Police brutality in the United States has always been a massive problem. Numerous unarmed people of color have been killed by the police, including George Floyd who was choked to death in Minneapolis this past week. Protests have erupted all across the country and people are waiting to see how this will all play out. Needless to say, people are scared and angry and with the Coronavirus going around, life feels incredibly fragile.

When Eric Garner was killed by police a few years ago, many NBA players wore “I Can’t Breathe” shirts in solidarity, including Kobe Bryant. Today, Vanessa Bryant took to Instagram with a photo of Kobe wearing the shirt and urged people to take care of each other while also standing up against injustice.

“My husband wore this shirt years ago and yet here we are again,” Bryant wrote. “Life is so fragile. Life is so unpredictable. Life is too short. Let’s share and embrace the beautiful qualities and similarities we all share as people. Drive out hate. Teach respect and love for all at home and school. Spread LOVE. Fight for change- register to VOTE. Do not use innocent lives lost as an excuse to loot. BE AN EXAMPLE OF THE CHANGE WE WANT TO SEE.”

Bryant’s post is a stark reminder of the loss of Kobe and what a leader he would have been during these times. Regardless, it’s good to know one of the best basketball players ever had the back of his people.

Tensions have been rising all across the country over the past couple of days and for good reason. The police killing of George Floyd has people extremely upset and numerous protests have now been started in almost every single state. New York City has been known for its fair share of police brutality over the years which means it’s not surprising that there have been some pretty impressive protests in the streets.

The NYPD has been violent with the people on occasion and yesterday, a truly gruesome act was caught on camera. Essentially, a cop car tried to break through a barrier of people and ended up spreading them out across the street. The cop could have killed someone but thankfully, that didn’t happen. Now, 50 Cent is reacting to the scene and he is just as angry as the rest of us.

“Now why the fuck would he drive the car into a crowd. They gonna have a hundred lawsuits for this shit,” 50 wrote. The artist has been very vocal against the NYPD in the past, particularly cops who have conspired to do harm to him.

As protests continue, the police will be looking to disperse crowds by any means necessary. With that being said, we hope any of you who plan on protesting stay safe out there.

Although the status of La La and Carmelo Anthony’s marriage is still up in the air, the possibly estranged spouses can still wish each a friendly happy birthday. On Friday (May 29th), La La penned a loving birthday message for Carmelo on Instagram, accompanied by a photo of the NBA player at a young age. In the post, La La tells Carmelo how special he is to her, possibly hinting that they’ve grown closer again since living in quarantine together. She also tells the story of the first time they went to Vegas together.

“Happy Birthday @carmeloanthony,” she wrote. “I met you when u were 20 yrs old lying to me telling me you were 21 until we went to Vegas & your ass couldn’t gamble ‼️ Today you were blessed to celebrate 36 years young. Time flies for real..it’s so crazy‼️ Thank you for being a blessing in our lives. I love you.” Since La La is nearly three years older than Carmelo, at the time that they met, she would have likely already been 23 years old.

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In the comments, Carmelo received a ton of birthday wishes from folks like Ciara, Fat Joe, Khloe Kardashian, Angie Martinez, and many more. “HBD Mel!! Love you bro!” Ciara wrote. “HAPPY BORNDAY MEL!” commented Kelly Rowland.

Meek Mill is reflecting on a particularly disturbing incident from his youth in which he’d been physically assaulted by police. In the wake of George Floyd’s murder by police, tons of folks across the country and around the globe have been expressing their outrage. The footage showing George, a 46-year-old Black man, unable to breathe while Officer Derek Chauvin has his knee on George’s neck was a poignant reminder for some of how often Black Americans are the victims of police brutality, at times to the point in which they are killed by those who claim to “serve and protect.”

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This powerful moment has Meek Mill reflecting on his own violent encounters with police in the past. The rapper took to Instagram on Wednesday (May 27th) to share a photo from his youth that was taken after he had been beaten by police officers. In the photo, Meek has a swollen eye and bandages on his face.

“Mom my took this pic and filed it with internal affairs, nothing happened!” he explained. “I been a rebel since!!! #georgefloyd I got charges for breaking one of the cops hands also like he didn’t break his hand on my face!” Meek is among the many rappers who have been speaking out on the murder of George Floyd and bringing awareness to the issue of police brutality.

Minneapolis, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C. are just a few cities where protests, riots, and looting has occurred within the last few days. Following the social media circulation of the murder of George Floyd at the hands of police officers, civil unrest has erupted across America. Celebrities have stepped forward to offer words of support and edification, including Killer Mike, T.I., Jamie Foxx, Beyoncé, Rihanna, and Drake.

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The OVO Sound mogul kept his comments brief over on his Instagram page, but he did share a poem by social activist Assata Shakur. “I believe in living. I believe in the spectrum of Beta days and Gamma people. I believe in sunshine. In windmills and waterfalls, tricycles and rocking chairs,” the poem reads. “I have been locked by the lawless. Handcuffed by the haters. Gagged by the greedy. And if i know any thing at all, it’s that a wall is just a wall and nothing more at all. It can be broken down.”

“Rest in heaven George Floyd ?,” Drake wrote in the caption of the lengthy poem. The rapper gathered a massive amount of support from his famous friends, so take a look at his post below to read the poem by Assata Shakur in its entirety.

Many celebrity figures have chosen to remain silent about recent politically-charged events. The murder of George Floyd is undeniably devastating, but while American citizens have taken to the streets to protest the actions by disgraced former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin and three of his fellow officers, some famous figures have opted to keep their mouths shut. Rihanna shared why she didn’t immediately come forward with her thoughts on the scandal and she revealed that her heart was just too heavy to make a statement.

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“For the last few days, the magnitude of devastation, anger, sadness I’ve felt has been overwhelming to say the least! Watching my people get murdered and lynched day after day pushed me to a heavy place in my heart!” Rihanna penned in a caption to an Instagram photo of George Floyd. “To the point of staying away from socials, just to avoid hearing the blood curdling agony in George Floyd’s voice again, begging over and over for his life!!! The look of enticement, the pure joy and climax on the face of this bigot, murderer, thug, pig, bum, Derek Chauvin, haunts me!! I can’t shake this!”

“I can’t get over an ambulance pulling up to an arrest, a paramedic checking a pulse without removing the very thing that’s hindering it!” the singer continued. “Is this that f*cking normal??? If intentional MURDER is the fit consequence for ‘drugs’ or ‘resisting arrest’….then what’s the fit consequence for MURDER???!” Rihanna added a few hashtags that included Floyd’s named alongside Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor. Check out her post below.

The recent death of 46-year-old George Floyd at the hands of four Minneapolis police officers has become the straw that has broken the camel's back. Irate citizens are destroying their own cities to show their anger at seeing another black person lose their life due to police brutality and murder, and Lil Wayne addressed the controversy while speaking with Fat Joe on Instagram Live. 

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"I think when we see these situations, I think we also have to understand that we have to get very specific," he said. "And what I mean by that is we have to stop viewing it with such a broad view, meaning we have to stop placing the blame on the whole force and the whole everybody or a certain race or everybody with a badge." He added, "We have to actually get into who that person is. And if we want to place the blame on anybody, it should be ourselves for not doing more than what we think we're doing."

Lil Wayne has been criticized in the past for not coming forward and speaking out when instances of police brutality make headlines. He spoke on that as well, saying that people tweet and wear t-shirts, but they don't help the families or protest in the streets. "So, if I ain't about to do all that, then I ain't about to do nothing. I'll pray for ya."

The rapper's remarks were met with heavy criticism, including actor Lakeith Stanfield who shared a vintage black and white image with the caption: "Wayne stfu." Listen to Lil Wayne, check out Lakeith Stanfield's post, and read through some scathing reactions to Weezy's comments below.

The rumored romance between DaniLeigh and DaBaby has been a topic of conversation for months. Fans have been gossiping about the artists and after they shared a few quarantine images, internet sleuths compared photos and videos and determined that they were at the same location. While neither pair has come out to openly say that they’re in some sort of relationship, DaniLeigh was asked her thoughts on people speculating about her personal life with the Kirk rapper.

“I mean it is what it is,” DaniLeigh told Power 105.1 in a video chat. “I know it comes with this life. I already know you post something, people just gon’ catch on I guess, so. I don’t know, it is what it is. I don’t really care.” Then, she was asked about her preferences regarding dating someone in the entertainment business or outside of the limelight altogether.

“I don’t know, I think my lifestyle definitely is like, fast and everything,” DaniLeigh said. “I gotta have someone that understands that. It is cool to have someone that has similarities in what we do and stuff, but I guess I haven’t really dated a regular person as me being, you know DaniLeigh now. I don’t know. I probably should [laughs].” Watch her clip below.

Zaya Wade is officially a teenager as she celebrates her 13th birthday. Father Dwyane Wade and stepmom Gabrielle Union are proud parents of the teen and they expressed their love with heartfelt, lengthy social media posts dedicated to Zaya. For months, the Wade family has been met with criticism because of their acceptance of Zaya transitioning from male to female at such a young age, but it hasn't deterred the family from being a supportive unit. Actor Hill Harper chimed in to wish Zaya a happy birthday, but in his message, he referred to Zaya as a boy and was quickly met with backlash.

"Happy Birthday young man!! Read 'Letters to a Young Brother'!!! Your mom wrote something in it!! You'll love it! Have a great day!!" Harper commented. It didn't take long for the public to let Harper know that Zaya Wade now identifies as a girl, and he was quick to respond. "I would like to apologize for my post. I am responsible for what gets posted and I made a horrible error. I misgendered my friend’s child and I am so sorry to Zaya and the entire Wade family. It was not my intention to misgender and misrepresent her in any way. I celebrate Zaya," Hill Harper tweeted. "As a family friend I feel so bad that I may have taken away from the celebration. Zaya’s courage and strength is something I celebrate. And there was absolutely no malicious intent to my post."

"I am human and I am learning and often trying to do too many things which leads to mistakes like this one. I am sorry," Harper continued. "I’m sorry to those my post offended, that was certainly not my intention." He went to reiterate his apology once again, adding that during these times, the last thing he wanted to do was to become a "negative distraction." Read through his tweets and Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union's birthday posts below.

He may be one of the most controversial figures in the rap community currently, but that hasn’t stopped Tekashi 6ix9ine from calling out his fellow artists. Tekashi 6ix9ine made a slew of new enemies after he turned state’s witness against his Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods associates, and since the rapper’s release, he’s continued to make waves in the industry. On Thursday (May 28), in a since-deleted video, 6ix9ine had a message for other New York rappers, calling them out for not spending stacks in the state’s communities while buying themselves luxury items.

In his clip, 6ix9ine said that he has an issue with rappers who always say that they’re the “king” or the “prince” of New York, but don’t “put on nothing for the city.” The rapper went on to say that there are people who still don’t have jobs because of this COVID-19 pandemic and citizens are going hungry, but his fellow New York spitters haven’t done anything about it.

“IF YOU A RAPPER FROM NEW YORK AND YOU AINT GOT ATLEAST 100K TO GIVE BACK TO OUR CITY FOR PEOPLE IN NEED YOURE A BUM,” 6ix9ine wrote in the caption to his video. “GOD GIVES YOU A GIFT ITS NOT JUST FOR YOU ITS TO HELP OTHERS IN NEED. BROKE N*GGAS GONNA IGNORE IT.” This has been interpreted as a jab to Lil Tjay who recently made claims that he’s the King of New York. Check out 6ix9ine’s video and message in full below.