- Alabama Crimson Tide Defeats Georgia Bulldogs amid the NAACP Towel Waving Boycott: The NAACP on Monday night encouraged attendees at the College Football Playoff game to wave white towels to simulate a blizzard while President Donald Trump is in attendance. The idea mocks conservatives referring to the opposition as “snowflakes.” Alabama came back to defeat Georgia in overtime, 26-23.
- More Fallout from H&M: After the Swedish retailer faced backlash for posting an ad with a Black child in a “coolest monkey in the jungle” hoodie, more trouble has followed. The Weeknd severed ties with the brand and celebrities like Snoop Dogg and LeBron James have also blasted the company.
- Ivanka Trump Supports Oprah’s Golden Globes Speech: Trump’s daughter Ivanka praised Oprah Winfrey’s Golden Globes speech as “empowering and inspiring,” which led Twitter users to blast her.
- Russell Simmons Halts #NotMe Campaign: Def Jam Records co-founder Russell Simmons has put the brakes on his #NotMe campaign. It was a response to the #MeToo initiative where sexual assault survivors have disclosed their status. A source told Page Six Simmons felt “that this is a time for women to speak.”
- ‘Black Panther’ Tickets Officially On Sale: With “Black Panther” rolling into theaters on Feb. 16, tickets for the highly-anticipated film have gone on sale through Fandango. The flick follows T’Challa, a rising king who protects his nation of Wakanda from an old foe as the Black Panther.
Still independent.
We hope this story was worth your time. For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed Black-owned and independently run. We didn't get here by waiting on ad budgets that were never built to prioritize us. Our readers did that.
Corporate support for Black media has always been thin. Outlets like ours get roughly 1% of the $170 billion spent on U.S. advertising each year, and that margin is shrinking further as advertisers walk back the DEI-linked commitments they made in 2020. That's the backdrop. It's not why we're asking.
The wider picture isn't any steadier. Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under, it's rarely the ones built to center a Black perspective from the ground up that get to stick around.
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