Tavis Smiley receives star on Hollywood Walk of Fame
theGRIO REPORT - Smiley has been hosting his self-titled talk show for 11 years and has made headlines in recent years for his activism alongside Cornel West...
Tavis Smiley, the polarizing PBS talk show host, received his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame this week.
Smiley has been hosting his self-titled talk show for 11 years and has made headlines in recent years for his activism alongside Cornel West.
“When I was a kid, I hated my name,” said Smiley at the Walk of Fame ceremony. “Tavis Smiley. I got teased so much. It was Travis, Tayvis and Smiley became Smelly and ‘Oh, you’re Tavis Smelly.’ So I hated it as a kid. But, lo and behold, years later, you’re a TV guy and it works.”
According to Variety, Smily and Oprah Winfrey “are the only two African-American broadcasters with national and international distribution who own all their content.”
“I own everything — I raise the money, I produce the show, I pay the staff,” he says. “The good news, I say all the time, is that I own all of my content. The bad news is that I own all of my content. If my team doesn’t raise the money, then I’m not on the air.”
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