Richard Roundtree dead:


Richard Roundtree, a trailblazing actor known for his work in Shaft and Roots, has died at the age of 81.

Roundtree died Tuesday from pancreatic cancer at his home in Los Angeles, surrounded by family. The actor’s agency said it was mourning the loss of its friend and client.

HOUSING DISASTER THREATENS ECONOMY IN FRONT OF BIDEN’S EYES

Richard Roundtree
Richard Roundtree attends the premiere of “Shaft,” at AMC Lincoln Square, Monday, June 10, 2019, in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
Charles Sykes/Charles Sykes/Invision/AP


“His trailblazing career changed the face of entertainment around the globe and his enduring legacy will be felt for generations to come,” it told People. “Our hearts are with his family and loved ones during this difficult time.”

Star actors took to social media to pay homage to the acting legend, noting his positive energy and impact as a black artist.

“Working with Richard Roundtree was a dream. Getting to hang with him & our Being Mary Jane family was always a good ass time with the best stories & laughs,” Gabrielle Union posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. “He was ALWAYS the coolest man in the room with the BEST vibes & ppl would literally run over to come see him. He was simply the best & we all loved him.”


“The passing of Richard Roundtree is a real blow. Loved being around him, learning, working, laughing & feeling Blessed to have an idol live up to who I expected him to be!!” Samuel L. Jackson wrote. “Thanks for making us feel REAL GOOD about ourselves! Rest In Power.”

Shaft, released in 1971, was successful as it spawned four sequels, the most recent being in 2019. The original was seen as being a powerful film because of its representation of black people and exploration of themes such as race and masculinity. Roots is also revered as an influential piece of art.

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“Richard’s work and career served as a turning point for African American leading men in film, Patrick McMinn, his manager since 1987, said in a statement, per Variety. “The impact he had on the industry cannot be overstated.”

Roundtree is survived by his four daughters, Nicole, Tayler, Morgan, and Kelli Roundtree, and his son, James, the news outlet added.

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Richard Roundtree dead: Shaft star dies at 81

Richard Roundtree, a trailblazing actor known for his work in Shaft and Roots, has died at the age of 81.

Roundtree died Tuesday from pancreatic cancer at his home in Los Angeles, surrounded by family. The actor’s agency said it was mourning the loss of its friend and client.

HOUSING DISASTER THREATENS ECONOMY IN FRONT OF BIDEN’S EYES

Richard Roundtree
Richard Roundtree attends the premiere of “Shaft,” at AMC Lincoln Square, Monday, June 10, 2019, in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP) Charles Sykes/Charles Sykes/Invision/AP

“His trailblazing career changed the face of entertainment around the globe and his enduring legacy will be felt for generations to come,” it told People. “Our hearts are with his family and loved ones during this difficult time.”

Star actors took to social media to pay homage to the acting legend, noting his positive energy and impact as a black artist.

“Working with Richard Roundtree was a dream. Getting to hang with him & our Being Mary Jane family was always a good ass time with the best stories & laughs,” Gabrielle Union posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. “He was ALWAYS the coolest man in the room with the BEST vibes & ppl would literally run over to come see him. He was simply the best & we all loved him.”

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“The passing of Richard Roundtree is a real blow. Loved being around him, learning, working, laughing & feeling Blessed to have an idol live up to who I expected him to be!!” Samuel L. Jackson wrote. “Thanks for making us feel REAL GOOD about ourselves! Rest In Power.”

Shaft, released in 1971, was successful as it spawned four sequels, the most recent being in 2019. The original was seen as being a powerful film because of its representation of black people and exploration of themes such as race and masculinity. Roots is also revered as an influential piece of art.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

“Richard’s work and career served as a turning point for African American leading men in film, Patrick McMinn, his manager since 1987, said in a statement, per Variety. “The impact he had on the industry cannot be overstated.”

Roundtree is survived by his four daughters, Nicole, Tayler, Morgan, and Kelli Roundtree, and his son, James, the news outlet added.

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Why Michelle Williams’ Justin Timberlake Impression is Going Viral

A clip of Michelle Williams narrating an excerpt from Britney Spears‘ new memoir, The Woman In Me, is going viral online as it showcases The Greatest Showman star giving her best impersonation of Justin Timberlake

In a nearly one-minute snippet of the audio book posted to social media platform X — formerly known as Twitter — Williams, 43, recites a fragment from the memoir in which Spears, 41, detailed a memory from her time dating the *NSYNC frontman, 42. 

“His band *NSYNC was what people back then called ‘so pimp.’ They were white boys but they loved hip-hop. To me, that’s what separated them from The Backstreet Boys — who seemed very consciously to position themselves as a white group. *NSYNC hung out with Black artists,” Williams says, reading the Oops I Did It Again singer’s book. 

The clip continues with Williams reading Spears’ words in which she articulated that she thought *NSYNC members may have tried “too hard.” 

“One day, J and I were in New York, going to parts of town I had never been to before. Walking our way was a guy with a huge, blinged-out medallion — he was flanked by two giant security guards. J got all excited and said so loud, ‘oh yeah, fo’ shiz, fo’ shiz. Ginuwine, what’s up my homie?'” Williams repeats in her best impression of Timberlake, which has since caused online users to widely circulate the clip. 

“After Ginuwine walked away, Felicia [Culotta] did an impression of J: ‘Oh yeah, fo’ shiz, fo’ shiz, Ginuwine.’ J wasn’t even embarassed,” Williams says. 

The impersonation of the Trolls star and boyband leader has led to the clip being viewed on X more than nine million times.

Additionally, the excerpt has been quoted and replied to by thousands of users who could not believe the impersonation that Williams brought to the table. 

“From VENOM to the Britney audiobook, Michelle Williams always gives her all to the performance,” wrote X user Lon Harris. 

“Oh Michelle is winning that Oscar, Grammy, golden globe and everything in between,” joked one fan. 

“If someone can confirm that the rest of the book is this funny, please let me know and I’ll buy it ASAP,” another social media user responded. 

“I need every form of this book. Paperback, hardback, audiobook, manuscript, metaphorical copy,” wrote X user Bobbi Miller. 

Other fans simply included photos and videos of Timberlake from the early 2000s where he is posing with Ginuwine or wearing cornrows.

Spears’ book was released to the public on Tuesday and has already created major waves for some of the topics addressed within the pages. 

The “Toxic” singer did not hold back while writing the book, addressing everything from an alleged at-home abortion during her relationship with Timberlake to her marriage to Kevin Federline to almost scoring the coveted of role of Allie Hamilton opposite Ryan Gosling in The Notebook

ET has a complete guide to every bombshell from The Woman In Me, now out in stores and online. 

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Richard Roundtree, star of hit ‘Shaft’, dies at 81

Cast member Richard Roundtree poses at the premiere of the movie Cast member Richard Roundtree poses at the premiere of the movie

American actor Richard Roundtree, heralded as “the first Black action hero” for his starring role in the iconic 1971 hit “Shaft,” died Tuesday at 81, US media reported. Hollywood publication Deadline said that the actor, known for opening doors for other Black artists in the industry, died with his family at his bedside, “after a brief battle with pancreatic cancer.”

“Shaft,” in which Roundtree played the eponymous private eye John Shaft, sparked a series of sequels and a TV spinoff. Five decades later, Roundtree was still acting, appearing in the television romance drama “Cherish the Day” and film comedy “Moving On” just last year. “Richard’s work and career served as a turning point for African American leading men in film,” his manager Patrick McMinn said in a statement to Variety. “The impact he had on the industry cannot be overstated.”

Roundtree’s major debut, “Shaft” was hailed as a founding classic in the “Blaxploitation” genre the 1970s were known for – which boosters say tackled race relations while critics blast the style for trafficking in stereotypes. Either way, the genre was critical to pushing Hollywood to finally cast Black Americans in starring roles.

“I used to look at it as a double-edged sword. But I’ve had so many people from all over the country – and all over the world actually – come up and say what that film meant to them back in ’71,” Roundtree told broadcaster NPR in 2019. “It’s heavy.” “The other side of it is I got typecast for quite some time, and then I’ve gone out of my way to establish a different side of my acting,” he said.

He was largely successful in that endeavor, with “his trailblazing career (changing) the face of entertainment around the globe,” his agency told Deadline. “His enduring legacy will be felt for generations to come. Our hearts are with his family and loved ones during this difficult time.”

Le Monde with AFP

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Michelle Williams does a viral Justin Timberlake impression as she narrates Britney Spears’ memoir

Michelle Williams‘ impression of Justin Timberlake deserves an Oscar fo’ shiz.

“The Fabelmans” and “Brokeback Mountain” actor narrates the audio edition of Britney Spears’ memoir, “The Woman in Me,” which dropped Tuesday. Spears reads only the introduction and prologue, then lets Williams take it from there.

“This book has been a labor of love and all the emotions that come with it,” Spears says at the beginning of the book. “Reliving everything that you’re about to hear has been exciting, heart wrenching and emotional to say the least. For those reasons, I will only be reading a small part of my audio book. I’m so grateful to the amazing Michelle Williams for reading the rest of it and to you for listening.”

Spears seems to have picked the perfect person to narrate her story, as Williams is already going viral for her impression of Timberlake, whose relationship with Spears is detailed in both agonizing and hilarious detail. In one scene, Spears writes about the former boy-band member trying to impress singer Ginuwine in New York City, and Williams narrates what he said with a certain flair that has social media calling the snippet “the greatest clip of audio since Watergate.”

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“His band *NSYNC was back then what people called ‘so pimp.’ They were white boys but they loved hip-hop. To me, that’s what separated them from the Backstreet Boys, who seemed very consciously to position themselves as a white group,” Spears wrote. “*NSYNC hung out with Black artists. Sometimes I thought they tried too hard to fit in.

“One day J and I were in New York, going to parts of town I had never been to before. Walking our way was a guy with a huge, blinged-out medallion. He was flanked by two giant security guards. J got all excited and said so loud, ‘Oh yeah, fo’ shiz fo’ shiz, Ginuwine, what’s up homie?’ After Ginuwine walked away, [Spears’ longtime assistant] Felicia did an impression of J … J wasn’t even embarrassed. He just took it and looked at her like, ‘OK, f— you Fe.’”

“The Woman in Me,” which reportedly came out of a $15-million deal with Gallery Books, an imprint of publishing giant Simon & Schuster, hit bookstore shelves Oct. 24, and the audiobook was published simultaneously with other editions. Spears said in late September that she was “doing the [finishing] touches on it” and has previously described the writing process as “hard,” “healing” and “therapeutic.”

“I stand with Britney,” Williams said in a statement from Simon & Schuster Audio. A representative for the Oscar-nominated star did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for further comment.

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A clip of Michelle Williams narrating Britney Spears’ book goes viral: ‘Nothing can prepare you’

Britney Spears’ long-anticipated memoir “The Woman In Me” is finally here, and it’s not just her writing that’s getting praise.

On October 24, the memoir debuted alongside its audiobook version, which is narrated by Academy Award-nominated actor Michelle Williams. The two-time Golden Globe Award winner and Academy Award nominee has received critical praise for her performances in films such as “My Week with Marilyn” and “The Fabelmans.”

Her latest performance as the audiobook reader for “The Woman In Me” has people taking to social media to praise her delivery of the memoir.

People have reacted in particular to Williams’ reading of a passage about Spears’ former boyfriend Justin Timberlake, and his performative behavior as a member of ‘N Sync. Spears dated from 1999 until 2002.

In the audiobook, Williams reads Spears’ writing with zero hesitation and a heavy dose of zeal.

“His band ‘N Sync was what people back then called ‘so pimp,’” Williams reads in the audio recording of Spears’ book.

“They were white boys, but they loved hip-hop. To me, that’s what separated them from the Backstreet Boys, who seemed very consciously to position themselves as a white group. ‘N Sync hung out with Black artists.”

“Sometimes, I thought they tried too hard to fit in,” the passage continues. “One day, J and I were in New York going to parts of town I had never been to before. Walking our way was a guy with a huge blinged-out medallion. He was flanked by two giant security guards. J got all excited and said so loud, ‘Oh yeah fo shiz fo shiz, Genuine. What’s up, homey.’”

“I never had any real opinions on Michelle Williams before, but I bet she’s incredibly fun to hang out with,” one user wrote in a tweet about Williams’ audio reading.

“ijbol,” another user wrote in response to the audiobook. “Ijbol” recently overtook “LOL” on social media platforms and stands for “I just burst out laughing.”

“Can Michelle Williams win an Oscar for this audiobook?” another user inquired over the viral clips.

“No, but she can win a Grammy,” another user replied.

It’s true that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which awards members of the entertainment industry Oscars yearly, does not have an award for audiobook performances. The Recording Academy of the United States, however, which issues Grammy awards, does provide an award for Best Audio Book, Narration and Storytelling Recording.

In 2023, Viola Davis received the award for her performance of “Finding Me.

Britney Spears’ memoir “The Woman In Me” debuted on Oct. 24.

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Justin Timberlake Can Cry Us a River

Photo: Dave Hogan/Getty Images

It’s been a struggle to feel sympathy toward young Justin Timberlake since the release of the Britney Spears documentary in 2021. The tables began turning against Spears’s ex when Framing Britney Spears viewers found Timberlake contributed to her unfair portrayal in the media. Though the New York Times documentary covers a large swath of time from Spears’s rise from pop star to suffocating fame to her troubling conservatorship, it spends a considerable amount of screentime diving into exactly how Timberlake weaponized a narrative to make himself a victim and Britney the slut following their breakup. After the documentary dropped, Justin attempted to quell backlash with a statement lazily addressed not only to Spears but also to Janet Jackson as well. We guess killing two birds with one notes app apology was too convenient to pass up. “I benefitted from a system that condones misogyny and racism,” he wrote at the time. Spears’s new memoir, The Woman in Me, doesn’t make him look much better. In fact, he looks worse.

“I don’t know if when you’re younger love’s a different thing, but what Justin and I had was special,” Spears writes. “He wouldn’t even have to say anything or do anything for me to feel close to him.” Timberlake ended their three-year relationship by text message in 2002. A source told Entertainment Tonight that Timberlake is “focusing on his own family” and trying to “grow and evolve instead of bringing up the past.” That being said, several sources spilled that Timberlake was “concerned” about the book’s release, according to a “Page Six” report. Here’s a few reasons why he may want to leave the past in the past.

They shared their first kiss at a Mickey Mouse Club cast sleepover: “We played a game of Truth or Dare, and someone dared Justin to kiss me,” Spears writes. “A Janet Jackson song was playing in the background as he leaned in and kissed me.”

After “… Baby One More Time” made Spears a star in 1998, Spears and Timberlake reconnected on their joint tour. “Pretty soon I realized that I was head over heels in love with him,” she writes. “So in love with him it was pathetic.” Eventually, they lived together in Orlando. “I was so happy.”

“NSYNC was what people back then called ‘so pimp.’ They were white boys, but they loved hip-hop,” Spears remembers. “NSYNC hung out with Black artists. Sometimes I thought they tried too hard to fit in.” She then gives an example of Justin doing the absolute most when they ran into “a guy with a huge, blinged-out medallion” on the streets of New York early in their relationship. “J got all excited and said, so loud, ‘Oh yeah, fo shiz, fo shiz! Ginuwiiiiiine! What’s up, homie?’” Spears’s longtime friend and assistant, Felicia Culotta, mocked him, but “J wasn’t even embarrassed. He just took it and looked at her like, Okay, fuck you, Fe.” He was embarrassing her from the beginning, I fear.

According to the memoir, this was the same trip that Justin acquired a chain with the letter T on it, which is likely the same gaudy, diamond-encrusted necklace he wore constantly around during the late ’90s and early 2000s. He even famously wore it at the 2001 American Music Awards — the same event he and Spears gagged everyone with their matching denim outfits (which Spears said was her idea).

“I had a hard time being as carefree as he seemed,” she recalls those early years of her relationship with Timberlake. “I couldn’t help but notice that the questions he got asked by talk show hosts were different from the ones they asked me. Everyone kept making strange comments about my breasts, wanting to know whether or not I’d had plastic surgery.”

Spears writes that he cheated “a couple of times,” but she always turned a blind eye. Though Spears did kiss Wade Robson once at a party and admitted it, it was nothing compared to her boyfriend’s activities. “Especially because I was so infatuated and so in love, I let it go, even though the tabloids seemed determined to rub my face in it,” she writes. “When NSYNC went to London in 2000, photographers caught him with one of the girls from All Saints in a car. But I never said anything.” Another time in Vegas, Justin cheated with a famous woman whom Britney doesn’t identify because she’s married with kids. “I don’t want her to feel bad.”

While Spears was writhing in pain on the bathroom floor, her boyfriend had a genius idea. “Justin came into the bathroom and lay on the floor with me,” she remembers in her memoir. “At some point, he thought maybe music would help, so he got his guitar and he lay there with me, strumming it.”

In Spears’s retelling, Timberlake became “very standoffish” while working on his debut solo album, Justified for reasons that would become clear when she heard the album. “I think that was because he’d decided to use me as ammunition for his record, and so it made it awkward for him to be around me staring at him with all that affection and devotion,” she speculates. “Ultimately, he ended our relationship by text message while I was on the set for the video for the ‘Overprotected’ remix by Darkchild.” She had go back out and dance after receiving the message in between takes. Justin Timberlake, a pioneer of the text message breakup. Mind you, it is 2002.

“When he left me I was devastated,” Spears writes. She was barely able to “speak for months” and “could only cry” when anyone asked her about him. “I don’t know if I was clinically in shock, but it felt that way.”

While Spears was holed up in Louisiana to recover from the breakup, Timberlake flew out to visit. He brought her a long letter that she still has under her bed. “At the end it said — it makes me want to cry to think about it — ‘I can’t breathe without you.’ Those are the last words in it,” she writes. “It almost felt like I was suffocating, like I couldn’t breathe, after all that had happened. The thing is, though, even after I saw him and read the letter, I didn’t come out of the trance.”

He grieved the relationship by … doing exactly what he did when he and Britney dated. “Justin ended up sleeping with six or seven girls in the weeks after we officially broke up — or so I heard,” she writes. “I understood the infatuation people had with him.”

“Was I mad at being ‘outed’ by him as sexually active? No,” she writes. “To be honest with you, I liked that Justin said that. Why did my managers work so hard to claim I was some kind of young-girl virgin even into my twenties? Whose business was it if I’d had sex or not?” It was her negative depiction in “Cry Me a River” and the media that was troubling. “I was described as a harlot who’d broken the heart of America’s golden boy. The truth: I was comatose in Louisiana, and he was happily running around Hollywood.” Worse, he used a false narrative to give his album purpose: “shit-talking an unfaithful woman.”

Timberlake has a lot to be concerned about indeed. Could a second notes app apology be imminent?

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Britney Spears’ audiobook clip of Michelle Williams reading Justin Timberlake anecdote goes viral

Michelle Williams has left audiobook listeners of Britney Spears’s new memoir, The Woman in Me, cringing over one particular Justin Timberlake anecdote.

The pop star, 41, dated the NSYNC frontman, 42, for three years between 1999 and 2002.

The audiobook version of the memoir, released on Tuesday (24 October), is narrated by Oscar-winner Williams.

In one chapter, Spears recalls a time she and Timberlake were walking around New York City.

“His band NYSNC was what people back then called, ‘so pimp’. They were white boys, but they loved hip-hop. To me, that’s what separated them from the Backstreet Boys, who seemed very consciously to position themselves as a white group. NYSNC hung out with Black artist,” the “Oops!…I Did It Again” singer wrote.

“Sometimes, I thought they tried too hard to fit in. One day, J and I were in New York going to parts of town I had never been to before. Walking our way was a guy with a huge blinged-out medallion. He was flanked by two giant security guards. J got all excited and said so loud, ‘Oh yeah fo shiz fo shiz, Genuine. What’s up homey.’

The clip has since gone viral on Twitter/X – partly due to Timberlake’s behaviour and partly due to Williams’ enthusiastic reading of the story.

“When I first clicked on it the voice I heard was THEE Michelle Williams,” one fan joked.

“This bout to be the greatest clip of audio since Watergate,” said another.

“Michelle Williams finally coming for that Oscar,” a third joked.

“I never knew I needed Michelle Williams to say ‘fo shiz’ and yet here we are,” a fourth added.

Ahead of The Woman in Me’s release, it was announced that Spears would read the audiobook’s introduction before Williams took over as the singer admitted that she’d found it too painful to “relive” her experiences once more.

In Adam White’s four-star review of Spears’s memoir for The Independent, he declared it “raw, unfiltered and breathtaking in its rage”.

“It’s bleak, relentless and angry, a portrait of a woman no longer in the eye of the storm but surveying, dazed and indignant, the wreckage left in its wake,” he wrote.

The Woman in Me is out now.

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