LIFESTYLE - The African Mirror

Sep

16

2020

Actor John Boyega quits Jo Malone role after cut from Chinese ad

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

BRITISH actor John Boyega has quit his role as a global ambassador for the perfume and candle brand Jo Malone after the Black star was cut from a promotional video in China. The original version of the short film, called "London Gent", followed Boyega spending time with friends and family in his home city of London but he was replaced by Chinese actor Liu Haoran and other Black cast members removed in a reshot version. Boyega, 28, best known for his role as Finn in "Star Wars", said the decision to substitute a local actor for him without his consent…

Sep

16

2020

By The African Mirror

Cardi B calls it quits with rapper Offset

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

African Mirror Reporter IT looks like the end of the road for American hip-hop couple Cardi B and Offset after two years of marriage. Reports from American tabloid Hollywood Unlocked stated that Cardi B officially filed for divorce from Migos’ rapper on September 15, noting that the divorce petition was filed with the Fulton County Superior Court in Atlanta. The petition also showed documents of Cardi B seeking primary custody of their two-year-old daughter Kulture, and for Offset to pay child support According to Cardi and her legal team in the documents, the team stated that the marriage is “irretrievably…

Sep

15

2020

By The African Mirror

Top Italian designer takes on racism in fashion

BEAUTY AND FASHION

SOPHIE DAVIES STELLA Jean, the Haitian-Italian designer who has just announced a boycott of Milan Fashion Week, says she has suffered racism all her life. But it was only when the 41-year-old encountered it in Italy's mainly white fashion industry that she realised just how unwilling people were to talk about it. Now Jean, whose brightly-coloured skirts and dresses are worn by celebrities including Beyonce and Rihanna, says she can no longer remain silent in the face of what she sees as a rise in racially-charged incidents in Italian fashion. The former model, a protege of Giorgio Armani and the…

Sep

13

2020

By The African Mirror

Book reveals new, surprising nuggets about Nelson Mandela’s last years in jail

LITERATURE

GAVIN EVANS TWENTY years ago the South African academic Jan-Ad Stemmet met the apartheid era justice minister Kobie Coetsee, who announced he had transcripts of 13,000 pages of recordings of Nelson Mandela’s time in prison. These transcripts of the anti-apartheid struggle icon contained, he said, “bombs, atom bombs” that would blow everything up. The pair began to discuss a book deal but only two days in the 69-year-old Coetsee died of a heart attack and the moment passed. Then, 14 years on, this trove of documents reemerged in an archive at the University of the Free State, where Stemmet taught…

Sep

13

2020

By The African Mirror

South African celebrity falls pregnant

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER SOUTH African celebrity Minnie Dlamini-Jones is pregnant with her first child. Dlamini-Jones made the announcement on Twitter, accompanied by a photograph of her cuddlling her tummy. The announcement was made on the birthday of her husband Quinton. She said: “Starting a family with you, Mr Jones is a dream come true and I couldn’t have chosen a better man to be the father of our child. Happy Birthday my love, we’re having a baby! Best D’day present ever, I know, lol@.” She signed off the announcement with a #BecomingMamaJones. #TheJoneses. The announcement elicited a torrent of well…

Sep

11

2020

By The African Mirror

Book Review | Femicide in South Africa

LITERATURE

PUMLA DINEO GQOLA FEMICIDE is a South African preoccupation. News headlines have made names and faces familiar with such frequency that only the most delusional among us deny that women are being killed at an alarming rate. Nechama Brodie’s Femicide in South Africa enters this fray to raise the quality of public debate on femicide and illuminate why a proper diagnosis of the situation remains so elusive. Many raise the country being broadly homicidal as one way of putting femicide into context. But generalities only deepen the crisis because femicide “carries such distinct features that, if we were to try and understand…

Sep

11

2020

By The African Mirror

Famed British actress Dame Diana Rigg has died

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER THE veteran British actress has passed away at the age of 82. BBC broke the story that the Game of Thrones actress passed away peacefully on Thursday morning. Rigg’s agent said that the Dame was surrounded by her family who have asked for privacy during this difficult time. Having enjoyed a distinguished career in film, Diana Rigg was well known for playing the only bond girl to become Mrs James Bond in the 1969 film ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’. Her other roles include is also known most recently for being part of the cast with distinguished…

Sep

11

2020

By The African Mirror

First look at Nike’s new active maternity collection

BEAUTY AND FASHION

MPHO RANTAO MOST mothers-to-be find it tiring to find, wear and change out of clothing they need to be active while pregnant. Nike has a solution. The company has launched an active gear range that is comfortable for all mothers-to-be when they’re either at working out at the gym, out on the road or working out in the comfort of their homes. This week saw popular active sports brand Nike promote their new collection, titled Nike (M), for sporty moms to be, explaining that the collection aims to “support women during all stages of pregnancy and beyond”. The collection was…

Sep

11

2020

By The African Mirror

Burna Boy, Davido and Sho Madjozi to hit Afro Nation 2021

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

African Mirror Reporter SOME of Africa’s current biggest musicians have been listed to perform at the world’s biggest afro-beats festival, Afro Nation in Portugal, in 2021. South Africa’s Sho Madjozi and Busiswa, Nigeria’s Davido, Wizkid and Yemi Alade are some of the big African names listed on the festival poster which was posted on social media and their website. The stars are also set to perform alongside American musicians Rick Ross and Chris Brown. https://twitter.com/afronation/status/1301067444434481152?s=21 The Afro-centric festival will be headlined by hip-hop rapper French Montana, Davido and Burna Boy. More artists are to be added to the star-studded lineup. …

Sep

08

2020

By The African Mirror

Dear Dambudzo Marechera… The letters Zimbabweans wrote to a literary star

LITERATURE

TINASHE MUSHAKAVANHU, Post-Doctoral Fellow, University of the Witwatersrand THE writer Dambudzo Marechera, who died on 18 August 1987, remains a popular figure in Zimbabwe. He is heralded by a young generation as a radical and counter-culture figure. Marechera became an instant star when his first book The House of Hunger was published to critical acclaim in 1978. The novella tells of growing up in colonial Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in raw and exquisite prose, a harrowing portrait of lives disrupted and young disillusionment. The rumour is that he wrote it in a tent or squat, but then perhaps he did not,…