Sex & Entertainment

Sonequa Martin-Green Will be the First Black Woman to Star on a “Star Trek” TV Series

Sonequa Martin-Green (Audrey Can)

Once again, science fiction imagines a more inclusive world for all of us. This time, “Star Trek” is adding on to its storied universe, and creating its first new franchise in a decade. Sonequa Martin-Green, actress on “The Walking Dead,” will lead the cast as a lieutenant commander in “Star Trek: Discovery.”

Martin-Green’s lead character Rainsford is a first for the series: She’s the first Black woman to star in a “Star Trek” series. In-universe, the lieutenant commander is also a first. Previous to the new series, all the lead characters had been captains. Executive Producer Bryan Fuller has spoken on the need for context and a new perspective, as well as his desire to have a Black woman lead the series.

Martin-Green will lead an inclusive cast, which includes Asian actress Michelle Yeoh playing another starship’s captain and Anthony Rapp as the series’ first gay character on TV.

Black Women Nominees for the Best Actress in a Television Series — Comedy or Musical Golden Globe: By The Numbers

Tracee Ellis Ross with her Golden Globe award, 2017 (Wbli)

At the 2017 Golden Globe Awards, actress Tracee Ellis Ross won the Best Actress Television Series Musical or Comedy (BATSMC) for her role of Bow Johnson on the ABC comedy “Blackish.” Ross is only the second Black woman to win in this particular category.

If that doesn’t impress you enough, here are some numbers that put Ross’s win in the larger context (with Best Actress Television Series Musical or Comedy noted as BATSMC):

Number of total Black nominees for BATSMC: 14

Number of unique* Black nominees for BATSMC: 7

*I’m defining unique as actresses who’ve been nominated at least once.

Total nominees for BATSMC, 1963-2017: 54

Percentage of total Black nominees to total overall nominees, 1963-2017: 25.96%

Percentage of total Black winners to total overall winners, 1963-2017: 3.70%

Number of Black actresses who’ve won BTMSC: 2

Debbie Allen for “Fame,” 1983

Tracee Ellis Ross for “Blackish,” 2017

Number of Years between the first Black winner and second Black winner: 34

Year of the first Black nominee: 1970

Diahann Carroll for “Julia”

Number of TV Shows with more than one Black actress nominations:

“The Jeffersons:” 5 nominations – 1977, 1978, 1983, 1984, 1985

“Fame:” 3 nominations – 1983, 1984, 1985

“Gimme a Break!:” 2 nominations – 1983, 1985

Highest number of Black nominees in a single year: 3

1983: Isabel Sanford, “The Jeffersons;” Nell Carter, “Gimme a Break!;” Debbie Allen, “Fame”

1985: Isabel Sanford, “The Jeffersons;” Nell Carter, “Gimme a Break!;” Debbie Allen, “Fame” (No, this isn’t a typo; the exact same three actresses were all nominated again two years later.)

Number of Black nominees, 2017: 2

Tracee Ellis Ross, “Blackish”

Issa Rae, “Insecure”

*Sources: Wikipedia’s list of black Golden Globe Award winners and nominees and Golden Globe Award for Best Actress page.

#ThrowbackThursday: Debbie Allen at the Golden Globes, 1983

Debbie Allen at the Golden Globes, 1983 (YouTube)

Way back in 1983 (34 years ago!), actress-choreographer Debbie Allen won the Golden Globe Award for Best Musical or Comedy Actress. Allen starred in “Fame,” the TV series based off the 1980 movie.

She was the only Black woman to win this award until “Blackish” actress Tracee Ellis Ross (yes, Diana Ross’s daughter) won earlier this week during the

#ThrowbackThursday: Elizabeth Taylor in “Cleopatra,” 1963

Elizabeth Taylor as ‘Cleopatra,’ 1963 (First To Know)

In her heyday, Elizabeth Taylor was a lot of things: raven-haired beauty, husband-stealing vixen, condemned by the Vatican. Oh yeah, she was also an actress. A very good one.

It’s well known that Taylor played the title role in 1963’s “Cleopatra.” But one important aspect of the production is less well-known than it should be: Taylor earned $1M for her role. She was the first actress to be paid that amount for her work.

Due to production delays, that $1M would eventually become $7M. In 2015 currency, that’s $54.2M.

Trends: Custom Emoji

Kim Kardashian West’s Kimoji (Fushion)

Everyone loves emoji. That’s just a fact. Recently, emoji have grown and expanded. Where there used to be just one brand of emoji, now there are several types.

Distribution company Focus Features came up with custom emoji to promote their recent film “Loving.” The film details the history of the 1967 landmark Supreme Court case which struck down miscegenation statues across the United States. The emoji were created to show the range of love between people, and so users could relate to the film in a modern way.

Releasing custom emoji has hit disparate industries and public figures. Professional golfer Bubba Watson released his “Bubbamoji” in April 2016. Stand-up comic and actor Kevin Hart has his line of “Kevmoji,” all modeled after the comedian’s very expressive face. The “Kevmoji” hit #1 on iTunes downloads immediately after its release in September 2016.

But nobody’s dominated the custom emoji space better than America’s most polarizing reality TV family: the Kardashian/Jenners. Members of the family have taken to designing custom emoji for their fans to communicate with like-minded souls. Kim Kardashian West (who’s turned out to be quite the technology and new media mogul) debuted her “Kimoji” in December 2015, and was an immediate hit.

Not to be outdone, Rob Kardashian’s fiancee (and mother of his daughter Dream) Blac Chyna has also released her own line of emoji. But, like anything dealing with the Kardashian/Jenner clan, this has not been without drama: One of the “Chymoji” depicts Chyna slapping a brunette woman presumed to be Kardashian West’s stepsister Kylie Jenner. (If you don’t know why this is a foul, brush up on the history of the feud between the two.)

Another person in the Kardashian Extended Universe (KEU, for short) is feminist activist Amber Rose. (Rose is one of Kanye West’s former paramours. West is now, of course, married to Kim Kardashian West.) Rose dropped her “MuvaMoji” in March 2016, where it earned around $4M. That number includes $2M on release day alone.

It’s clear that launching a set of custom emoji is becoming a necessary step in engaging with fans. So who’ll be next to launch a set?

Amy Schumer is Forbes’ Highest-Paid Female Comedian

Amy Schumer (US Magazine)

Love her or hate her, Amy Schumer is making bank. On this year’s version of Forbes‘ Highest-Paid Comedians, Schumer debuted at #4. The publication estimated her earning power at $17M. Counted within this figure are her Comedy Central show Inside Amy Schumer, her movie Trainwreck, her $8M advance for her book The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo, commercial work and touring.

Forbes‘ Madeline Berg explains why Schumer’s inclusion in this list is so significant:

Not only is she the only female comic on this year’s list, Schumer is also the only woman to ever make the highest-paid comedians list—a big first as women have historically faced difficulty being taken seriously in the funny business.

In another significant feat, Schumer is the only woman to play, and sell out, Madison Square Garden.

For contrast, the highest-paid comedian on Forbes‘ list is Kevin Hart, who pulled in $87.5M.

Season 2 of Netflix’s “Jessica Jones” Will Only Feature Woman Directors

Krysten Ritter as Jessica Jones (IndieWire)

Hey Hollywood, you know all that bluster about how you can’t find female directors/writers, etc.? You know how you keep saying you want to diversify but you just can’t? Even though you’re trying really hard? Well, “Jessica Jones” is calling your bluff and raising it.

The Netflix series, which focuses on the Marvel character of the same name (played by Krysten Ritter), has been praised for its depictions of sexual assault and female friendship, among other aspects. And now showrunner Melissa Rosenberg has thrown down the gauntlet and declared that no one shall sit in the director’s chair unless their chromosomes are of the XX variety.

This isn’t the first time a TV series has hired solely women directors to direct its episodes. That would be “Queen Sugar,” co-produced and written by Ava DuVernay (who’s the first Black woman to direct a $100M movie). And that happened earlier this year.

No word yet on who’ll be gracing the director’s chair for the second season of “Jessica Jones” (and also no release date), but I can’t wait to find out.

But one thing’s for certain: Your move, Hollywood.

#ThrowbackThursday: Kim Kardashian West, “Paper” Magazine, 2014

Kim Kardashian West, ‘Paper’ magazine 2014 (People)

Remember when Kim Kardashian West broke the Internet? This was (not so far) back in 2014. She posed for Paper magazine. Cover shot: see above. Inside, the magazine featured shots of Kardashian West imitating a more famous photo and posing completely nude save for strands of her pearl choker (not a sexual metaphor).

Kardashian West didn’t get paid for her Paper photo shoot.

Though this wasn’t the first time Kardashian West posed nude, it was the time that everyone couldn’t stop talking about.

“Luke Cage” Breaks Netflix

Luke Cage on Netflix (Metro UK)

Marvel’s newest superhero Luke Cage only arrived less than two weeks ago, but he’s already made a name for himself. And not just for his heroic deeds.

The titular character’s thirteen-episode first season dropped on Friday night, Sept. 30th. Not even a day later, Netflix received so much traffic that the site went down for two to three hours on Saturday afternoon. The outage affected the U.S. and most of the UK.

It’s posited that so many viewers streaming the new series at the same time led to the site crashing.

If anything, Netflix’s crash proves that there’s a very real audience for non-white superheroes that’s been underserved for far too long. I hope the success of “Luke Cage” changes that.

Sex & Stats: Where Numbers Come to Bang

Statistics. Economics. Sex.