WBC Suspends Adrien Broner Over Post-Fight Comments

Straight from WBC Boxing:

Adrien Broner, former WBC lightweight champion has offended many persons of the world with his words during the interview after the fight vs Molina.

The World Boxing Council holds human equality as its banner and will not accept a former WBC champion to make racially offensive statements.

Since words have different meanings and can be interpreted in different ways, the WBC is issuing this open letter to Adrien Broner to either clarify what he meant with his words or to issue a public apology if those words were intended to be despective and offensive.

Adrien Broner is hereby suspended from participating in any WBC sanctioned Championship and will be excluded from the WBC Ratings until the time he makes a public apology satisfactorily to the public of the world.

Boxing is a great sport, it is a world sport and boxers are honorable and exemplary members of the community. FairPlay and human equality must always be upheld.

It should be noted that Broner did speak on the comments recently (below):

Dave Grohl Plays Secret Show In Nashville

Spotted on The Tennessean (above recap courtesy of Dish Nation):

Dave Grohl has made his mark playing high-volume rock ‘n’ roll shows for multiple thousands of people at a time.

But Wednesday evening, Grohl appeared at the Bluebird Cafe for a quiet, unannounced hour of solo/acoustic music in front of fewer than 100 patrons.

“My name’s Dave Grohl. I’m a drummer,” he said at show’s outset, though there were no drums in sight. He has drummed famously for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band Nirvana and fronted his own Grammy-winning group, Foo Fighters, but Wednesday’s set was a contemplative, percussion-free affair. Grohl strummed an acoustic guitar and didn’t detail his reasons for playing the Bluebird, but a camera crew captured the event.

“The heart and soul of this city is in the music and the musicians,” he said. “It is an honor to be here.”

Grohl opened with “Times LIke These,” then moved through “Big Me,” “Friend of a Friend,” “My Hero,” “Skin and Bones,” “Wheels,” “Learn to Fly,” “Ballad Of The Beaconsfield Miners” and “Everlong.” He promised to then run outside and scream because he’d never played such a quiet show, but instead hung around and spoke with well-wishers.

You can read plenty more here.

LL Cool J Gets Honorary Degree From Northeastern (Alongside Graduating Daughter)

Spotted on CBS Boston:

It’s college graduation time in Boston and today Northeastern grads had a special guest and honoree. Actor and musician LL Cool J was there to see his daughter graduate and to become “Doctor” Cool J.

“I’ve been called a few things, but never a doctor, that’s for sure,” Cool J says laughing. His given name is James Todd Smith, but as LL Cool J he helped move Hip-Hop music into the popular culture.

As an actor, he’s now one of the stars of the CBS show “NCIS Los Angeles.” For his accomplishments, Northeastern awarded him an honorary Doctor of Arts degree. “For them to recognize my body of work and my contributions to the world of art is an amazing feeling,” he says.

But his biggest joy today was seeing his daughter, Italia Smith, graduate with honors. And it was great for her to have her dad on stage. “It was emotional, it was exciting, I’m just happy to reach a new milestone,” she says.

“It made me feel real proud because I know she put a lot of hard work in, a lot of dedication, a lot of commitment and a lot of hours,” says the proud father.

You can read more — including being asked about the upcoming season finale of NCIS LAhere.

Five Finger Death Punch Reveals New Album For 2015

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Spotted on Billboard:

Neither volume of Five Finger Death Punch’s “The Wrong Side of Heaven and the Righteous Side of Hell” is a year old yet, but the heavy rocking quintet already has its next project in motion.

Guitarist Zoltan Bathory tells Billboard that 5FDP has “five, six ideas or roughs already in the can,” with plans for a 2015 release. “I would say next spring we would want to put something out,” Bathory says, “so that means this year we’ll be recording here and there and probably go into the studio in December or January. But we definitely want to have something out before next summer for sure. In this environment I don’t think that bands can allow themselves to stay in a studio for two, three, four years and wait and try to write some masterpiece. In four years people are going to forget about you. You have go put out records. Thank God we have plenty to say and plenty of material. We don’t struggle for material — obviously.”

5FDP will spend the spring and summer playing festival dates in the U.S. and Russia, and it begins a just-announced 27-date arena tour with Volbeat on Sept. 16 in Salt Lake City.

You can read more here.

PICS: The-Dream’s Baby Mama Photos After Alleged Attack

Spotted on TMZ:

The-Dream’s baby mama photographed her injuries immediately following her alleged fight with him last year and the graphic pics are now part of the police investigation.

As TMZ first reported, Lydia Nam is accusing Dream of punching, kicking and strangling her during an argument when she was pregnant with his child.

Now TMZ has obtained the photos, which show giant bruises on her arm and leg, as well as scratches on her neck and face.

According to the criminal complaint, Dream pulled and dragged her by her hair, choked her with a necklace she was wearing by twisting it tightly around her neck, kicked and punched her in the head and then grabbed her by the neck, pinning her to the wall and choking her again.

The complaint also alleged that when Nam tried to call 911, he violently twisted her arm and said he would kill her “like O.J. Simpson killed Nicole Brown.”

Nam says she waited seven months to report the incident out of fear for her safety. The-Dream denies the whole thing.

JET Magazine Is Doing Away With Print, Switching To All-Digital Format

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If you didn’t know, print is dying, ladies and gentleman. Spotted on USA Today:

Johnson Publishing announced today that Jet will transition to a digital magazine app at the end of June.

Jet has the third-largest circulation in the African-American magazine market with 700,000, behind Ebony and Essence.

“Almost 63 years ago, my father, John Johnson, named the publication Jet because, as he said in the first issue, ‘In the world today, everything is moving faster. There is more news and far less time to read it,’ ” said Linda Johnson Rice, chairman of JPC, in a release. “He could not have spoken more relevant words today. We are not saying goodbye to Jet, we are embracing the future as my father did in 1951 and taking it to the next level.”

Jet’s online content will feature entertainment news along with politics, pop culture and social issues that affect African Americans.

Smashing Pumpkins Recruit Mötley Crüe’s Tommy Lee For New Album

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Spotted on NME:

Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan has revealed that he is working with Mötley Crüe’s Tommy Lee.

According to an update on the band’s website, Lee plays drums on nine songs from the band’s forthcoming new album ‘Monuments To An Elegy’.

“Here’s a shot from the mission out west,” Corgan wrote. “Just finished round 1 of tracking drums with Tommy Lee for the new the Smashing Pumpkins album. Shockla-locka-boom.”

Last week, Corgan announced that he has nearly finished recording one of two new albums that the band will release in 2015. The first, which he says is nearly completed, will be titled ‘Monuments To An Elegy’. The second will be called ‘Day For Night’ and the band hope to precede both LPs with a new single this year (2014).

You can read more on the story here.

The-Dream Charged With Felony Assault

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According to TMZ, The-Dream turned himself into custody earlier after a warrant was issued for an alleged domestic dispute with his ex-fiance during her pregnancy in April of 2013. The-Dream was charged for two felony assaults, including three misdemeanors for assault, reckless endangerment and child endangerment. The Dream has been released from custody after posting a $20,000 bond.

Usher Uses Celebrity To Dodge Traffic Violation (Video)

From TMZ:

Usher’s celebrity burns bright on the Sunset Strip — so bright he can turn a chasing cop into a photo-seeking fan and walk off Scott-free.

The video is nuts — you can see Usher driving on Sunset early Sunday morning (around 2AM) as he’s aggressively followed by an L.A. County Sheriff’s deputy. At one point, Usher coasts through a yellow light … and the cop car zips after him, running a red.

Usher pulls over outside Rock & Reilly’s Pub — and next thing you see is the deputy posing with the singer for a photo … inside the bar.

A Sheriff’s source insists it was NOT a traffic stop … but the car’s red and blues are flashing and the spotlight is pointed toward Usher’s whip. And it appears Usher had been speeding when he first caught the deputy’s eye.

The source added it’s NOT against the rules for deputies to take pics with celebs.

XXL 2014 Freshman List Revealed

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XXL has officially revealed their June 2014 cover, featuring this year’s 12-man freshman list:

Chance The Rapper
Rich Homie Quan
Isaiah Rashad
Ty Dolla $ign
Lil Durk
Kevin Gates
Troy Ave
Vic Mensa
Lil Bibby
Jon Connor
Jarred Benton
August Alsina

While I personally don’t give a shit about this list, I do wonder why they left off artists like Fat Trel and Young Thug….maybe those payola rumors are true.