Empire Star Jussie Smollett:

Recently, there has been a lot of news, drama, and opinions regarding the Jussie Smollett case. Jussie was accused of staging the entire brutal hate attack, causing fans, celebrities, and everyone in between to turn against him. It was just announced that the charges against Mr. Smollett will be dropped. “After reviewing all of the facts and circumstances of the case, including Mr. Smollet’s volunteer service in the community and agreement to forfeit his bond to the City of Chicago, we believe this outcome is a just disposition and appropriate resolution to this case.”- Lawyers, and ABC News. Since then, there have been many people butting heads regarding the case, causing fights and even more communication drama on social media platforms across the board. Jussie was reluctant to hand over his cell-phone in the case, which sparked even more drama, and making people point fingers at the star. All in all, the case has been resolved, and no matter what people will not always agree on the outcomes of trials, in example, this specific case.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/empire-actor-jussie-smollett-appears-emergency-court-hearing/story?id=61951756

Blog Post- Promote Tolerance

I chose to do my blog post on the 6th value of free expression, which is to promote tolerance. After doing research on promoting tolerance I have found a giant convention held in both Los Angeles and New York once a year. Called Rupaul's Drag Con. It is essentially a giant convention with people of all shapes, sizes, sexual orientations, skin colors, and everything in between. Appearing at the convention are over 100 drag queens who have appeared on VH1's Rupaul's Drag Race since 2009. The festival is a giant celebration of love, sexuality, acceptance, tolerance, freedom, and equality. Everybody who goes reports leaving, feeling lifted, free, and accepting of not only themselves, but everyone else. Although some consider drag queens "odd" or "weird", it is actually these people's full time profession, and is considered an art form, and a metaphor for being your true self. This convention's attendance is a massive plus 40,000 people. This is as large as a music festival. Now that the reality tv show is becoming more mainstream, so will this convention. The more that people know about the convention the more people may be interested in it. The world needs to continue to communicate in ways of tolerance, not violence. The world has become a place of darkness recently, and spreading love and communicating to each other, everyone is equal, will make this world a better place. Tickets for Rupaul's Drag Con are available now, and are extremely affordable. Not only will there be drag queens, but social media stars, actors and actresses, and even pop-stars!

"Snapchat Streak Rules" For 2019

It is no secret that Snapchat is potentially the most popular social media app to date. On Snapchat, people have what are called streaks. This means when you send someone a snap, and they send you back a snap within the same day (24 hour period). When this has been done 3 days in a row, a number 3 will appear next to that person on your friend list. Then it only goes up from there, I know some people who have 900-1000 day streaks, which is crazy!! I firmly believe that Snapchat streaks keep people together, because I personally have streaks with people who I know I would not be friends with if I did not have a streak with them! It is cool how something as simple as a number, is keeping people so connected!! You can now get back a streak once it is lost too, this happens if you or the other person fails to send a snap within the time period. You will then lose the number, and potentially even contact with that person if the streak was the only thing keeping you together! See more below!:

https://learn.g2crowd.com/snapchat-streak

"Momo Challenge" Getting out of hand-

It is no secret that everybody knows the obnoxious, stupid, and dangerous Momo Challenge. This challenge is usually through forms of anonymous communication such as WhatsApp, Kik, etc. Unsuspecting children who may just be trying to explore, can wind up in a dangerous situation when the communication begins. The challenge revolves around doing harmful things, and this is not a good use of communication at all. The "Momo" monster is not even a real thing, it is a piece of horror art titled "Mother Bird". Yes, it can be very scary to kids, but parents need to educate their children on proper uses of social media apps, when it comes to safely communicating with others, NOT strangers!! It has since been proven that the terrifying challenge is a hoax. Although videos with mom in it did appear, the challenge itself was never a real thing. However it did spark lots of communication, buzz, and press about the seriousness of the topic. The internet is becoming a dangerous place, especially for kids. Knowing how fast challenges and things like this can spread, it was imperative we communicate safety when navigating the internet, especially to children.


https://www.13abc.com/content/news/506705402.html

"Bangtan Boys" or "BTS" Announce 2019 Stadium Tour

Recently, the K-Pop Superstar group BTS recently announced they would play some stadium tour stops this summer across Europe, America, and Asia. This has caused an absolute mess across twitter, instagram, reddit, etc. As BTS fans are communicating amongst one another to try and figure out the best ways to buy tickets, to see their favorite band live! Because these are stadium shows, the amount of internet traffic trying to purchase tickets will be beyond immense. This may cause the website to crash. Fans have been going crazy for days due to their excitement regarding the announcement. Ticket prices have not been announced yet, but this is another thing people have been communicating over on social media. Whether or not they will be able to afford tickets, or better yet, the VIP tickets! UPDATE: The tickets for all 6 stadium shows in the United States (Rose Bowl, Soldier Field, MetLife Stadium, 2 shows each) all sold out within hours of going onsale. Fans have been posting reactions of not being able to get tickets on Twitter and videos on YouTube. Originally, they were scheduled for 1 show per city, but due to excessive demand a second date was added! Tickets are all sold out now, and some fans are happy, while others are heartbroken.

https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/bts/8498863/bts-add-2019-tour-dates

New Pepsi Commercial~

Cardi B's newest controversy comes from her recent Pepsi Commercial. Some say it was great, fun, funny, and a twist on what promotion can be. But many, found it to be obnoxious. The commercial features people sitting at a diner, and Cardi gives her infamous "Okurrrr" line. Everyone in the diner follows, including famous drag queen Monét X Change, who is also featured in the commercial. It is up to you, the viewer, to decide what you think of the commercial. Is it obnoxious? Not worth being out there?? Folks have been butting heads on social media regarding the new advertisement, so what do you think?? Do you think it is obnoxious? Or does it make you want to order a Pepsi next time you are out to eat?



See it below:

https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/hip-hop/8497110/cardi-b-second-pepsi-commerical

Live Nation Entertainment- TICKET TO ROCK!

For those of who who don't know, Live Nation is the nations largest live entertainment company. Bringing you the hottest shows to the best venues. Coming to many Live Nation venues this summer, is a star studded lineup of heavy metal, and hard rock artists. These artists include Slipknot, Korn, Alice In Chains, Breaking Benjamin, etc. Now I personally am not a big fan of this genre of music, but for those of you who are, keep reading. Purchasing tickets to each of those shows individually, is going to cost you an arm and a leg. So, Live Nation is bringing you the bundle deal you could have only dreamt of! The Ticket To Rock option, gives you access to three-show packages for $59, and four-show packages for $69! What a bargain!! Of course, these are lawn tickets, but for an extra 20$ overall, you can upgrade to reserved pavilion seating to get closer to your favorite bands!! I believe this is news worthy, because it is no secret people love to read news stories, and offerings about saving money, and getting great values. There are so many hoaxes in today's society, so much spam, and false offers that will rip people off. It is important to spread awareness of official articles that can help the biggest music fans save the biggest dollars!

https://www.wivb.com/entertainment/live-nation-offering-ticket-to-rock-for-darien-lake-concerts/1765390861