• Something tells me the Tyra's first lady Harpers Bazaar spread won't look like this new Ebony cover. [CL]

• Cassie wants to sing the National Anthem at a sporting event like Ashanti did so that everyone will stop talking about her voice. I don't think that's the answer. [C&D]

• The HIV stats are bad, but thankfully they're not this bad. [RTE]

• Awww, Zahara. [MG]

• When he's not ruining his career, Isaiah Washington is doing very good things. [AHH]

Isaiah Washington, who was fired from Grey's Anatomy for either calling co-star T.R. Knight a faggot or, as he tells it, announcing that he is not Patrick Dempsey's faggot, just made a big donation to Equality California, an organization fighting to stop an anti-marriage amendment in the state. He made the donation after his publicist married his partner and requested that donations be sent to the organization in lieu of gifts. Washington seems to be trying very hard to rebuild burned bridges in Hollywood and is probably slowly succeeding, but his upcoming guest spot on A&E's The Cleaner sort of pales in comparison to the role of Dr. Burke.

• Now that Kobe Bryant has been minted the new NBA MVP, endorsements that he lost three years ago during his rape scandal are coming back to him. [BV]

• Karma's a bitch, R. Kelly. [Bossip]

• Isaiah Washington is pissed at Grey's Anatomy producers for using his likeness in an episode after kicking him to the curb last year. [Reuters]

• Chris Rock, in all of his infinite wisdom. [C&D]

• That guy who knocked Suge Knight out over the weekend was a 5'10 barber. Pardon, a 5'10 barber who now fears for his life. [MG]

• Gary Coleman and his young wife are already on Divorce Court. Probably because he keeps throwing things at her. [Bossip]

• Isaiah Washington has resorted to starring in movies with Bow Wow. That's the price you gotta pay for the careless use of gay slurs. [BV]

• How is T.I. going to finish his gazillion community service hours if schools (understandably) don't want him giving speeches to students? [SOHH]

• Orlando Brown, the That's So Raven star who was supposedly missing, was actually just off pouting somewhere. [SP]

• It seems like much of the listening public has endless patience and tolerance for R. Kelly's criminal antics because they love his music so much, but "Hairbraider" has got to change that at least a little. [C&D]

• The Arizona legislature wants to get rid of race-based student groups — Black student unions, Asian students associations, etc. — at state universities and community colleges. Says the architect of the proposal: “This bill basically says, ‘You’re here. Adopt American values,’” State Rep. John Kavanagh, a Republican, told The Arizona Republic. “‘If you want a different culture, then fine, go back to that culture." Nice. [OHN]

Last night, the CNN, LA Times, Politico debate was held in the Kodak theater — the same place as the Oscars — and, fittingly, the stars came out to support the candidates. Kerry Washington and Brandy, who are on Team Obama, posed together on the red carpet. Kerry Washington always looks like she's best friends with the everyone she photographs with. Is this just because she's a popular girl or is she the type to just be extra friendly with everyone she comes across? But, ummm, I digress…

Back to the debate. Every political journalist/pundit is touting last night's historic (it's important to always refer to it as historic) debate between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton as a lovefest compared to their vitriolic meeting in Myrtle Beach. The candidates outlined their differences — in health care plans, Iraq, and immigration reform — with civility, saving most of their criticism for the GOP and frequently complimenting each other. This photo and story say it all.

More pics from the debate "red carpet" after the jump.

CONTINUED »

As nice as this year's "highs" were in the black community (that list is coming next), the good stories got significantly less press than the following incidents, which will hereby be known as "lowlights." And there were more than a few of them to choose from this year, when it seemed like we took two steps back for every step we took forward. I compiled this list of lows not to be negative, but to put all of 2007's ridiculousness behind us so that we can have a more positive, productive 2008. Deal? Deal.*

*Yeah, right.

CONTINUED »

As it turns out, Star Jones didn't get to ask Isaiah Washington about the controversial stem cell issues surrounding his guest role on the Bionic Woman on the premiere of Star Jones on Court TV today. That's for tomorrow's show. Instead, she busied herself asking Isaiah Washington about his traumatic family life, using a cheesy extended metaphor about football to describe Isaiah's F-word scandal, and, along the same lines, asking him why he didn't use an "umbrella" if he knew "rain was coming." The latter sounds slightly sexual, but unfortunately for the entertainment value of the interview, it wasn't. Check out part two after the jump.

CONTINUED »

Star Jones has landed a Q&A with Isaiah Washington for the very first episode of her new show, Star Jones. They should name the episode "The Outcasts." Not that Star Jones or Isaiah Washington really know what it means to truly be that, considering one has made a comeback in the form of her own Court TV show, and Isaiah Washington has signed on to be a longterm guest star on the new NBC show, Bionic Woman. And how does anything Isaiah Washington is doing relate to her law-themed show, you ask? Star tries to connect the dots, but the real answer is ratings.

How does this all relate to Jones' law-themed show? "[Washington is] clearly in the middle of a story that involves law and ethics and values and judgment," Jones said. "But also, he has a brand-new show that brings up ethical considerations. We're excited about The Bionic Woman, but there are ethical considerations [there] because we in our technology right now are moving to replacing limbs, and we're moving in the whole area of stem cell research, we're moving in the area of cloning and whether or not it can actually be done with a human. And in reality, that's what you're doing with The Bionic Woman, you're playing God. And so I get an opportunity to talk about those kinds of issues."

Uh, okay. Well, I am still pretty sure the interveiw, which airs today at 3pm, will feature a lot of commiserating about feeling misunderstood and being villified in the press.

[EW]

I am not so closed minded that I don't recognize the fact that people who annoy the living hell out of me and are intolerably self-righteous are also capable of doing good things. The same goes for Isaiah Washington, who said some bad things, but is also doing a lot of positive work with the Gondobay Manga Foundation, a Sierre Leone children's charity he founded.

To soothe any bad feelings he had from the on-set altercation with Patrick Dempsey during which it was alleged that Washington used a homophobic slur, he says immersed himself in his children's charity, the Gondobay Manga Foundation.

The actor also tells the newspaper that he and his wife are considering adoption since the trip.

"There is one boy, about 8 years old, who I fell in love with [in Sierra Leone]," he says. "But I'm not interested in stripping him of his culture. My wife and I have three kids already, but we have talked about [adoption], and we're not ruling it out."

Washington goes on to say that he feels "safer" in Sierra Leone than in L.A., because no one is trying to "hurt" him — except maybe to take his money. I'm sure I know some actors on a certain Seattle-based hospital drama who wouldn't mind if he just stayed there.

[People]

For all his talk recently about being courted by NBC, the only sure thing Washington has going on at the network is a guest spot on the show Bionic Woman. It doesn't really compare to being Dr. Burke, does it?

In his defense, he's also inked a development deal with the network for an action show he pitched. We'll see what comes of that. The lesson we should all take from this is that even when you go berserk in your place of business, do a PSA, get fired, and then blame the man, there is always such a thing as a second chance.

[US]

Quote of the Week:

"Well, it didn't help me on the set that I was a black man who wasn't a mush-mouth Negro walking around with his head in his hands all the time. I didn't speak like I'd just left the plantation and that can be a problem for people sometime."

[MSNBC]

]

Wow, Isaiah Washington. Even if you have a point, can't you just shut up for a second and worry about salvaging your career? [CM]

It sucks to be a black man in Philly. [PDN]

Hillary Clinton hired a new director of African American media for her campaign. The poor girl is probably going to be working major overtime. [AAP]

The FDNY, heroic in most areas, falls painfully short on one. [NYDN]

If Chicago gets the 2016 Olympics, it could be a boon for the city's blacks. [CB]

Only in Hollywood does a leading television actor with an anger management problem, who recently has been bad-mouthing the victim of that anger problem all over town and in major magazines and newspapers, get a second chance at a a major network. If you can believe it, disgruntled Isaiah Washington is actually in talks with NBC.

The former Grey's Anatomy star, who learned June 7 that he was not being invited back for a fourth season, has reportedly been in preliminary talks with NBC regarding a future role at the network, although it isn't known whether he was being considered for an existing show or a new vehicle specifically for him.

Considering his new job prospects, one would think Isaiah Washington would just shut up and stay out of sight for a while. Or is that another "only in Hollywood" thing? Laying low would make too much sense.

[E!]

Isaiah Washington has an unlikely ally in gay and lesbian activist Jasmyne Cannick, who thinks that it was wrong to boot the Grey's Anatomy actor after he did so much to prove to the network and the show's producers that he was a changed man.

The petition says Washington's firing "further adds to a disturbing new trend at ABC wherein minority actors have been dismissed at an alarming rate over the past two years. Blacks, including . . . Star Jones ('The View'), Harold Perrineau ('Lost'), Alfre Woodard, Mehcad Brooks and Page Kennedy ('Desperate Housewives') have been let go . . . One must ask themselves, what is going on? . . . While we don't approve of [Washington's] use of the F-word at the Golden Globes, Washington has since apologized and gone on to perform community service by way of a public service announcement for the very organizations that have been orchestrating his dismissal. But it seems it wasn't enough."

Our brother site Queerty tells Stereohyped that Cannick already has a bad reputation in the gay community for putting racial issues first, and she seems to be proving their point with her petition drive. I'm not really in a position to judge her on that, and some of ABC's firings are alarming. But let's not cut Star Jones any slack, please. As for Isaiah Washington, I think that he needed to have been made an example of. Whether or not the higher ups should have waited until he humbled himself before all of gay America in the name of his job to do it is another question.

[NYP]