been revealed, though it’s known that he was battling a long-term illness.

What’s on TV? Upcoming Netflix shows that should be added to your list! 

Feeling like you’ve watched everything on TV? Well, there are quite a few shows and movies coming soon to your big screen that you should tap into!

• Good Burger (premieres August 1^st) is a classic 1997 comedy starring the hilarious duo Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell. The film centres around the two taking on the roles of dim-witted teenagers who are forced to save the fast-food restaurant they work at from going out of business.
• Clusterf**k: Woodstock ’99 (premieres August 3^rd) is a three-part documentary series detailing the chaotic events from Woodstock ‘99. Viewers will get the chance to see unseen home movie footage, commercial archive, and artist interviews that retell the story of the festival that promised to celebrate the legacy of the 1969 event but instead tarnished it with violence, vandalism and allegations of sexual assault.
  • I Just Killed My Dad (premieres August 9^th) is a shocking true crime documentary that explores the never before told story of Anthony Templet, who at 17 years old, killed his father and never denied it. This three-episode series examines the psyche of Anthony leading up to the shooting and the journey of his mental and emotional aftermath.
  • Never Have I Ever (premieres August 12^th) is a comedy series starring Mississauga native, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan. The story revolves around a first-generation Indian-American teenager in the midst of a traumatic year who wants to improve her social status at school. However, friends, family, and feelings don’t make it easy on her.