Many American Twitter users praised British and other international news outlets for covering the Iranian election aftermath of riots and civil unrest. The “#cnnfail” tag was the third most tweeted topic on the microblogging network Saturday night. The “#iremember” tag and “#Iranelections” tags were first and second respectively.
Days after being lambasted for its 2009 awards programming BET says it “regrets” and will edit encore presentations of the show. “BET Networks deeply regrets the performance by Young money at the BET Awards 09 (featuring Lil Wayne, Drake, Mack Maine, and Gudda Gudda),” a BET representative told AllHipHop.com. The controversial performance, with immense sexual references and young girls, including Lil Wayne’s daughter, appearing on stage, sparked a series of letters, complaints and on-air interviews with radio and television personalities earlier this week. According to BET sources, a number of elements were not to have taken place during the performance:
“Elements of the performance were unplanned and should not have happened.” While the network gains points for its apology today, a record breaking number of viewers watched the BET Awards 09′ Sunday. In its own press release, BET confirmed that its 09′ ceremony pulled in a record 10.65 million total viewers. As early as July 6, the next air date for the show, BET will have edited the performance with Lil Wayne and Drake.
Bossip.com
The Lakers will defend their NBA title next season with Ron Artest as their new starting small forward.
Artest, among the top free agents this summer and one of the league's best defenders, agreed yesterday to join the Lakers for the so-called mid-level contract. The exact value won't be known until next week when the salary cap is set, but should be in the neighborhood of $19 million over three years for the Queensbridge product. Free-agent signings cannot be announced until Wednesday.
Artest also had considered a mid-level offer from the Cavaliers. When free agency opened earlier this week, he met with LeBron James in California. He will take a pay cut from the $7.4 million he made last season in Houston (he can expect to make about $5.8 million this season with the Lakers), but this will be his best chance to win an NBA title.
Artest's addition should make the Lakers the favorites to repeat, since he figures to be an upgrade over Trevor Ariza, who has agreed to a deal with the Rockets. As Artest met with Lakers executives, Ariza met with Houston officials yesterday, and is also is expected to get the mid-level exception.
Artest, 29, helped the Rockets advance to the second round of the playoffs last season - where they pushed the Lakers to Game 7 - despite the team losing Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming. Although he was a central figure in the infamous brawl in Auburn Hills in 2004 as a member of the Pacers and has had other notable off-court problems, the former St. John's star has stayed out of trouble of late.
