Rob Kardashian's lawyer has hit back at Blac Chyna's lawsuit and accused her of being a "violent and aggressive abuser".
The 29-year-old star has filed a lawsuit against her former partner Rob Kardashian and his "powerful, vindictive family", in which she accused the Arthur George sock designer - the father of her 11-month-old daughter Dream - of being physically abusive in April, but his lawyer insists that isn't the case.
Shawn Holley, who represents the Kardashian family, told TMZ: "We have witness statements and other evidence which will demonstrate conclusively that it is Chyna — not Rob — who is the violent and aggressive abuser."
And insiders told the website the day before the alleged incident, Chyna had been using cocaine and drinking alcohol for the entire day, before she and Rob went to a strip club.
Chyna allegedly asked one of the strippers to go home with them and partied with her "all night long" while the 'Keeping Up With the Kardashians' star looked after Dream and King Cairo, her five-year-old son with former partner Tyga.
The next day, Rob is said to have thrown the stripper out and confronted Chyna, branding her "irresponsible", which caused her to go "ballistic", allegedly hitting him, throwing things and berating him. Rob insisted he only defended himself and never struck her, and tried to protect Chyna by failing to mention the incident during a meeting later that day with Los Angeles County Dept. of Children and Family Services, which had an open case against Chyna. H
Chyna's lawyer, Lisa Bloom, failed to comment on the allegations against her client, but said: "There's no excuse for domestic violence."
In her lawsuit, Chyna — whose real name is Angela White — accused the entire Kardashian family of interfering with the shooting of the couple's reality show 'Rob & Chyna' and stopping a second season from being aired.
Court documents read: "Rob Kardashian is an abuser intent on destroying Angela White, the mother of his baby, who left him in 2016. In revenge, the Kardashian-Jenner family became media predators, slut-shaming her on social media and killing her hit television show, which had already begun filming a second season.
"Rob Kardashian and his powerful, vindictive family have done enough damage to Ms. White's career and professional reputation, which she singlehandedly built from scratch - without the help of a famous last name. This lawsuit seeks to hold them accountable."
John Legend fans should be swift about purchasing tickets to his extra show at the Grand Arena, GrandWest on 11 November 2017.
According to Elouise Matthys, PR and Promotions Manager at GrandWest, almost half of the tickets have already been sold for the show which was added due to overwhelming demand. Legend will now be performing three shows at the Grand Arena. The first two shows, on 9 and 10 November 2017, have already sold out.
Fans will get to see the award-winning artists songs from his latest album, Darkness and Light, which debuted on the top 20 of the Billboard 200 and was streamed over 12 million times in the first week.
In addition to songs from the new album such as “Love Me Now” and “Penthouse Floor”, Legend will also perform well known hits such as “All of Me” from his critically acclaimed fourth studio album Love in the Future.
Tickets, priced from R515, can be purchased from Computicket.
Demi Lovato admits it will always be tough for her to stay sober after quitting alcohol and drugs in 2010.
The 25-year-old pop star went to rehab back in 2010 to seek treatment for a dependence on alcohol and drugs, and get therapy for an eating disorder and self-harming.
Demi has managed to stay clean ever since but she admits her recovery still requires her to be vigilant everyday and she shares the difficulties about her teetotal lifestyle in her new YouTube documentary series 'Simply Complicated'.
In an interview with Billboard.com discussing the YouTube series, she said: "I think what was difficult about the process was being honest about where I am in my life today. Telling the world that I'm not the poster child for recovery. Sometimes it is a struggle, and sometimes I still deal with issues that I have suffered from in the past. It's a challenge to maintain recovery, and I talk about that in the film. So, for me, it's like kind of admitting that I'm not . Obviously I'm not perfect, but admitting that on camera. I want to be the best role model that I can be for my fans, so by admitting that I'm not perfect, it's kind of weird for me."
Demi — who also lives with bipolar — has 50.3 million followers on Twitter and 61.5 million people checking out her photos on Instagram and she is proud to be a role model for all her fans.
The 'Sorry Not Sorry' hitmaker thinks what makes her a good role model is that she has had to deal with her own demons and has been honest about the difficulties she has endured in her life.
She said: "I think that's what makes me a role model for people is that I'm not perfect. It's that I'm honest about where I am, but I think for so long I've been such a strong advocate for the things I believe in, and certain things I still struggle with. I think explaining that on-camera was difficult for me, but it's needed. People need to hear that it's not a perfect journey and every day is easy; some days are challenging."
I am delighted that my good friend Pieter Toerien is again staging a new version of the acclaimed musical opera Evita in South Africa, in late 2017.
Pieter has asked me to share some reflections on the brief life and extraordinary global and country impact of Eva Duarte Peron, known universally as “Evita”.
When I arrived in late 2009 to take up my post as South African Ambassador to Argentina in Buenos Aires, Evita Peron had been dead for over 57 years.
She died in 1952 of cervical cancer, whose diagnosis was hidden from her, at the incredibly young age of 33. Yet, the iconoclasm of Evita and her memory loomed over Argentinian politics and her country like a giant shadow.
The president of Argentina to whom I presented my credentials, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, literally saw herself as the political embodiment of Eva Peron.
Monuments, street demonstrations and much of the boisterous political discourse were refracted through the lens of Evita and her husband, Juan Domingo Peron - who served as president of Argentina in both the late 40s and early 50s and again, briefly, in the mid-70s.
When I wrote a memoir on my years in Argentina (The Accidental Ambassador - from Parliament to Patagonia), I was so vividly aware of the phantom that the Perons cast over the huge and wealthy but in so many ways, unhappy, Argentina, I headlined the chapter on its politics, Vote for a Better Yesterday.
Tony Leon (left) reflects on his time in Argentina and the influence of Evita as Peter Toerien stages a new version of the smash-hit musical in South Africa. Picture: Supplied
But one of the reasons for the enduring popularity of the musical Evita is that, in so many ways, the story of Eva Peron has some very modern, and indeed some deep parallels for where both South Africa and the world find themselves, here and now, in 2017.
Evita never held any formal title or high office, beyond First Lady of Argentina. But she was in huge and consequential ways the rocket fuel that allowed her husband to orbit the political firmament of Argentina way above any of his contemporaries and, arguably, any of his successors.
The political vehicle the Perons established is formally called the Justicialist Party, but every member and minister and president who has served under its banner is still called, today, a “Peronist”.
Evita, in many ways, prefigured the rise of populism that we see all around us today. Decades before social media was invented or widespread, she used her fame in the most dominant medium of her age, as a radio star, to climb the ladder to social prominence and catch the eye of the thrusting army colonel Juan Peron, whom she soon was to marry.
Emma Kingston as Eva . Picture: Supplied
But it was her resentments against the circumstances of her birth - the illegitimate daughter of a wealthy landowner raised in poverty - that provided her political mission with passion and purpose. Indeed, like the rise of inequality in the world today, Argentina back in her youth was perhaps controlled and owned by relatively few families. And, in the 20s, when she was a child, it was also one of the wealthiest countries on the planet.
In her ghosted autobiography, La Razon de Mi Vida (which had been compulsorily prescribed to every schoolchild during the first Peron government of 1946-1955) Evita made the resentments about the causes of her poverty plain.
She wrote: “And the strange thing is that the existence of the poor did not cause me as much pain as the knowledge that at the same time there were people who were rich.”
If populism today is defined as identifying one set of villains for a country’s problems (such as “white monopoly capital”) or simplistic solutions (such as “give back the land”) then, in so many ways, Evita was an early outlier of this brand of rhetoric.
Indeed, there was much good that she did in her few years in the centre of power - rights for women and workers, charitable acts and institutions targeting the most needy and destitute. But like all populist movements, its current had a dark and dangerous undertow.
Emma Kingston and Robert Finlayson. Picture: Supplied
You will get a real sense of the negatives that Evita’s brand of politics created through the medium in this musical of the narrator, another famous Argentine, Che Guevera.
But shortly before the musical Evita was first conceived by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, another famous writer, the Nobel laureate, VS Naipaul, visited Argentina in 1974. He perfectly captured the “hate as hope” brand of politics perfected by the Perons.
When I read his short story on arriving in Argentina in 2009, I thought he also could have been describing some of the background noise of South Africa, then and today.
He wrote: “Eva Peron devoted her short political life to mocking the rich, the 400 families who among them owned most of what was valuable in the million square miles of Argentina. She mocked and wounded them as they had wounded her; and her later unofficial sainthood (as “Santa Evita”) gave a touch of religion to her destructive cause And in the end that was why Argentina (in 1973) virtually united in calling Juan Peron back, though the first period of his rule had ended in repression and disaster, and though he was very old and close to death He had become the quintessential Argentine: like Eva before him, like all Argentines, he was a victim, someone with enemies, someone with that pain about others.”
Of course, there is so much to enjoy in this spectacular show - the riveting music, captivating score, fine costumes, staging and our world class actors. But beyond the spectacle, there are deep and sometimes disturbing lessons and parallels to draw from the very drama of Evita’s life itself.
* Evita opens Tonight at the Teatro at Montecasino. Show runs till November 12
It has been a whirlwind of a year for multi-platinum-selling house music DJ Euphonik.
He released new music which has topped the charts and performed at some of the best local and international events. Now, the local house music DJ, whose real name is Themba Nkosi, has achieved another accolade.
He will represent the country at this year’s Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE).
The annual event kicked off on Wednesday, and runs until Sunday.
The European electronic music marathon is a major gathering where some of the best musicians and role players in the industry are expected to attend.
“Arguably the best event of its kind, ADE connects people from all ends of the global electronic music community, with a programme of panels, presentations and networking events tailored for artists as well as industry professionals,” the DJ said.
ADE gives more than 7000 delegates from all over the world the opportunity to network and exchange ideas through daytime conferences, festivals and a massive music playground at night.
Nkosi said while he had played in the country and several other places in Europe before, it would be his first appearance at ADE and he was thrilled at the opportunity to show the world what South Africa had to offer.
“Although I’ve played in the Netherlands before, it’s my first time attending the Amsterdam Dance Event.”
During his time at the musical festival, the Mpuma- langa-born DJ and producer will play at four venues.
This includes at Cut Throat, The Curtain Club, Jack’s Juice and Kitchen for AfroStream presents Afrotura Invites.
He will also make an appearance at Mo Black Base, taking place at The Bulldog Hotel.
“Besides the networking and playing four shows, I’m super excited about the prospects of continuously growing the Euphonik brand of music beyond our borders and showcasing our music.”
This is not the first major musical event that DJ Euphonik has played at in recent months.
In May, he had the crowd on their feet at the International Music Summit in Ibiza, Spain, arguably the party capital of the world.
He also concluded a successful trip to Miami in March where he rubbed shoulders with some of the biggest celebrities, including US rappers Ty Dolla Sign and P. Diddy and socialite Paris Hilton.
Former 'Idols SA' finalist Thami Shobede released his debut album, 'Never Lost', this year and is riding the wave of success.
The star, a runner-up in last year’s edition of Idols SA, is working hard to ensure the album is a success. With a hit single that went to number one on iTunes the day it was released, his efforts seems to be paying off.
Although he recorded the music 'Never Lost' in May, he started writing the songs in 2015.
“In 2015 when I was eliminated from Idols I began putting songs together, just writing them.
“So when I decided I wanted to put an album together, I already knew what sound I wanted and what would be on the album. It was just a matter of me writing a few more tracks and then getting into the studio,” Shobede said.
It took only two weeks to record the album.
“It all happened very quickly and, to be honest, it was very overwhelming simply because I get so involved in my work that I shut off and focused on nothing else. It’s as if I am not in touch with reality. I did enjoy being in studio, though, and working with Robin Kohl.”
Shobede said it took him just two weeks because he knew what he wanted.
“When it came to the sound of the album, I knew I wanted it to sound African.
“Even Sthandwa, the first single, is an Afrosoul song, and when it hit number one on iTunes, that confirmed what my sound should be. So it’s Afrosoul and pop.”
He also said it was a love album: “I have never felt as loved as I feel right now and this album is me returning the love to all the people who have shown me love. Musicians write about their experiences and I had to write about this,” he said.
He added that he named the album 'Never Lost' as a message to the fans he gained during Idols.
“When I did not win, many of my fans were really upset, they felt robbed. I felt very bad about that because I know that everything was done correctly with the voting process.
“So I decided that the album would signify that I was happy with the outcome and that even though I didn’t win, I still feel that I won a lot. I never lost, I got exactly what I deserved and I feel that I walked away a winner and wanted my fans to know that,” said Shobede.
He also plans to release the video for 'Night & Day' later this month, and said fans can expect the video to be as fun as the song is.
“There isn’t a lot going on in the video, I didn’t want it to be too busy. It’s an intimate video but fun, it’s about young love.”
Although this young star is now focusing on Never Lost, he has already started working on his next album, which will be titled Joys of a Broken Man.
“I am not putting any pressure on myself to deliver another album immediately, because I am focusing on promoting Never Lost, but I am writing new music.
“My second album is going to be very different to my debut one. It’s going to be a reflection of my life, the struggles and hardships I have been through. People will get insight into my journey so far,” he said.
Kevin James is finally speaking out about why his CBS sitcom 'Kevin Can Wait 'made the odd decision to kill off a main character after just one season.
In June, TV Line reported that Erinn Hayes — who played Donna Gable, the wife of James’s character — would not be back for Season 2 of the sitcom because the show was “heading in a new creative direction”.
The news followed CBS’s announcement that Leah Remini, who starred opposite James in the long-running sitcom 'King Of Queens', had been added as a series regular.
Now James says that killing off Hayes’s character was necessary to keep the sitcom going.
“The plot of the show didn’t have enough drive. If we got through a second season, I wouldn’t see us getting through a third one. We were literally just running out of ideas.”
That’s a pretty stunning admission for James, one of the show’s co-creators, to make. Traditional sitcoms have existed for years without major shake-ups to the central family.
And the comedy’s handling of Donna’s death has been unconventional - when Season 2 premiered last month, 'Kevin Can Wait' had jumped forward a year, with Kevin Gables making a blink-and-you-missed-it reference to how much he missed his wife. Four episodes in, we still don’t know how Donna died.
“Now, I have to deal with my daughter in a different way, and she’s gonna go to college, or one’s getting married, or the holidays,” James explained. “And it deals with things in a different, weightier way.”
The last time I heard of rhyming couplets was in high-school English. While I can spot one in a rap verse or a line of poetry or even in a book, I cannot construct such sentences to save my life.
You can imagine my intrigue when I heard of a theatre production whose dialogue is based entirely on rhyming couplets.
The production, Couplet, is currently on at the Auto and General Theatre on the Square in Sandton and was written by Michelle Douglas. It is about 90 minutes long and performed by Douglas and Julie-Anne McDowell.
It weaves a tale of two hapless thoughts, Fear and Doubt, who have been left out in the cold after being evicted from the mind of a happy human.
They stand in the cold, while recounting some of their best adventures, while systematically destroying their host human.
It’s the anthropomorphisation of thoughts; they narrate these experiences and you get to go through the sense of pride at the destruction that they caused.
The music creates a fitting atmosphere to the tale that’s being told.
Fear and Doubt, in Couplet. Picture: Supplied
The play also goes through the themes of acceptance, honesty, trustworthiness and also discrimination, in an emotionally charged manner.
There are also some other mediums that are used in the production - puppetry also comes into the play, with some of the tales being narrated through the use of puppets. The wardrobe features two giant ( almost twice the size of the human head) masks for Fear and Doubt.
These masks wear grim expressions and are just plain ugly - a fitting way to describe what the two thoughts would look like if they were to come to life.
The thoughts also sit shivering, covered only in tattered blankets, while they tell their story.
Michelle Douglas and Julie-Anne McDowell play the characters Fear and Doubt, in Couplet. Picture: Supplied
The usage of the rhyming couplets themselves in the production aren’t as overwhelming as one would expect it to be - in fact, it becomes quite negligible while you watch the production.
Douglas and McDowell are a pleasure to watch as they tell these very dark tales for tall children. The clever usage of props, by way of two tall stools for the emotions and three “treasure chests” where the stories literally come from, also allows them to tell the story sufficiently.
All in all, while it may take a short while to get into the story, as it does not merely happen before your eyes but requires your participation as an audience member, watching Couplet makes for an enjoyable night out.
* Couplet is on at the Auto and General Theatre until October 28.
At a glitzy event launch, ‘Style ahead of the Field’ was announced as the theme for the 134th edition of the Sun Met celebrated with G.H Mumm along with the announcement of Olympic Gold medalist Usain Bolt as the host for the event.
The Grand Africa Café and Beach in Cape Town was transformed into the place to be, as fashion, celebs, influencers, media and sponsors all got together to celebrate the perfect launch for the 2018 Sun Met celebrated with G.H. Mumm - Africa’s Richest Race Day.
'Style ahead of the Field’ Sun Met 2018. Picture: Supplied
There will be 12 thrilling horse races and as a first, a R1million bonus prize will be awarded to the horse that is able to win both the 2017 Sansui Summer Cup and 2018 Sun Met Main Race.
The Sun Met celebrated with G.H. Mumm guarantees the finest in Africa’s rich horse-racing heritage, stylish fashion and entertainment and is sure to kick off the Cape’s 2018 social calendar on a high note.
Tickets to the Sun Met will be on sale through TicketPro from the 19th October, this will include Hospitality and General Access tickets for the public.
All general access tickets will automatically grant entry to the Official Sun Met After Party including two R50 betting vouchers from Phumelela and Sun Bet.
Durban - Eight years after being conceptualised, a new museum in Durban, celebrating the life and work of peace icon Mahatma Gandhi, will open to the public soon.
POST was given a sneak preview of what’s inside the nondescript building, situated at 95 Dr Goonam (Prince Edward) Street.
At the site, owned by Gandhi in 1897, public meetings organised by the Natal Indian Congress were held to plan the fight discrimination against Indians in South Africa.
However, when Gandhi left Durban in 1914, he gave ownership of the premises to the Natal Indian Congress, which continued to use it for meetings and other important work.
In 1964, the Congress had plans to construct a new building, but due to the Group Areas Act this was not possible. In the 1980s the site was used as a car park until the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Trust stepped in with the intention of creating a permanent museum.
The design, which focuses on a simple and educative structure, portrays the teachings of Gandhi.
Many artefacts from his Phoenix Settlement, where he lived and worked, are on display at the museum.
The original Settlement buildings were damaged during the 1985 riots.
According to a spokesperson for the museum, many of the artefacts on display are original and have not been tampered with.
“We have a broken spinning wheel on display and we wanted to piece it together but Aunty Ela (Trust chairperson Ela Gandhi) decided against it because she wanted the public to view the artefacts as they were since 1985,” he said.
Gandhi declined to comment until the museum’s official opening.
According to the Indian consulate in Durban, the inauguration was being planned for tomorrow by the visiting Indian Minister of State for External Affairs, VK Singh.
“All the time people walk past and look in and even ask me when it is opening, and if I could open the gate for them. They also ask me what it looks like on the inside,” said a museum guard. “I expect there will be a lot of people coming in once this site is open to the public.”
As a tribute to the slain actor Dumi Masilela, Rhythm City recently took a decision to to incorporate his death into the exit storyline of his character, Sifiso Ngema.
The Rhythm City star was shot in a suspected hijacking in Tembisa in August and later died in hospital.
Producer Yula Quinn said the show decided to put together an episode which would be a celebration of both the actor and the character.
Masilela's character appeared for the last time on the soapie on October 11.
A moving special on-screen memorial service, which took place on October 18, left fans in tears as they remembered the 29-year-old star.
"After extensive consultation with the Masilela family, the producers of Rhythm City have decided to incorporate Dumi Masilela’s tragic death into the exit storyline of his character," read a statement.
The tribute episode featured Masilela’s mother Sabatha Magdeline and brother Thabani .
Thabani tweeted: “Hope y'all are watching @eRhythmCity In honor of my late my brother @DumiLive miss you too much bro”.
Bella Hadid has reportedly been dating Drake since June this year, but wants to keep their romance "on the down low".
The 21-year-old model is believed to have been romancing the 'Hotline Bling' hitmaker since June this year, and sources claim the brunette beauty has "fallen even harder" for the hunk after he helped throw her a lavish birthday party in New York earlier this month.
A source said: "Bella has fallen even harder. She thought it was so romantic. It started out casual, but they're definitely serious [now]. They've been meeting up and going out for romantic dinners."
Bella - who was previously in a relationship with The Weeknd before their split in November 2016 - is said to have first been "wooed" by the 30-year-old singer after earlier this year, and despite both stars being in the public eye, the beauty is keen to keep the relationship "on the down low", as she disliked the publicity she garnered after splitting with The Weeknd.
The insider added to Life & Style magazine: "Bella was getting over her ex and wasn't interested in Drake, but that soon changed when Drake turned on the charm and wooed her with romantic gestures, including expensive jewellery and flowers. After having such a public relationship and breakup with The Weeknd, Bella wants to keep her new relationship on the down low."
Meanwhile, Bella's mother Yolanda recently revealed the star isn't concerned about the 'Starboy' hitmaker's new relationship with fellow singer Selena Gomez, which begun just two months after their split.
When asked if Bella was still hung up on the fact her former flame had jumped into a relationship with her distant pal, Yolanda said: "Not anymore I think."
Bella's lack of interest comes months after she admitted that her and The Weeknd's break up will always weigh heavy on her heart because it was her first proper split.
She said: "As an outsider, you might think I handled it so well but it's always in your heart, and you always feel it very heavily. It'll be hard for a while. Love hurts, but you have to pull through. There's no awkwardness between us."
Nicki Minaj believes she "reintroduced" successful female rappers in the music industry when she made her breakthrough in 2010 with her debut album 'Massive Attack'.
The 34-year-old rapper has taken to social media to clarify the comment made in a recent interview on 'XXL' - where she credited herself for making "female rappers mainstream" - and she has revealed what she meant was she played a part in encouraging women to make rap music again, and compete with their male rivals, because she felt there was a "drought" of successful female rap albums when she started her music career.
In a length [post shared on her Instagram account, the 'Anaconda' hitmaker - who made her breakthrough with the release of her debut album 'Massive Attack' in 2010 - said: "I see ppl remixing my words so let me post "exactly" what I said for the intelligent ones in the back. Now, if you can find the part where I said "I made female rappers mainstream", I'll give you $100,000.00.
"Imagine me saying I made female rappers mainstream when there were so many women who already had platinum albums under their belts
"now what I DID say is right here for anyone w/their own brain to decipher words on their own. I know it's hard in the social media band wagon era, but try. It's fun.
"When I came out, there had been a drought of a few years where NO female rap album had gone platinum, females weren't getting budgets, the industry did NOT believe in the female rapper anymore. They had stopped generating MONEY for labels. Ask any rap historian or just anyone with a brain. These are facts and nothing but the facts.
"So I 'REINTRODUCED' the 'successful' female rapper back to POP CULTURE. Showed big business we were major players in the game just like the boys were. love you guys for holding me down but what's true is true & whats not is just simply not. (sic)."
And the artist - whose real name is Onika Tanya Maraj - has hailed Lauryn Hill, Eve, and Queen Latifah for breaking boundaries in the entertainment industry and for inspiring budding artists like her.
Nicki continued: "Lauryn sold 10 million off one album, Eve had platinum singles w/Alicia, Gwen Stefani, her own tv show & clothing line. It doesn't get more mainstream/pop than Missy's biggest singles. Foxy&Kim had platinum albums & shaped the sound of NY female rappers, Latifah had her own sitcom, Trina was on billboard with hits, etc- I appreciate the love but I never said that. (sic)."
With classical music wafting in the air at the elegant albeit plantation-looking Chateau de Labourdonnais, it felt like the guests invited to the opening of the inaugural Mauritius Cinema Week were in a period drama.
A fitting scene to meet a British film director and former actress with Ghanaian roots and a penchant for bringing back to life a bygone era.
A United Kingdom, which is Asante’s critically acclaimed 2016 drama about Botswana’s Seretse Khama and his wife, Ruth, was one of the films selected to be screened at Mauritius Cinema Week and Asante was also a part of a master class that week.
I prised Asante away from a throng of people holding onto her every word and we settled into a nook in the passage of the Chateau to chat.
“For me, cinema should be important to any country so any country that dedicates a week of its time, if not more, to just promoting cinema is doing a really important thing,” she said. The 48-year-old, who was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire this year for her services to film, was candid about being able to tell personal yet universal stories.
Amma Asante. Picture: Instagram
Film firsts
“There are so many ideas about filmmaking,” she told me.
“There’s no wrong or right way. But what I want to impart is that a filmmaker doesn’t come in one shape or one particular form. A filmmaker doesn’t think in any one particular way and in fact, we all have something unique to bring to a story. Whether it’s a story we wrote ourselves or whether it was written and somehow we found our hook or connection with it.
“It’s unique but there are elements of it that will always be universal. It’s about finding that: what is your uniqueness? Why should you be the one who directs this film? And then how can you make sure you bring an audience to connecting with that piece of work in the same way that you did? Because of the universal elements.”
Following her award-winning 2004 directorial debut, A Way of Life, Asante went on to receive global acclaim with Belle, starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw in 2013. The film, which was inspired by a painting, is about Dido Belle, a mixed-race heiress in the 18th century. So I asked Asante what uniqueness of her own led her to be the best person for Belle.
“For decades, specifically as black females, our stories have been told by other people,” she said. “So it shouldn’t be unique that my being a black female telling this story of a black female is unique, but it was.
“Because being at the centre of our own stories - which is why I absolutely wanted to make Belle - and not as a supporting artist in our story or a witness to our own story but the person at the centre of it is something I think, at this moment in time, only a black female director could do it the way that I did it. I wanted her story to be an interior story as well as an exterior one. A story that was about her own interior journey as well as the social politics that were going on at the time.”
She continued: “For me, what was really important was to say: who would I be if I were an 18th century woman in Belle’s position?
“Uniquely, I can do that. I am the child of an African mother raised in Europe - perhaps not in the 18th century but I still have elements where I can hook into her story but also find a way for everyone in the audience to hook into her story as well.”
Going global
On A United Kingdom, in which Mzansi’s own Terry Pheto’s role as Naledi Khama has seen the SA actress and entrepreneur scoop numerous awards, she said: “I am particularly pleased about Terry being really acknowledged.
“For me, Terry is a quiet but forceful presence and I love what she is able to bring. I want to be able to showcase as many black females as I can.
“That doesn’t necessarily mean that they will always be at the very centre of every story but it means no story should hopefully evolve from me without one.
“I’m not South African but I am African and to be able to bring my fellow African woman into this story and give a political voice to the women of Botswana was a really important thing to be able to do.”
The United Kingdom. Picture: Instagram
In her upcoming film, I Am Leyna - which was previously known as Where Hands Touch - Asante gives a voice to the children who were derogatorily named the Rhineland Bastards. The film is set in Berlin in 1944. It “tells the story of the German black children who were raised under Hitler,” Asante explained.
“The focus on persecuting the Jews was such a strong force which Hitler had behind him that what that meant was while apartheid was just two years from being created in South Africa and while in America, black people were still strange fruit, actually in Germany, black people were not the complete bottom of the food chain.
“They were walking this tightrope that meant they weren’t the complete focus of persecution but they were also not free to just live and be who they were. And so the story is about this girl being in this very grey area of life at a time when her fellow human beings are being wiped out around her.”
Telling our tales
All of Asante’s films seem to be a look back at history so I asked her if she is constantly stuck in the past and if she ever thinks about creating current or even futuristic films.
“In a way, yeah,” she nodded and smiled.
“But first and foremost, it’s important to me. Because we haven’t been able to tell our own stories in any great depth for such a long time, I think it’s as if we as black filmmakers are starting at the beginning. We’re first starting with our history and readjusting that gaze because that gaze has been told through a different perspective for so long that it’s about us writing the record, if that makes sense.
“There are two reasons why I like doing period movies. One,” she pointed with her index finger, “is for that reason and the other reason is I love the idea of audiences going in and feeling like they’re watching a period movie and then coming out thinking: ‘Wow, you know what? That’s still today.’ For me, they have to have a contemporary relevance.
“I want to be able to move forward in time but only once I feel like I’ve created enough of a platform for myself to say: now that you’ve got to grips with a different kind of black female than the one you keep perpetually seeing on screen, now I’m ready to show you exactly who we are today.”
Sir Tom Jones has commented on sexual harassment in the workplace after Hollywood was rocked by Wienstein scandal and says it's rife in the music industry too,
The 'Sex Bomb' singer appeared on BBC Radio 5 Live and discussed the allegations that have rocked Hollywood surrounding film producer Harvey Weinstein, who was sacked from his company following a series of sexual harassment accusations.
Tom claimed the problem is rife in the music industry too, recalling a time he was forced to get out of an uncomfortable situation when he was propositioned during a work meeting.
Tom, 77, said: "Things have always happened in the music industry as well. There's been people complaining about publicists and different things they've been expected to do to get a record contract, just like a film contract.
"There were a few things like that. But you avoid it. You just walk out ... But what's tried on women is tried on men as well.
When asked whether he had personally experienced sexual abuse in the music industry, he said: "It wasn't bad, just somebody tried to pull ... it was a question and I said, 'No thank you.' You think, 'Well, I've got to get away from this person and it can't be like this.'
"You should know that yourself, you don't do things just because you think, 'I should do this.' Your own mind will tell you that. Not just in showbusiness, but in any thing you're in."
Since The New Yorker published an article which contained several women's accounts of being sexually harassed or assaulted by Weinstein a host of famous actresses, including Kate Beckinsale, Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie, Rose McGowan and Ashley Judd, have shared their own experiences of Weinstein's inappropriate behaviour.
And while Tom says harassment is often covered up in showbusiness, it almost always comes to light in the end.
He said: "Things happen in showbusiness, and sometimes things are covered up and then they come to light and other people come forward - it's like taking the cork off of a bottle."
"But justice will out. If you've done something wrong you've got to pay for it, or prove that you haven't done anything wrong."
Leonardp DiCaprio, 42, has invested in a new plant-based company.
The actor, who founded The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation in 1998,has pumped an unknown amount of cash into Beyond Meat, which aims to creates vegetarian substitute products that look and taste just like meat without using animals, as the firm’s mission to combat greenhouse gas emissions by eliminating livestock aligns with his beliefs and his determination to raise awareness of climate change.
The Wolf of Wall Street star said: “Livestock production is a major contributor to carbon emissions. Shifting from animal meat to plant-based meats ... is one of the most powerful measures someone can take to reduce their impact on our climate.”
Beyond Meat CEO Ethan Brown added: “Leo is serious about climate change.”
He’s a really good ally for us. This is not a celebrity deal. He is someone who genuinely believes in what we’re doing and wants to help grow it.”
This isn’t the first time Leonardo - who is a long-time vegetarian - has invested in a plant-based company as he previously donated an undisclosed sum to Hippeas.
Hippeas CEO Livio Bisterzo said at the time: “As the brand continues to grow with such momentum in the marketplace, it’s incredible to bring on board partners who align with our vision and values as a company.”
These are just two companies across more than 100 organisations that are committed to environmental sustainability that Leonardo has awarded money to.
The Academy Award-winning actor recently announced that his foundation has dished out $20 million (approximately R270 million) in grants over the past 19 years.
He said: We are proud to support the work of over 100 organisations at home and abroad. These grantees are active on the ground, protecting our oceans, forests and endangered species for future generations, and tackling the urgent, existential challenges of climate change.”
The drama of the My Kitchen Rules Instant Restaurant phase is over: no more accusations about integrity, no more strategic voting against other teams.
This week on My Kitchen Rules SA, the eight teams will enter MKRSA Kitchen Headquarters in the heart of Johannesburg to receive their first group challenge brief from celebrity judges J’something and David Higgs.
And since they’re playing for a grand prize of R1 Million, they can rest assured that the judges will be setting the bar high.
The judges reveal that their very first challenge of the Kitchen HQ rounds will be for 100 hungry members of the public at Johannesburg Zoo.
The contestants will have to cook dishes that are kid-friendly and that also contain ingredients that are quintessentially South African… but what they’ll be cooking for their special guests, and more importantly, how they’ll be expected to cook, is the biggest shock reveal so far.
My Kitchen Rules SA contestants. Picture: Sean Brand
Who are the eight pairs of contestants? From top to bottom of the leader board from the Instant Restaurant phase they are:
Bruce and Claudia (Instant Restaurant score of 72 out of 100)
The happily married “Mr & Mrs” of the competition wowed their fellow competitors and the judges with their unique fusion of Asian and more classical cuisine at their Instant Restaurant. Bruce, a Martial Arts world champion, is not used to losing, while Claudia – the master baker in their team – provides the yin to Bruce’s yang.
Liz and Leanne (Instant Restaurant score of 69 out of 100)
Hot on Bruce and Claudia’s heels in the Instant Restaurant phase are Bloem Besties Liz and Leanne. Fans of the show will recognise this pair thanks to their impeccably matched, identical outfits throughout the series. One of two pairs of “farm girls” in the competition, these two do not shy away from speaking their minds. Leanne is a self-confessed venison queen while Liz is the token baker of the pair.
Jamandi and Machiel (Instant Restaurant score of 68 out of 100)
Another pair of Bloemfontein natives, husband and wife team Jamandi and Machiel were at the top of the leader board of the second group of MKRSA contestants. Jamandi and Machiel’s no-nonsense, positive attitudes are infectious, while Machiel’s knack for cracking jokes lightens any tense mood around the table.
Charnell and Kerry (Instant Restaurant score of 67 out of 100)
Representing the City of Gold, best friends Charnell and Kerry were the first pair of cooks to host an Instant Restaurant in Group 2. After starting off with a bang, Charnell and Kerry kept the rest of their competition on their toes in the following weeks by initiating conversations around strategy in this undeniably competitive series.
Brent and Andrew (Instant Restaurant score of 66 out of 100)
With only one point between each of the top three pairs in Group 2, “good guys” and engaged family men Brent and Andrew are all about giving back and celebrating the best that South Africans have to offer. That said, they too have not shied away from voicing their honest opinions about other contestants around the table.
Lani and Louzel (Instant Restaurant score of 64 out of 100)
Mother and daughter duo Lani and Louzel have a no-frills attitude towards creating comfort food straight out of recipe books that have been in their family for generations. The Angora goat farming team, who hail from Cradock in the Eastern Cape, are passionate about any ingredient that can be home grown or that originates from the Karoo – especially the lamb.
Rein and Rowan (Instant Restaurant score of 63 out of 100)
“Food dudes” Rein and Rowan from the West Rand of Johannesburg could easily be mistaken for simply being two guys who like to braai. But looks can be deceiving as these water polo buddies like to experiment with various cooking methods and styles and have a keen interest in Asian-influenced cuisine.
OG and G (Instant Restaurant score of 59 out of 100)
The “meat guys” of the competition are the only pair of cooks in the series representing the Mother City. The soon-to-be brothers-in-law both have rich family histories with relatives who started chesa nyama businesses and butcheries alike. OG, a retired professional rugby player, has confessed that he’s in this competition to win it with G, due to both of their naturally competitive natures.
My Kitchen Rules SA contestants. Picture: Sean Brand
The team with the lowest score will head into the first sudden death elimination cook-off, while the winning team - as voted for by the public - will receive immunity from the next elimination
* My Kitchen Rules SA is broadcast on M-Net channel 101 every Sunday night at 6pm.
South African cricketer JP Duminy's heart must've skipped a beat — or two — after his wife Sue potty pranked him.
Sue hid a large fake spider in the toilet bowl and then waited for JP to walk over and lift the lid, while she was filming — and his reaction was priceless.
JP, who recently retired from Test and first-class cricket, casually lifted the lid before quickly retreating with a look of fear and dread on his face, while Sue giggled in the background.
Sue shared the prank video on her Instagram account on Wednesday and wrote: "Oooooh he is gonna kill me (sic)"
While we're pretty sure JP did not hold the prank against Sue, we're positive that their fans thought his reaction was hilarious and screamed 'relationship goals'.
Instagram user wchkk said: "I want a relationship like yours", while Keereshnie Munsami thought it was worth at least three plays.
DURBAN - TICKETS for the Durban leg of the Migos Culture Tour to South Africa have been sold out, tour publicist Melanie Ramjee confirmed to the Sunday Tribune.
Ramjee said the tickets were sold out shortly after 3pm. The trio from Atlanta, USA, had landed in Durban earlier on Thursday morning to much fanfare.
The trio comprises of members Quavo, Offset and Takeoff. Their birth names are Quavious Keyate Marshall, Kirshnik Khari Ball and Kiari Kendrell Cephus. They will perform at the Durban ICC on Friiday night before heading to Johannesburg for the second leg of their concert, where they will perform at the Ticketpro Dome on Saturday evening.
The hip-hop trio exploded onto the music scene with their 2013 hit single 'Versace' and followed that up with 'Look at My Dab'. Their latest hit is 'Bad and Boujee' which was released last year.
The Migos trio have touched down in Durban. Picture: Stills by Tom
Meanwhile, local acts that will perform at the Migos Culture Tour include Babes Wodumo, Nasty C, AKA, Riky Rick and DJ Tira.
Tickets are still selling on TicketPros from R350 to R790 for the Johannesburg leg of the tour.
