'The Help' leads nominees at NAACP Image Awards

LOS ANGELES (AP) - 'The Help' will likely add to its bevvy of Hollywood honors at Friday night's Image Awards...

Luther Vandross was outed as gay after his death.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — “The Help” will likely add to its bevvy of Hollywood honors at Friday night’s Image Awards.

The film about black maids who speak out against their white employers during the civil rights era leads all nominees with eight bids, including best picture. Viola Davis, Emma Stone, Octavia Spencer, Cicely Tyson and Bryce Dallas Howard are up for acting awards, and Tate Taylor is nominated for outstanding writing and directing.

The medical drama “Grey’s Anatomy” and football sitcom “The Game” dominate the TV categories with six nominations each. Beyonce and Jill Scott rule the recording category with four nods apiece.

Sanaa Lathan and Anthony Mackie are set to host this year’s Image Awards, presented by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s Image Awards to honor diversity in the arts. The ceremony will be broadcast live from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on NBC.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.

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