It was pretty obvious Gabourey Sidibe was having a great time at the Academy Awards on Sunday night. And besides the whole “if fashion were porn” or the occasional “I’d do him” comment caught by the cameras,  she was just a young, sister living a dream. And there’s nothing wrong with that. But we all know she’s not like the rest of Hollywood and sooner or later  somebody would say something about her size. Forgive the awful pun but it was the proverbial elephant in the room. I thought the first blow would come via Joan Rivers, but she was on her best behavior during the E Fashion Police recap show. (Although there was the comment made by one of the panelists that Queen Latifah knows how to dress for a ‘big’ woman or some other BS). While most of the media decided that politcal correctness was the route to take when it came to Sidibe, Howard Stern said PC be damned. So he brought the subject up on his show on Monday. And the thought just made me cringe before I even knew what he had to say. Read the full story

Although Halle Berry and Denzel Washington were noticeable absent from this year’s festivities, Black men and women brought their A game to the Red Carpet.

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Queen Latifah met her subjects fans yesterday at Macy’s Herald Square in New York City to celebrate the launch of her new fragrance called what else Queen ($59). So what does royalty smell like? Kinda sexy. A mix of cognac, rose, Moroccan coriander, and Egyptian incense. All Hail!

This week Mya and Dmitry transformed the ballroom into a lovers’ den with a seductive rumba, scoring the first 10s of the season. The two make a gorgeous pair on the dance floor, and Mya’s movements were effortless. In order to get into character, she set up the dance studio with roses and candles. Read the full story

The odds were against Taraji P. Henson and Viola Davis going into the 81st Academy Awards, but still I couldn’t help hoping that there would be some kind of fluke that would result in one of these sisters winning the award for Best Supporting Actress. And we found out rather quickly that Penelope Cruz would take the prize. But in this new show configuration, it was a pretty cool way to lose (if that makes sense). I think being introduced and saluted being by such luminaries as Eva Marie Saint, Goldie Hawn, Anjelica Houston, Tilda Swinson and Whoopi Goldberg (more or her later) had each of these sisters trying to fend off the waterworks. But throughout the rest of extra-long telecast there was several opportunities for sister sightings (besides that clip of Hattie McDaniel during the same segment) Read the full story

Last week, Oprah’s weight was in the news. This week, it is the former Mrs. Huxtable, Phylicia Rashad. Bossip reports today that the noted stage actress has signed on with the weight loss company. I assume the campaign will begin next year. I don’t know about you but I put Ms. Rashad in a class above the other spokespeople the company has employed: Kirstie Alley, Valerie Bertinelli and Queen Latifah. She’s won a Tony Award for goodness sake. Read the full story

I just ran across an interesting blog post in  The Los Angeles Times by Patrick Goldstein. Basically, he wondered whether white women would go to see The Secret Life of Bees? His was a reaction to a story that will actually run in today’s paper by one of his colleagues, John Horn. Horn has described the film as being about three black sisters. And I guess if you watch the trailer, and have never read the book, you’d probably think that’s all there is. Plus, the star-studded cast (Queen Latifah, Alicia Keys, Jennifer Hudson) and a noted black female director (Gina Prince Blythewood of Love & Basketball fame) doesn’t do much to counter that notion. Read the full story

On Sunday evening, when the Living Single Reunion Show was scheduled to air on TV One, I had a house full of people and I was disappointed that I didn’t get to watch it. Later I tuned to that deadly boring telecast on the Emmy’s (grumbling to myself that I should have recorded the Living Single reunion instead.) Well tonight, I abandoned my attempt to support Toni Braxton and watched reruns of the comedy instead until a repeat of the reunion show came on. Read the full story

After my post on the uptick on size bias last night (and the quandry a big-bone girl has when she loves her curves and wants to live a long life) I caught a glimpse of Queen Latifah’s latest commercial for Jenny Craig. Just looking at her, it is obvious that the pounds are coming off but she is adamant about keeping the focus on her health. After her People cover story last year about being 200 pounds and loving, Ms. Dana Owens doesn’t want to come out and change her tune. She will only say something like she is a ’size smarter’. Read the full story