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Saturday, October 17, 2020

Leslie Jones: ‘I don’t miss SNL’

The former ‘Saturday Night Live’ star says she wasn’t ‘free’ on the long-running sketch show

While Leslie Jones became much more of a household name during her time on Saturday Night Live she says she’s not looking back. The 53-year-old comedian, who was a featured star on SNL from 2014-2019, became the oldest member to ever join the cast at 47.

Read More: Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira’s ‘Americanah’ series scrapped

After first being part of the writing staff, when Jones officially became part of the ensemble in 2014 it was the first time SNL had more than one African-American female cast member in its history.

“I don’t miss it. At all,” Jones told Entertainment Tonight host Kevin Frazier, in a new interview. “That job was hard, man. That job was like two jobs and very restrictive too. I wasn’t very free there.” 

2016 American Museum Of Natural History Museum Gala
Leslie Jones, Kenan Thompson and Sasheer Zamata attend the 2016 American Museum of Natural History Museum Gala at the American Museum of Natural History on November 17, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)

She did say she does miss her former co-star Kenan Thompson, who’s been at SNL since 2003 and is now the longest-running cast member in the show’s 45-year run.

Jones has moved on to the hosting role on Supermarket Sweep. The classic game show originated in 1965 but became popular during a 90s revival hosted by David Ruprecht. Contestants basically get to power shop the grocery store to earn cash and prizes and Jones says it was one of her personal favorites, so much so that she once auditioned to be on the show.

She told Entertainment Tonight that she and her then-roommate “trained” for Supermarket Sweep, going so far as to practice running up and down the aisles at their local grocery stores. But Jones didn’t get to the audition finals because her roommate had to head to work at Los Angeles’ famed eatery, Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles.

“We were the last four teams and they were bringing people in to compete against each other, but you had to stay for that part,” Jones says adding that potential contestants were told to have the whole day free.

“She was like, ‘I gotta go.’ And I lost my ever-living mind,” Jones remembers. “I don’t think they were ever gonna let me on that lot again ‘cause I called her every type of name I could come up with. I was like, ‘I’ll never talk to you.’ Then I was like, ‘I’m not riding home with you.’”

Read More: Cardi B defends Offset: ‘I deserve whatever I want to have’

While we don’t know what happened to her roommate, Jones at least now has what she says is her “dream job.”

“It’s just, you know, a comedian’s dream come true,” Jones said.

Supermarket Sweep debuts on ABC on Oct. 18 at 8 p.m.

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Lakers celebrate championship at victory dinner

The Los Angeles Lakers exited the NBA bubble as national champions and celebrated the win with their loved ones at a stylish victory dinner.

The Los Angeles Lakers finally left the COVID-19-mandated NBA bubble after winning their first championship in 10 years and celebrated the trophy with a cozy victory dinner.

Read More: Lakers’ Avery Bradley secretly gave $30K to help ‘Wubble’ moms

As seen on Instagram, players including Lebron James, Dwight Howard, and Rajon Rondo cuddled up with their loved ones during the stylish feast. Photos capturing the affair were uploaded to Instagram by both attendees and celebrity photographers. Supermodel and influencer Winnie Harlow used her social grid to share photos of her and her Lakers boyfriend Kyle Kuzma.

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Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and wife McKenzie also enjoyed the intimate outing. She added multiple photos of the two celebrating “Date Night with a Champ” as she wrote in the Instagram caption, decorated with the gold trophy emoji.

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Date Night with a Champ 🏆

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Read More: Lakers to wear ‘Black Mamba’ uniforms to honor Kobe Bryant at NBA finals

Celebrity and event photographer Stan Potts captured more moments between the reigning champions and their romantic partners entering and exiting the event at popular restaurant Nobu. Savannah James, the wife of the team’s star player, hopped out of a luxury vehicle wearing a white corset top, vintage fitting denim, and a purple protective face mask.

Dwight Howard was joined by his WNBA fiancée Te’a Cooper. The pair sported matching all-black attire including leather pants and silver chains.

Rondo and his girlfriend, fashion designer Latoia Fitzgerald, also stepped out with face masks and designer threads.

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Date Night 💫

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Their historic championship win called for a romantic night out. The players were quarantined away from their families for three months in a bubble system coordinated by the NBA to prevent the spread of COVID-19 as the basketball season continued. The 2020 Laker championship also comes with bittersweet glee as the team takes home the ring in the same year as star player Kobe Bryant’s tragic death.

As the theGrio reported, his widow Vanessa Bryant wished the current team congratulations and said she wished her husband was alive to enjoy the victory.

“Wish Kobe and Gianna were here to see this,”  she wrote. Gianna Bryant, 13, and seven others died in the helicopter accident alongside her father.

Have you subscribed to theGrio’s podcast “Dear Culture”? Download our newest episodes now!

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COVID-19 cases spike to highest levels since July

As COVID-19 cases increase, concern grows about what the upcoming winter season might bring

The numbers on the coronavirus pandemic are trending in the wrong direction on the eve of flu season, health experts say. According to USA Today, COVID-19 infections are at their highest rate since July.

Read More: College president steps down after 700 students test positive for virus

In the spring, new cases were surging at a rate of almost 32,000 cases in a seven-day period, says the outlet. Then in July, they reached an apex of 67,000, declining to 34,000 in September. Now, the cases are ticking up again with more than 373,000 reported just last week, an increase of 46,000 over the previous week.

As reported by theGrio, now that Americans are trying to return to a semblance of normal life, sports leagues and colleges have contended with significant outbreaks, and some regions of the country are also experiencing major spikes. According to USA Today, 14 states set records in new cases in one week and two states set records for their rate of coronavirus deaths.

Dr. Anthony Fauci Testifies Before Senate On Federal Response To Pandemic
WASHINGTON, DC – SEPTEMBER 23: Anthony Fauci, director of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at NIH, testifies at a Senate Health, Education, and Labor and Pensions Committee on Capitol Hill, on September 23, 2020 in Washington, DC. Dr. Fauci addressed the testing of vaccines and if they will be ready by the end of the year or early 2021. (Photo by Graeme Jennings- Pool/Getty Images)

“It will just keep burning human wood out there wherever it can find it. If you don’t put it out, those embers lie there, and if you remove your suppression activities, it comes right back,” Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota told USA Today, likening the pandemic to a wildfire.

Osterholm was among many leading epidemiologists who anticipated the current pandemic, including in a prescient Oprah Show appearance in 2006. “That’s what Europe is seeing right now,” he said. “If we let our foot off the brake completely, you’re going to see widespread transmission everywhere.”

If numbers continue to increase, health expert models say that cases will peak in December with deaths hitting their peak in January. According to the World Health Organization, the United States, followed by India, continues to lead the world in coronavirus cases. By comparison, the US, at 400 million, is just 4% of the global population while India represents 17% of the world’s population and is the second-most populous country in the world with 1.3 billion-plus people.

More than 8 million people have contracted the virus and 218,000 have died. According to the New York Times coronavirus tracker, the Midwest and the rural West that escaped the early ‘wave’ of the coronavirus are now being hard-hit with increasing numbers of cases.

The Times says that their data has shown that the outbreaks have spread most rapidly in places where people spend a lot of time together in close quarters including schools, churches, meat processing plants, and nursing homes. The upcoming flu season may make the impact of the coronavirus even worse as more people head inside if they don’t adhere to COVID-19 mitigation guidelines.

Protest Held In Brooklyn Against Newly Issued Lockdowns
A COVID-19 testing site stands in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Borough Park on October 07, 2020 in New York City. Borough Park is one of numerous Brooklyn neighborhoods that are witnessing a rising number of COVID-19 cases as New York City continues to trend down to around a one percent overall infection rate. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced plans to close nonessential businesses and schools in nine neighborhoods where positive COVID-19 rates have been higher than 3 percent. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Those protocols include social distancing, limiting gatherings, hand-washing, and mask-wearing, and limiting personal ‘quarantine pods‘ to a few selected people.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House advisor on infectious disease for six presidents and an expert in infectious disease for 50 years, says that despite the spikes, things would have to be very dire before he would advocate another lockdown.

Read More: Black Love in the Wake of Covid

“They’d have to get really, really bad,” Fauci said in an upcoming 60 Minutes interview, according to CBS News. “First of all, the country is fatigued with restrictions. So we want to use public health measures, not to get in the way of opening the economy, but to being a safe gateway to opening the economy. So instead of having an opposition: open up the economy [to] get jobs back, or shut down. No. Put ‘shut down,’ away and say, ‘We’re going to use public health measures to help us safely get to where we want to go.” 

Have you subscribed to theGrio’s podcast “Dear Culture”? Download our newest episodes now!

TheGrio is now on Apple TV, Amazon Fire, and Roku. Download theGrio today!

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Divorced Single Mom of 2 Finds New Man, Launches Six Figure Chemical-Free Hair Color Brand

Meet Electra Davis, the 36-year old founder and CEO of Mysteek Naturals – a popular Black-owned line of chemical-free hair color products. She launched her successful company just two years after becoming a divorced single mother with two children.

A victim of child abuse

Electra grew up as an only child living in Buffalo, NY, with her mom. However, her mom worked and partied a lot, and Electra was often left with her grandparents. As a result, one of her uncles began sexually abusing her from age 5 to 8.

After this was discovered, she went to go live with her father. She began working at 14-years old, and started paying rent to her Dad when she was just 15. She was even forced to buy her own groceries and was given one side of the refrigerator to only eat the food she bought. Two weeks after graduating high school, she joined the Army at 18-years old.

Lessons learned

While in the Army, Electra got married and had one child. She later left the Army, had another child, and went through a bitter divorce with her cheating husband while working full-time as a contract specialist. At this time, she was also a full-time college student.

She says that her life experiences as a child and an adult taught her to develop tenacity, to become independent, and eventually to become entrepreneurial.

That’s when she came up with the brilliant idea to create chemical-free hair color products that would allow people to have fun with their hair without having to bleach their hair. Like so many other women, she was looking for an alternative to the rinses that weren’t giving her the vibrant popping color and that used dangerous ingredients.


Launching her empire… and a new life

In 2017, Mysteek Naturals was launched and quickly took off as one of the most successful Black-owned hair color brands that is handmade, cruelty-free, dye-free, and free of harsh chemicals.

Now the brand is a well-known, award-winning company that generates six figures every year, selling it’s products all around the world even on Amazon and Walmart.com. Her hair color products are safe for children and adults to use, and are available in 12 different colors including Bougie Blue, Fyah Red, Royal Purple, Baby Blonde, Twerkin Turquoise, etc.

Even more, Electra has found a new man who supports her business and loves her kids. They are one big happy family. She has also reconnected and established a better relationship with both her mom and dad who are also avid supporter of her business.

For more details about the company, visit MysteekNaturals.com or follow the brand on Instagram @MysteekNaturals

This article was originally published by BlackBusiness.com.



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College president steps down after 700 students test positive for virus

At State University of New York at Oneonta, President Barbara Jean Morris has stepped down after hundreds of students test positive for COVID-19.

The president of State University of New York at Oneonta, has stepped down from the role after a coronavirus outbreak on campus.

Read More: US colleges struggle to salvage semester amid outbreaks

According to The New York Times, the COVID-19 outbreak at SUNY Oneonta was the worst at any public university in the entire state. University president Barbara Jean Morris resigned after over 700 students contracted the coronavirus, causing in-person classes to be shut down. A special virus control crew was sent to the campus to try to contain the virus and avoid spreading the illness to the rest of the upstate New York area, the report detailed.

At SUNY Oneonta the outbreak began with two cases in late August which quickly spread among students. The university initially zeroed in on contact tracing, attributing the cases to parties near campus, which resulted in five suspensions, the Times reported. Students said group gatherings off-campus were also common. After the first cases were revealed on Aug. 25, and the number rose to 105 students on campus with coronavirus by Aug. 30.

On social media, students chronicled their exodus from contaminated dorm rooms into separate quarantine locations by officials wearing hazmat suits. The outlet revealed students were also seen on social media partying in the designated quarantine dormitories.

The outbreak at the university resulted in a state review and a revamp of coronavirus guidelines across the SUNY system. According to the NYT, Morris’ resignation was not directly related to the COVID-19 crisis. Dennis Craig was named as a temporary replacement as the process to find a new president continues. He recently served as interim president at SUNY Purchase, where a comprehensive coronavirus re-opening plan held the campus of 4000 students to only seven positive cases.

“SUNY Purchase has one of the best plans out of the SUNY system,” the system chancellor, Jim Malatras, said at the news conference. “They brought back about 25 percent of their students and they have had regular testing and a very low positivity rate. President Craig led the way on that.”

The Oneonta community welcomed the change in leadership, according to the report.

Read More: Historically Black colleges work to help students amid virus

“I think that we all recognize that this was a time where change was needed. It’s a time for a new start,” Oneonta Mayor Gary Herzig told The Times. “There had been some loss of trust here amongst both the college community and the city community. Trust is everything. Sometimes you need to make changes in order to rebuild trust.”

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This Black Woman Has a Company That Mentors Over 1,000 Prisoners

During these challenging times, Lynda Monroe is inspiring over 2 million people monthly with her story of resilience and life coaching for success. When she was born, her doctor said she would not live past 10 years of age due to her congenital heart defect. She successfully defied the odds when she became a mother at 17-years old. However, as an unwed mother, this caused her to be ostracized by her church family and forced her to mature quickly. These experiences and more motivated her to reach deep inside herself to get her feet on solid ground.

Now, she is the CEO of a multi-media empire that touches millions through her activism to help prisoners integrate successfully back into society. Her business includes her podcast: The Lynda Monroe Show (with over 2 million streams monthly), her web sites, social media, and public speaking.

Over her career to date she has been able to get 50 inmates released from prison, giving them a second chance at life. In addition, she has successfully mentored over 1,000 prisoners. She is an extraordinary multimedia mogul who continues to take the world by storm.

Lynda wants to inspire the world, and has a special place in her heart for the current and formerly incarcerated. She says, “The prisons are filled to the brim with untapped potential that deserves a second chance.” She doesn’t just talk the talk, but she walks the walk and has five strategies to beat the odds:

1. Practice Gratitude: Be grateful for your life, health, and strength. Do not take anything for granted.

2. Make Education and Self Improvement a Priority: No matter how long it takes, expand your mindset. You only have one mind and one life and cultivating it to its fullest potential is key.

3. Nurture Your Creativity: Life will throw you curveballs. When she was born she was thrown the ultimate curveball of endangered health, and with the help of family and God she was able to overcome her death sentence.

4. Have a Spirit of Service: When faced with the realities of how inmates live in prison, Lynda Monroe was filled with compassion. This compassion created the idea for a prison ministry to help inmates reach their fullest potential.

5. Put God First: Without faith, Lynda believes that it is impossible to please God. This is why it is important for everyone to have faith in themselves; faith in the fruits of your labor; and faith that in the end, everything will work out fine.


Lynda is a change agent that helps the forgotten in society obtain second chances through her prison activism, her podcast, and her public speaking.

Learn more about at LyndaMonroe.com

Or subscribe to her podcast at BshaniRadio.com/lynda-monroe

This article was originally published by BlackNews.com.



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Barefoot Wine and New Voices Foundation Award Grants To Black-owned Beauty Businesses

Earlier this year, BLACK ENTERPRISE reported that Barefoot Wine was creating a new platform to celebrate the beauty of Black women. Now, the company has teamed with the New Voices Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing minority women entrepreneurs, to give business grants to various Black-owned beauty businesses.

The $10,000 grants, which six business received, will be used to highlight the beauty of Black women and integrate it into their branding. The winning businesses will also receive exclusive mentorships and business coaching through the foundation.

The Grand recipients are Alodia, Goddess Beauty Supply, Freedom Apothecary, Mischo Beauty, PuffCuff, and Range Beauty.

“At Barefoot, we are committed to doing our part as an ally and advocate to ensure Black women are recognized and supported,” Shannon Armah, Barefoot Wine’s associate brand manager, said in a press statement. 

“As we have seen from the numerous applications we received, there are so many inspiring and much-needed Black women-owned beauty businesses worthy of our support. We hope the Barefoot Beauty Grant will help these deserving businesses continue to grow and thrive,”

“We look forward to having these six beauty companies join the New Voices’ vibrant community of women of color entrepreneurs,” Richelyna Hall, chief impact officer at the New Voices Foundation, said in a press statement. “With access to our unique ecosystem, they will receive unprecedented networking, learning, and leadership opportunities to help them grow and scale their businesses.”

In addition to the beauty grants, Barefoot Wine also chose recipients for its COVID-19 Business Recovery Grant. Twenty-five Black-owned hair salons affected by shutdowns due to the coronavirus pandemic will each receive $1,000.

 

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🥂 Let’s raise a glass to our @BarefootWine Beauty Business Grant WINNERS – @AlodiaHairCare, @Freedom.Apothecary, @GoddessBSupply, @MischoBeauty, @ThePuffCuff, and @RangeBeauty — six Black women-owned businesses who are helping to expand beauty standards and highlighting the beauty of Black women every day! 🌟 We Support Her. We Celebrate Her. #WeStanForHer Each @BarefootWine + @NewVoicesFamily Beauty Business Grant winner will receive $10,000 + professional business coaching & mentoring to help them further grow and scale their businesses. The New Voices Foundation partnered with Barefoot in support of #WeStanForHer – a platform to collectively highlight the beauty of Black Women through original content, conversations, and community partnerships! TAP that link in our bio for more details on the WeStanForHer platform. #partner #barefootwine #blackbusinesswomen #blackbusinessowner #blackwomenentrepreneurs #blackwomenentrepreneur #blackfounders #blackstartup #blackgirlmagic #blackbeautybrands #blackbeautybrand #blackbeautycompanies #blackownedbeautybrands #blackownedbeautybrand #blackownedbeauty #blackownedskincare #blackskincare #blackskincareproducts #blackownedcosmetics #blackcosmetics #blackhaircare #makeupforblackwomen #BlackOwnedBusiness #womenofcolorentrepreneurs #womenofcolorentrepreneur #femaleentrepreneurs #PurposeAccessCapitalExpertise #NewVoicesFoundation

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Black Girl Who Hit Six Figures By the 6th Grade Shares Her Story With Millions on QVC, HSN, and Zulily

Confidence by GaBBY Goodwin has been selected for Qurate Retail Group’s Small Business Spotlight, a collaboration with the NRF Foundation to help small businesses navigate today’s challenging retail environment. This phase of the program is highlighting 20 Black-owned businesses as part of Qurate Retail Group’s commitment to promoting diversity and inclusion within its company and in society at large.

Qurate Retail Group, a multi-platform retailer that includes QVC, HSN, Zulily, and several other brands, is using its production resources, television broadcasts, and digital platforms to help GaBBY share her story with millions of consumers nationwide. GaBBY’s story began appearing on QVC’s and HSN’s websites and social pages in August and the company was highlighted on air in early October on QVC and on HSN. Click here to watch a replay.

Zulily is promoting the campaign on its website, email, and social, and Confidence by GaBBY Goodwin can also tap Qurate Retail Group team members for advice on solving a business issue through a virtual mentoring initiative.

“I am super excited to showcase my business and inspire girls around the world to follow their dreams and walk in confidence,” GaBBY Goodwin shared.

At the age of seven, GaBBY and her mom Rozalynn solved the age-old problem of disappearing hair barrettes by inventing GaBBY Bows, and non-slip Double-Face Double-Snap Barrette. GaBBY Bows, along with their line of girls’ hair styling products help remove stress from the styling process so moms, dads and girls can cherish this precious time together. The company’s online hair care tutorials and hair tool organizer also save time and frustration, while GaBBY’s children’s book, virtual entrepreneurship academy for girls and keynote presentations inspire confidence and creativity.

Qurate Retail Group has a long tradition of helping small business owners and entrepreneurs launch and grow their brands through the incredible power of storytelling and shopping discovery. QVC, HSN, and Zulily provide compelling platforms, with unmatched reach, that enable small businesses to speak directly to millions of consumers in their homes.

Earlier this spring, Qurate Retail Group and the NRF Foundation launched the Small Business Spotlight with 20 small businesses across America that have been impacted by COVID-19. The current focus on Black-owned businesses is part of several initiatives announced by Qurate Retail Group to promote diversity, equity and inclusion.


“We’re proud to stand with the Black community by sharing the stories of these extraordinary businesses, including their innovation, their triumphs, the challenges they face, and their remarkable resilience,” said Mike George, President and CEO, Qurate Retail, Inc. “In these important times, we want to be part of the solution and help build inclusive communities where all people are treated with equity.”

This phase of the Small Business Spotlight runs from August 12th through October 16th.

“Retailers serve every community across the country and support one out of every four jobs. Diversity and inclusion have always been at the heart of our industry, but we know there is so much more work to be done,” said Matthew Shay, president and CEO of the National Retail Federation. “By amplifying Black voices and businesses through programs like the Small Business Spotlight, we are taking an important step to ensure our industry remains a catalyst for promoting equity and opportunity in America today.”

For additional information on Confidence by GaBBY Goodwin, visit GabbyBows.com

This article was originally published by BlackBusiness.com.



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A Cut Cable Knocked Out Virginia's Voter Registration Site

Plus: Barnes and Noble got hacked, Zoom adds real end-to-end encryption, and more of the week's top security news.

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Mark Cuban on stalled stimulus negotiations: All of Congress is 'complicit in the problem'

After weeks of negotiating a stimulus package, Congress remains at a stalemate. To move negotiations forward, "I would ask the American people to speak to their representatives and explain how important this stimulus program is to them," self-made billionaire Mark Cuban tells CNBC Make It.

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Want Some Eco-Friendly Tips? A New Study Says No, You Don’t

Nagging, giving unsolicited advice, and “ecopiety” are out. But there are better ways to get people to adopt green habits.

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Peres Jepchirchir breaks women's half-marathon world record

Kenya's Peres Jepchirchir breaks her own world record for a women-only half marathon in Gdynia, Poland.

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End Sars: Sports stars join protest against police brutality

Sports men and women from around the world have been lending their support in the protest looking to end police brutality in Nigeria.

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Friday, October 16, 2020

Biden town hall draws nearly 1 million more viewers than Trump

The Nielsel numbers don’t include live streams to cell phones and other devices.

Joe Biden’s live town hall with ABC News Thursday night was watched by nearly one million more television viewers than those who tuned-in for President Donad Trump’s event. 

According to Nielsen ratings, Biden’s 90-minute discussion averaged 14.1 million viewers, compared to 13.5 million for Trump’s town hall on NBC, The Washington Post reports.

The primetime town halls were scheduled after Trump pulled out of the presidential debate once it was switched to a virtual format following his positive COVID-19 diagnosis. 

Read More: Diddy says he’s launching ‘Black political party,’ endorses Biden

The Nielsel numbers don’t include live streams to cell phones and other devices, but when it comes to the two networks’ YouTube channels, Biden’s town hall received 507,445 viewers compared to Trump’s 153,660, according to Newsweek.

theGRIO previously reported… At his town hall event Thursday night, Biden was asked by ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos if it was a mistake to support the controversial 1994 crime bill, and he replied, “Yes, it was. But here’s where the mistake came. The mistake came in terms of what the states did locally.” 

Biden noted that while the federal government lowered mandatory minimums and a statute he called “same crime, same time,” those elements applied mostly to federal offenses. States retained their own sentencing power and ability to build more prisons, which they did.

Read More: Joe Biden calls crime bill a ‘mistake’ during town hall

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Nearly a million more television viewers on Thursday watched former vice president Joe Biden’s town hall live than those who watched President Trump’s, according to early data compiled by measurement company Nielsen. Biden’s town hall on ABC averaged 13.9 million viewers, compared to just over 13 million for Trump’s NBC town hall on television. The higher figure for Biden’s event is particularly surprising given that he appeared just on one network, compared to Trump, whose town hall was simulcast on MSNBC and CNBC. According to ABC, “The Vice President and the People” is the network’s most-watched prime-time telecast since the Oscars in February. Both events paled in comparison to the audience that potentially would have watched them together. The Sept. 29 presidential debate attracted an estimated 73.1 million viewers who tuned in across 16 networks, per Nielsen. Both candidates have now participated in town halls hosted by ABC and NBC. Trump’s Sept. 15 town hall on ABC was seen by 3.8 million people, per Nielsen. Biden’s NBC town hall last week was seen by an estimated 6.7 million across the affiliated three networks. Read more by clicking the link in our bio.

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The former vice president said the ’94 crime bill was created after a spike in crime in the late 1980s and early ’90s.

Biden also explained that, at the time, the crime bill was supported by the Congressional Black Caucus and Black mayors across the nation. However, he said, “things have changed drastically,” noting that violent crime has dropped dramatically, and racial justice issues in America are different now than at that period.

He now contends that no one should serve time in prison for drug possession, and the country instead should be funding rehabilitation centers.

Biden’s The Vice President and the People town hall is ABC’s most-watched prime-time telecast since the Oscars in February, according to the report.

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