Florida Sentinel Bulletin

NEW YORK  — Chris Tucker will host this year’s Black Entertainment TV Awards.

The network announced Tuesday that the comedian-actor will host the show June 30 from the Nokia Theater L.A. Live.

Tucker is riding high off of his supporting role in the Oscar-nominated film “Silver Linings Playbook,” which starred Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper. The 41-year-old is best known for starring in the “Rush Hour” film franchise opposite Jackie Chan.

He said in a statement that he’s honored and “looking forward to being part of a really great show.”

The BET Awards is part of three-day event the network is putting on that weekend dubbed “BET Experience at L.A. Live.” It kicks off June 28 with a Beyonce concert. Other performers throughout the weekend include Kendrick Lamar, Miguel, The Jacksons and R. Kelly.

WASHINGTON — Alicia Keys says she wants to spark a global conversation about HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

The Grammy Award-winning singer says that when she traveled to Africa and India she felt connected to women with the virus because “they looked like they could be my sister, or they could be my aunt, or they could be my cousin.”

Keys is working with the Kaiser Family Foundation for “Empowered,” a campaign launched last month to educate women about HIV, which causes AIDS, and provide grants to community-based projects that will do that.

DMX is not a fan of the episode of Iyanla: Fix My Life that he starred in this weekend. According to the Yonkers rapper, the show was set up under false pretenses and only hurt his image.

“DMX agreed to be a guest on “Iyanla: Fix My Life” with the understanding that she would be helping his relationships with his ten children. When he arrived for the taping, most of the content was focused on his struggles with drugs and poor parenting. Iyanla did not “fix” DMX’s life just made his image worse, and does not have DMX’s personal written consent to use the footage.”

Also, DMX will be appearing in a film called Blame It On The Hustle featuring Mekhi Phifer and Ving Rhames.

Lauryn Hill filed legal documents asking for mercy before her sentencing this month, saying threats against her family kept her from paying taxes in 2005, ’06 and ’07. She earned more than $1.8 million during that period.

Hill already plead guilty to tax evasion last summer.

The Grammy award-winning artist said in documents that “when she withdrew from society at large due to what she perceived as manipulation and very real threats to herself and her family.”

She did not reveal any details about the exact nature of the threats, however.

Though on her Tumblr page–which is no longer live–back in June of last year, Hill published a post detailing why she refused to pay:

“For the past several years, I have remained what others would consider underground.  I did this in order to build a community of people, like-minded in their desire for freedom and the right to pursue their goals and lives without being manipulated and controlled by a media protected military industrial complex with a completely different agenda.  Having put the lives and needs of other people before my own for multiple years, and having made hundreds of millions of dollars for certain institutions, under complex and sometimes severe circumstances, I began to require growth and more equitable treatment, but was met with resistance.

Funny man Kevin Hart was released from jail early Sunday morning after spending 6 hours behind bars on DUI charges and fully admits that he was drunk behind the wheel.

The ‘Real Husbands of Hollywood’ star did not deny California Highway Patrol’s account that he was traveling over 90 mph and “nearly slammed into a gas tanker.” He was charged with misdemeanor DUI and released on $5,000 bond.

NEW YORK — A day after Reebok ended its relationship with Rick Ross, the rapper acknowledged that his lyrics on Rocko’s song “U.O.E.N.O.” were “offensive.”

In a statement Friday, Ross said being a musician is “a great responsibility” and that his choice of words in the song “does not reflect my true heart.” In the song, Ross raps about giving a woman the drug MDMA, also known as Molly, and having his way with her. Women’s groups and rape victims issued petitions in recent weeks in protest.

“Before I am an artist, I am a father, a son, and a brother to some of the most cherished women in the world. So for me to suggest in any way that harm and violation be brought to a woman is one of my biggest mistakes and regrets,” his statement said.

On Thursday, Reebok said it had terminated its contract with Ross because the rapper wasn’t living “up to the values of our brand.” Ross has appeared in a commercial for the Reebok Classic sneakers.

NeNe Leakes is reportedly now the top dog, pay-wise, on Bravo TV’s hit reality series “The Real Housewives of Atlanta (RHOA).”

Leakes just renewed her contract and will clear $1 million in bonuses and salary for the show’s sixth season. Leakes, who has been a staple on “RHOA” since it began, has remained a constant viewer favorite. The nearly six-foot tall Leakes, now towers over her cast mates as far as salary, signed her contract along with her “RHOA” co-stars before the Season 5 reunion show aired.

Leakes’ exposure on the reality show has led to two acting stints on the small screen — one on the hit series “Glee” and another on the comedy “The New Normal.”

Shortly after being released from prison—a grand total of one day—Gucci Mane was arrested again on Friday for a probation violation.

Mane was locked up on March 26 after allegedly assaulting a man with a bottle in an Atlanta nightclub. A judge initially denied the rapper bail. The judge then softened and two days ago set bail at $75,000.

Movie stars and baseball legends collided at the premiere of the Jackie Robinson biopic “42.”

The film’s stars, Harrison Ford and Chadwick Boseman, mingled with Major League Baseball greats, like Hank Aaron at the TCL Chinese Theater in L.A. Other members of the historic Brooklyn Dodger’s family were also on hand, as was Ford’s wife, Calista Flockhart.

“42” tells the story of Robinson, the first African-American player in Major League Baseball, and follows the athlete as he paves the road for minorities in the sport. Boseman stars as Robinson, and Ford plays MLB executive Branch Rickey, who fought to get the second baseman into the league.

“42” slides into theaters Friday, April 12.