The team behind the Oscar-nominated animated short, Hair Love, are walking in the spirit of the film by inviting a Texas teen who was suspended for his dreadlocks to the prestigious award show next Sunday. DeAndre Arnold, a high school student who was suspended and told he wouldn't be permitted to attend his graduation ceremony in the spring unless he cut off his dreadlocks, got the invite from Hair Love's director, Matthew A. Cherry, along with producers Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union. "We love the way that you carry yourself and we wanted to do something special for you," Dwyane told the teen, who received a wave of support from the public following the injustice he faced. "You and your mother Sandy are the official guests of the Oscar-nominated team behind Hair Love at the 2020 Academy Awards."
"We've all been so inspired by your story and this is the very least we can do to thank you for standing up for yourself and for your right to wear your natural hair at school," Matthew told him. The Oscar-nominated director told "CBS This Morning" that "just hearing [DeAndre's] story, it really just represented everything we were trying to do with the short film, Hair Love. We really wanted to just normalize black hair, normalize us." Matthew is also using DeAndre's story to shed light on the CROWN Act, which bans the discrimination of people based on their hair. He believes that the act, which has passed in California, New York and New Jersey, should be nationwide. "If this law was in Texas, this situation with DeAndre wouldn't happen," he said.
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As for DeAndre, finding out that he was invited to the Oscars was a "surreal moment." "It's hard to take in," he said. "I've got excitement and then it's just like, 'Is this really happening? Am I in a dream?'...it blows my mind that people that have so much voice, they're on my side and they're with me. I love that. I appreciate that. I really do." The teen was especially thrilled for his mom, who has been fighting by his side to get his story out. "My mom deserves any special treatment she gets," he said. "She deserves this. She's been working so hard, on the computer day and night, just to try and help me get my word out. When you have people like this in your corner, there's no way you can lose. No way." Matthew revealed that both DeAndre and Sandy will be "provide[d] full wardrobe and glam for the big night." The Oscars take place Sunday, February 9th.
Ellen DeGeneres & Alicia Keys Present Teen Told To Cut Dreads With $20K Scholarship
Ellen DeGeneres & A. Keys come through for the vilified Texas teen.
Last week, a Texas teen by the name of DeAndre Arnold was told that he would not be able to participate in his high school graduation ceremony unless he cut off his locs. Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu, Texas, claims that the teen's hair goes against the district's dress code and was placed under in-school suspension. Since then, Arnold and his mother Sandy, have addressed the school's oppressive practices and refused to deny the teen of representing his Trinidadian roots.
After gaining the attention of national media outlets, DeAndre and his mother were invited as guests to The Ellen Show to discuss the Barbers Hill Independent School District's recently instated policy that has Arnold, an 'A' and 'B' student, disinvited to his own graduation ceremony. Ellen DeGeneres kicked off the conversation with the 18-year-old expressing her support of Arnold's decision to not comply with the demands of the Texas-based institution.
DeAndre explained how his locs are currently relevant to his Trinidadian culture and how the school is attempting to force into alternative school for the remainder of his high school career. The bright teen also revealed that he wants to attend college in order to be a veterinarian.
After revealing his frustration with the school and his post-graduation plans, Ellen pleaded into the camera for Arnold's school district to reconsider letting the student walk the graduation stage alongside his peers this spring. Then the Emmy Award-winning talk show host called upon Alicia Keys, who hosted the 2020 Grammys, to present DeAndre with a scholarship worth $20,000 for his upcoming collegiate endeavors.
CNN reached out to the school's superintendent, Greg Poole, last week who stated:
"People want to call us racist, but we're following the rules, the law of the land. We're certainly not making this up," in defense of the school's dress code policy.
With the oppression of black hairstyles being a common theme in society, hopefully, DeAndre Arnold and others continue to stand against the injustices brought up against alternative cultural lifestyles and aesthetics.
Check out the DeAndre Arnold's full Ellen Show interview below and look out for Alicia Keys' new album, A.L.I.C.I.A (2020), to drop in the month of March.
Obie Trice Victim In Groin Shooting Granted Restraining Order Against Him: Report
The victim was granted a year-long restraining order against Obie Trice.
Things haven’t been entirely great for Obie Trice in recent times. The former signee to Eminem‘s Shady Records was arrested in December 2019 following an alleged dispute with the family member. At the time information was scarce but it was later reported Obie Trice got into an altercation with his girlfriend’s 18-year-old son and a gun went off in the middle of their argument, striking the teen in the groin. The teen drove himself to the hospital, suffering a fractured pelvis but was in stable condition. The rapper was held on $16,900 and was released shortly after.
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He’s in stable condition but according to XXL, the teen was successfully granted a protective order against Obie Trice. The court approved of the Personal Order of Protection on Dec 10th — five days after the altercation — and will last until December 10th, 2020. Following the assault, he was arrested for aggravated felony assault of a family member with a gun and contempt of court for violating a protective order, though he wasn’t actually charged for those crimes. The publication revealed that their prosecutors’ office has yet to provide an explanation of why.
Despite the legal troubles, he did get off a few bars in recent times. In the midst of Nick Cannon and Eminem’s feud sparking up once again, Obie Trice snapped on the Wild N Out within a week on “SpankyHayes” and it’s sequel.
