• Andre J. is not only amaaaaaaazing, but he’s also black, very different, and proud:

“Most people are conditioned to think of a black man looking a certain way,” Andre J. went on. “They only think of the ethnic man in XXX jeans and Timberlands, and here Andre J. comes along with a pair of hot shorts and a caftan or maybe flip-flops or cowboy boots or a high, high heel.”

[]

• The week-long series on NBC Nightly News examining “issues facing the American black woman” begins tonight. [EUR]

• Nice. Really nice. [Racialicious]

• There’s something charming about a totally bald ex-supermodel. [MG]

• This is just odd. What happened to Kerry, Common? What happened to Jackie Long, Serena? []

“I did,” the senator from Illinois said to light applause. “It’s not something I’m proud of. It was a mistake as a young man.”

The question was a reference to a line made famous by former President Bill Clinton who, while admitting to trying marijuana, said he did not inhale.

“I never understood that line,” Obama continued. “The point was to inhale. That was the point.”

Later, Mitt Romney criticized Obama for what he basically described as an irresponsible answer. I suppose the better choice is to pass on the question, which is an admission of guilt, or to lie like Bill Clinton, which obviously went over quite well, considering we’re still making fun of his denial of inhalation today.

Sen. Trent Lott, the venerable Republican from Mississippi, his retirement today. In case you aren’t sure why he won’t be missed, check out this Daily Show clip from 2002. The money sound-bite comes around 2:45. So long, Trent!

According to Jermaine Jackson, who is not the most trustworthy member of the clan, the Jackson 5 plans to travel the country a la the 1984 Victory tour. Marlon, Tito, Jackie, and Jermaine are apparently just waiting for hard confirmation from the weirdest, palest, most famous brother. They shouldn’t hold their collective breath. If Michael backs out, maybe Jermaine can recruit his son Jermajesty to take his place. Or maybe it’s just fun to write “Jermajesty.”

Kimora Lee Simmons clearly thinks the items in her cosmetic line are both fabulous and worth more than average beauty products. Macy’s begs to differ. The company is Simmons for jacking up the prices on the cosmetics she sold to the store and refusing to pay back the extra profit. Macy’s might not know that there are crushed-up precious gemstones sprinkled in the lip gloss and bronzer. That’s why the stuff is so expensive.

Ne-Yo spoke to Ed Lover recently about getting kicked off the R.Kelly tour. And while the official explanation is that there was some contractual issue, Ne-Yo says the real reason is that R.Kelly is a diva who takes all the dressing rooms for himself and forbids anyone from being in a hallway when he walks down it. Well, that and the fact that he’s a big hater. Neyo pretty much sums it up with this quote:

“It probably didn’t help matters that…people had a lot of very positive things to say about my portion of the show and not as many about his portion of the show.”

[RTNY]

A Puerto Rican beauty queen’s* makeup is spiked with a spicy substance that makes her face swell, her evening gowns get doused with pepper spray, her bag is stolen, and a bomb threat gets called into the pageant, but despite it all, the embattled woman wins the big crown — Miss Puerto Rico Universe — and laughs in the face of her highly-motivated enemies.

No, this is not the synopsis of a Spanish-language remake of Mean Girls called
Estas Chicas Son Hermosas Y Media! This is real life, folks. Lesser women might have bowed out after the habenero-in-the-makeup trick, but not Ingrid Marie Rivera. [CNN]

_{*Off-topic, but funny.}

Tracy Morgan’s star power has risen enough, thanks to 30 Rock, that all seven of last week’s stand up shows in NYC were sold out. Unfortunately, his star power isn’t great enough to actually keep people in their seats. He should have enlisted Tina Fey to write his jokes.

“Lots of people have been walking out early. I think people expected Tracy Jordan, not Morgan,” the employee said, referring to Morgan’s “30 Rock” persona. The main difference between the two? Jordan is funny while Morgan just thinks he is.

At its best, the routine was stale and slightly amusing. At its worst, it was vulgar and awkward (think more Marilyn Manson than Larry David here). I hope Morgan did this on purpose, as if to say, “This is what I will subject the public to if the studios and writers can’t come to an agreement.”

Is this what happens when sort of funny, semi-functioning alcoholics get court-ordered SCRAMs and quit drinking? []

Here’s the good thing about a trend in sex tourism — it doesn’t entail rich white men traveling to third world countries to prey on underaged girls and boys. It does entail rich white women traveling to places like Kenya to live out their Mandingo fantasies with 20-something men who will only have sex with them in exchange for new sneakers and free meals. In a place like Kenya, where the AIDS rate is 6.9 percent, it’s as dangerous as it is gross, particularly when a sex tourism expert says that many female sex tourists consider condoms too “business-like” for their free-wheeling vacation fantasies.

Locals estimate that 1 in 5 single female visitors to the country’s pristine beaches are looking for sex. The vacationing ladies drop a lot of cash while they’re in town, and while sex might be the attraction shady, colonial-minded travel companies hint at, it’s not the sort of thing the Kenya tourism board had in mind. []
_{Thanks for the tip, K.A.}

The police chief in Jackson, Miss., recently told the media what everyone knows but public officials rarely say out loud — that missing black women don’t get the same press as missing white woman because of the color of their skin.

“As far as the interest by the national media in the story, I think race probably had an impact,” said Jackson Police Chief Malcolm McMillin, who is white. “It’s a small college in the South. It’s the daughter of simple people who maybe are not important outside of their circle, and maybe we don’t attach the same importance to them that we do for other people.”

McMillin was referring to Latasha Norman, a Jackson State University student who has been missing since Nov. 13th. Her car was left on campus after her class, but she never returned to her dorm room. Norman’s family wants answers. McMillin wants the media to shift their attention away from the latest “missing white woman” case and shed some light on Latasha Norman.

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