NAACP CEO, Derrick Johnson thrashes R. Kelly for televised tantrum at nominee’s luncheon
On Saturday during the nominees’ luncheon for the 50th NAACP Image Awards, the president and CEO Derrick Johnson thrashed R.Kelly after his scathing interview with Gayle King of CBS This Morning.
The NAACP is not here for advancing R. Kelly and his singing career any further.
On Saturday, during the a luncheon for the nominees of the 50th NAACP Image Awards, President and CEO Derrick Johnson took time to thrash the singer after his scathing CBS This Morning interview with Gayle King went off the rails. In it, Kelly is seen crying amid defending himself against sexual abuse claims, Variety reports.
“We cannot celebrate inclusion as long as we look at the foolishness on television, whether it’s R. Kelly or other unfortunate incidents,” Johnson repordly said at the luncheon. “We must continue to uphold and uplift all of our creativity because it’s through our creative power that we will continue to lead the nation.”
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Kelly has become the butt of many jokes these days since the clip of his temper tantrum went viral.
Saturday Night Live, did a hilarious take on the King/Kelly interview with comedians Leslie Jones and Kennan Thompson posing as the much-talked about duo.
Kelly then ended up in the opening jokes during the nominees’ luncheon which was hosted by actress/producer Sheryl Lee Ralph and pop-soul singer, Major.
“I thought Jesus was recovering after that Gayle King interview,” Ralph said which got Major going into pretending to be Kelly during his interview melt-down: “‘I didn’t do it!’ Major shouted. “While the cameras were on, ‘I didn’t do it!’”
The conversation surrounding Kelly opened up discussions of how despite the musician’s grandstanding, positive images of Black folks have recently been at the forefront thanks to movie like Black Panther, which helped to push the envelope of how Hollywood has become more receptive of minority movies.
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“Black people are making noise right now,” said This Is Us star and NAACP Image nominee Lyric Ross. “Especially young people — they’re speaking out and telling you what you need to hear, and that’s what we need right now.”
“This year’s Oscars felt pretty cool — we had ‘Black Panther’ up there; ‘Green Book’ won,” said Black-ish star and NAACP Image nominee Marcus Scribner. “Black talent has been making a lot of amazing movies and television shows for a really long time, and it’s cool to see us finally getting recognized on the grand stage.”
There was no mention though of Jussie Smollett’s latest situation after he was indicted on 16 counts for allegedly paying two people to help him orchestrate a hate crime.
The luncheon took place at the Loews Hollywood Hotel in Los Angeles. The NAACP Image Awards takes place March 30 at the Dolby Theatre.
Here is a special message from the hosts of our Nominees’ Luncheon @nowthatsMAJOR and @thesherylralph. #ImageAwards50 #HumanityofConnection pic.twitter.com/hNbGgfcUJN
— NAACP Image Awards (@naacpimageaward) March 9, 2019
