The Young, Black, and Fabulous

WHOA: Bishop Eddie Long Addresses The New Birth Congregation AND Doesn't Resign *VIDEO INCLUDED*
DO WE LOVE IT?: Rihanna's "X Marks The Spot" & Polka Dotted Bow Look
ATL Celebs Hit The HBCU Atlanta Classic
PICS: Lil' Kim Opens Her New Salon In Charlotte
Bishop Eddie Long In Private Penthouse Office With Young Males, DIS-INVITES Media To Sunday's Service
CNN Anchor Don Lemon: "I Was A Victim Of A Pedophile"
CANDIDS: LaLa Vazquez & Kim K., Jada & Willow, & Ron Artest

WHOA: Bishop Eddie Long Addresses The New Birth Congregation AND Doesn't Resign *VIDEO INCLUDED*

Posted: 26 Sep 2010 07:37 AM PDT

Bishop Eddie Long stepped out this morning in front of the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church congregation to a rousing standing ovation. Despite Atlanta news stations reporting last night that media would not be allowed, a few news cameras were spotted in the building and the 8AM service streamed on certain outlets this morning.

We have the highlights of what Bishop Long had to say for himself when you read on...

Bishop Eddie Long addressed his congregation for the first time since four young men filed suit saying he sexual abused them. E-Long says he plans to fight the allegations in the court of law and he did not step down as pastor.

Here are some highlights the YBF Team grabbed from his sermon this morning:

-“First of all let me thank you on behalf of my wife, my family. For all of your support and prayers…”

-“I realize that many have been waiting on me to say something. My first responsibility is to my family, and then my next responsibility is not to address the world before I address my family New Birth.”

“This is an extremely difficult time for me and an extremely difficult time for my family.  It’s a time when you actually see the veil dropped and who is with you and who is not with you.”

-"This is difficult, difficult for everybody. This is the most difficult time in my entire life.”

-“This is gonna take just a few moments, and then I’ll say what the rest of you came to hear.  Many are the afflictions of the righteous…but the Lord delivers him out of all of them.”

-“As long as man has to deal in life, you will find that life will be unfair…We are all subject to face distasteful and painful situations."

-“We will not allow the present pain to cause us to abandon our righteous commitment and stand. Somehow someway we will become better and we will walk through this painful situation.  Not only for my family but also for everyone involved in these allegations.”

-“There have been allegations and attacks made on me. I have never in my life portrayed myself as a perfect man, but I am not the man that’s being portrayed on the television.  That is not me, that is not me.”

-“By the council of my lawyers they have advised me not to try this case in the media. I am not gonna try this case in the media, it will be tried in the court of justice, and dealt with in the court of justice. And please understand because that is the only place I feel I will get justice."

-“I’ve been accused, I’m under attack. I want you to know, as I said earlier, I am not a perfect man, but this thing I’m gonna fight.”

-“I want you to know one other thing I feel like David against Goliath, but I got 5 rocks and I haven’t thrown one yet.”

He ended his sermon with a very strong statement about fighting his accusers. Your thoughts?

DO WE LOVE IT?: Rihanna's "X Marks The Spot" & Polka Dotted Bow Look

Posted: 26 Sep 2010 06:23 AM PDT

Rihanna hit Ago restaurant the other day with her cousin. And she stepped out with a tied-up attention grabbing titillating tee with X's marking...the spot. Along with a polka dotted bow/hat/head band and pants.

Decide if we love it when you read on...

Hmmm.

DO WE LOVE IT?!

ATL Celebs Hit The HBCU Atlanta Classic

Posted: 26 Sep 2010 05:54 AM PDT

Celebs popped up at Saturday afternoon's Atlanta Football Classic and the McCafe Men Launch festivities. Pics of celebs hitting the Georgia Dome for the Tennessee State vs FAMU game when you read on...

Football season is officially underway. If if you're anything like me, you have your ridic amount of magazines and laptops on standby up to keep you company while you're "watching" with your boosky. Celeb spottings at games don't hurt either:

"ATL Housewife" Kandi looked cute as she hit the 50 yard line to belt out the National Anthem.

Cutie Lance Gross signed autographs for the fans. And hit the stage with TV personality/actress Alesha Renee and Reality TV personality Isaac Keys.

"What Chilli Wants" co-star Tionna Smalls hit the event to sign some autographs. And so did Rodney Perry of the "Monique Show".

Bryan Michael-Cox hit the turntables.

And T.I. and Tiny's daughter Zonnique (far right) hit up the festivites with her fellow OMG Girlz. By the way, TIP turned 30 yesterday. Looked like fun times.

Photog: Paras Griffin /G Paras Photography

PICS: Lil' Kim Opens Her New Salon In Charlotte

Posted: 26 Sep 2010 05:02 AM PDT

Lil' Kim opened up her brand new salon Saturday afternoon that she now co-owns with her cousin Katrise Jones. Meagan Good and Kim's fam came out to Charlotte, North Carolina to support of course.

Pics of the ladies--including a cute looking Kim--when you read on...

Meagan rocked her usual t-shirt and jeans. And damn her for looking pretty stunning in just that. Kim looked put together and surprisingly pretty cute for her event. The pulled and parted face seemd to be toned down a bit.

Cute.

The Mayor Pro Tem of Charlotte Patrick Cannon came out for the ribbon cutting.

Kim and Katrise kicked it inside and posed for pics with the staff.

I feel like we can finally see her uber cute face again...

Interesting.

And Kim got love from her young fans. Fun times. And congrats to the ladies.

Pics: Jennifer Brix/KodakBoi

Bishop Eddie Long In Private Penthouse Office With Young Males, DIS-INVITES Media To Sunday's Service

Posted: 25 Sep 2010 08:25 PM PDT

Reports...and pics...are surfacing that allege the embattled pastor Bishop Eddie Long has a private office hideaway in Atlanta where he has meetings with young male members of the church.

It was also announced Saturday night that no media or cameras will be allowed at his Sunday service where he will be addressing his congregation. We've got the deets and pics when you read on...

Interesting. The folks over at HipHopBlog found pics of Bishop Eddie Long in his private penthouse office in the Atlantic Station complex in Atlanta. In the pics, he is having "meetings" with young men from his church. Employees and residents of the building cite that most of Eddie's visitors are "predominantly young men". No word on when exactly these pics were taken.

At Sunday's 11am service, Bishop Long will be addressing the sex scandal and legal drama he has been embroiled in all week. But as of Saturday night, the pastor made it known that he will no longer allow any media inside the service, nor any cameras. Even though New Birth Baptist church usually streams all services online, the church will not be streaming the 11am service.

According to Atlanta news stations, Bishop Long will have a press conference immediately following the service, but media will not be allowed to ask questions. This ought to be interesting...

CNN Anchor Don Lemon: "I Was A Victim Of A Pedophile"

Posted: 25 Sep 2010 08:11 PM PDT

CNN anchor Don Lemon made a very personal admission about being sexually abused as a child during his live newscast tonight. The admission came on the heels of Don discussing the sexual abuse cases against Bishop Eddie Long with three members of Long’s church who support him. Read on for deets inside...

After playing a soundbite from the lawyer of one of Long’s accusers, Lemon said:

"Let me tell you what got my attention about this and I have never admitted this on television. I’m a victim of a pedophile when I was a kid. Someone who was much older than me."

Lemon’s admission shocked his guests. And the soon-to-be 44 year old admitted he didn't even tell his mother until he was 30:

“I’ve never admitted that on television and I never told my mom until I was 30 years old. Especially African-American men don’t want to talk about those things.”

CNN viewers took to his Facebook page to show their support. Lemon replied, “Thank you all for your kind words. I had no idea I’d say that on national TV. It just came out. Sadly it’s the truth for so many young men.”

Don is very brave to make such an admission on television. But if one young man was helped by Don's actions, it was worth it.

CANDIDS: LaLa Vazquez & Kim K., Jada & Willow, & Ron Artest

Posted: 25 Sep 2010 10:10 AM PDT

Get ready for your weekend candids. BFFs LaLa & Kim K. hit Nobu restaurant for girls night out in West Hollywood, California, Jada and Willow getting a front row peak of Emporio Armani's 2011 womenswear line at Milan's Fashion Week, and Ron Artest gets playful with the paps when you read on...