We knew politics in Houston could get dirty, but we didn’t think it could get to the point of violence. But it appears that’s just what’s happening after Gerald Womack, campaign chair for Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, was recently attacked and injured at his Houston office by a man the congresswoman described as a “known conspiracy theorist.” The assault occurred at Womack’s real estate company on Almeda Road, a site that doubles as one of Jackson Lee’s satellite offices. Womack suffered a head wound and was bleeding when paramedics transported him to the hospital. Womack, 66, informed officers that the attacker was a 56-year-old man who was known to him and had been harassing him for the past few months. While we don’t want to believe an opponent would stoop to such levels of violence, we do believe that nasty rhetoric has emboldened the crazies. We’re glad the campaign has taken additional security measures, but it would be great if we could scale back the rhetoric and focus on the issues. Unfortunately, we won’t hold our breath.
Post Oak discrimination?
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The Post Oak Hotel has found itself slapped with a second discrimination lawsuit. Both independent claims accuse hotel restaurant employees of singling the two accusers out for their race and enforcing dress code restrictions that allegedly weren’t applied to white guests. Twenty-eight-year-old teacher and doctoral candidate Blessing Nwosu claims she was dining at the hotel restaurant Bloom and Bee when a staff member came up to her and asked that she cover up her shoulders, which were bare. Then, “a host walked over and placed a shawl over Nwosu’s shoulders.” Nwosu included a photo with her legal documents, which appears to display a white woman clad in a tank top at another table in the background. She says she was made a spectacle, and “it was embarrassing.” Last week, 45-year-old attorney Willie Powells says he was approached by staff members while he was in a meeting at the hotel bar, and they requested that he remove his hat. Powells alleges that other white patrons were also at the bar wearing hats, but were not asked to remove their headwear. The Post Oak Hotel calls the lawsuits frivolous, adding that the hostess is a minority. We’re not feeling the “We have Black friends” card to prove you don’t discriminate. But we truly hope whatever rules they have are being enforced across the board. We’ll wait to see how this unfolds.
Tyler is not with the foolishness
Remember the rumor that Tyler Perry was buying BET? The media mogul says he was all set and ended up “disappointed” in the way Paramount Global handled the bidding process for the potential majority stake sale of its BET business. In August, the Bob Bakish-led studio conglomerate took down its “for sale” sign on the unit — which includes the BET channel, streamer BET+ as well as VH1 and BET Studios — after gauging interest from several suitors. A few moguls including Perry, Sean “Diddy Combs” and Byron Allen, who owns a number of local TV stations as well as The Weather Channel and other assets via his Entertainment Studios firm, had expressed interest in acquiring the stake. Perry says Paramount inflated the value of the company before pulling the plug. He no longer has any interest in the deal even if it did open back open. And from the looks of things, he doesn’t need it, having just signed a lucrative first-look deal with Netflix that will see him write, direct and produce feature films under a multi-year partnership. Folks can hate on TP all they want, but he stays making money moves.
RIP, you bad mutha….
And before we go, we’re shedding a tear for one of Hollywood’s finest. Icon Richard Roundtree, who played John Shaft in the 1971 introduction to the “Shaft” film franchise, recently died from pancreatic cancer. He was 81.
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