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Celebrities Who Were Arrested in 2019

The tabloids and gossip blogs run on drama like what celebrity got arrested today. Those stories sell copies and get clicks, perhaps because high paid PR teams keep the stars’ lives looking so perfect, the public is fascinated with – and maybe just a little happy about – stories of famous people in jail. Drug charges, assault, disorderly conduct, and stories of more horrible celebrity crimes can land celebrities in jail. And once they’re there, celebrity jail photos and recent celebrity arrests are bound to get a lot of attention.  In 2019, who went to prison even though they’re rich and famous? What big celebrity arrests 2019 stole the headlines, and what celebrities are currently jail?

With all the scandals and scorching hot current celebrity events out there, it can be hard to keep up with the news about recently arrested celebrities. Stories of celebrities who have been arrested fade out of the headlines fast once a new scandal arises. Every celebrity in jail of 2019 is documented below. And, if you’re curious if any of these celebs are repeat offenders, check out this list of celebrity arrests of 2018.

Kodak Black

Photo: David Cabrera/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 4.0

Rapper Kodak Black was arrested April 17, 2019 on charges of criminal possession of a weapon – a felony – and marijuana possession – a misdemeanor. Fans surrounded Black’s tour bus in anger after waiting hours to learn his show at The House of Blues in Boston was canceled the night of his arrest. The following morning, news broke that Black and his entourage were taken into custody at the US/Canadian border.

Black was released on a $20,000 cash bond.

Julian Assange

Photo:  Cancillería del Ecuador/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 2.0

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was arrested at the Ecuadorean Embassy in London and charged with conspiring to commit computer intrusion. The charge was filed in March 2018 but the federal grand jury case had been kept under seal until his arrest on April 11, 2019, after the Westminster Magistrates’ Court found him guilty of failing to surrender to court. The UK has yet to decide if it will extradite Assange, who faces up to five years in US prison if convicted.

The charge relates to the 2010 release of American files documenting the slaying of civilians and journalists. Former Army intelligence specialist Chelsea Manning was convicted of leaking those files and sentenced to 35 years in prison in 2013. Her sentence was commuted by President Barak Obama in 2017 and she returned to prison in March 2019, held on contempt of court for refusing to testify to a grand jury investigating WikiLeaks.see more on Julian Assange

Boosie Badazz

Photo: Metaweb (FB)/Fair use

On April 8, 2019, Boosie Badazz was arrested and charged with possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, schedule I narcotics, possession of marijuana, and failure to maintain lane. The rapper, who was born Toreence Hatch Jr. and formerly known as Lil’ Boosie, allegedly swerved in and out of the lane while driving a white Dodge Charger in Newnan, Georgia. When pulled over, the Sgt. Jeff Bugg of the Coweta County Sheriff’s Office reported that he noticed a strong marijuana smell coming from the vehicle.

The passenger, Antonio Allen, was identified as Boosie’s bodyguard and also arrested and charged. The pair were held at the Coweta County Jail while the charges were pending.

Michael Avenatti

Photo: The Circus – YouTube/Wikipedia Commons/CC BY 3.0

On March 25, 2019, Michael Avenatti was arrested on charges of extortion. The celebrity lawyer, known for formerly representing actress Stormy Daniels, was arrested for allegedly attempting to extort nearly $25 million from Nike. It was reported that Avenatti had information regarding a scandal involving high school and college basketball. The morning of the 25th, Avenatti tweeted that “This criminal conduct reaches the highest levels of Nike and involves some of the biggest names in college basketball.”

The previous week, according to the criminal complaint, Avenatti had approached Nike and offered to withhold the information he had, in exchange for both a payment to a client of his and that he and another person be retained by the global shoe company.

Michael Madsen

Photo: Metaweb (FB)/CC-BY-SA

Actor Michael Madsen was arrested on March 24, 2019, for driving under the influence. Madsen was arrested by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department after his Land Rover struck a pole in Malibu, California, according to the report.

Madsen’s bail was set at $15,000, and he was released from jail the next day. The Reservoir Dogs and Hateful Eight actor has previously entered court-ordered rehab in 2012.

June Shannon

Photo: Here Comes Honey Boo Boo/TLC

June Shannon was arrested on March 13, 2019, in Macon County, Alabama, on possession of a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia charges. Best known as “Mama June,” from the shows Here Comes Honey Boo Boo and Mama June: From Not to Hot, she was arrested after a reported fight with her boyfriend Geno Doak, who was also arrested.

Neither Shannon’s rep nor the spokesperson for District Attorney’s Office of Macon County could provide further details.see more on June Shannon

Lori Loughlin

Photo: Angela Weiss/Getty Images

Full House and former Hallmark Channel actress Lori Loughlin was indicted for taking part in a large college admissions fraud scheme and was one of over a dozen arrested on March 12, 2019. The parents involved in the scheme allegedly manipulated records, cheated on entrance exams, or paid for those services to secure their children places in elite colleges. The money for the scheme was funneled through a charity.

According to the indictment, Loughlin paid $500,000 to secure her two daughters a place as recruits on the USC crew team, though neither played the sport, padding their extracurricular activity records. Along with the other parents involved, Loughlin is charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services fraud. On March 14, 2019, Crown Media Family Networks – which include the Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries – released a statement that they would no longer be working with Loughlin and had halted the development of all productions involving the actress. On March 15, it was rumored that Loughlin’s character, Aunt Becky, would not be written into the upcoming fifth season of the Netflix series Fuller House.

Felicity Huffman

Photo: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

Actress Felicity Huffman was one of over a dozen indicted and arrested on March 12, 2019, for taking part in a large college admissions fraud scheme. Allegedly the parents involved in the scheme either participated in the cheating and record falsifying aspect, while others paid for it. The money for the scheme was funneled through a charity.

According to the indictment, Huffman paid for someone to take the SAT test for her oldest daughter, paying $15,000 for the service. Along with the other parents involved, Huffman is charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services fraud. Huffman’s husband, William H. Macy, is not mentioned by name in the indictment.

Conor McGregor

Photo: via Tumblr

The evening of March 12, 2019, Conor McGregor was arrested by the Miami Beach police for allegedly breaking a fan’s phone after they tried to take a picture of him with it outside of a nightclub. According to the arrest report, the Mixed Martial Arts fighter knocked the phone out of the fan’s hand before stomping on it multiple times and walking away with it. McGregor was released on $12,500 bond shortly after being charged with one count of strong-arm robbery and one count of criminal mischeif of $1,000 or more.

After being released, McGregor posted an update on his Instagram with the caption “Patience in this world is a virtue I continue to work on.”see more on Conor McGregor

R. Kelly

Photo: Earl Gibson/Getty Images

After turning himself in on February 22, 2019, rapper R. Kelly was arrested and charged with 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. The charges stem from four different women, according to the records three of them were underage when their interactions with Kelly occurred.

Kelly’s bond was set at $1 million dollars. The terms of his bond also state that the rapper must surrender his passport and have no contact with anyone under age 18.

Almost two weeks later on March 6, 2019, Kelly was arrested in Chicago for failing to pay his ex-wife Drea Kelly child support. The rapper and singer owes $161,633 to Drea, who he shares three children with.

Joey Gaydos

Photo: Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office

Former School of Rock actor, Joey Gaydos Jr. was arrested four times in five weeks in Florida for allegedly stealing guitars and an amplifier.According to police, Gaydos would ask to try out the guitars and then simply walk out of the store with them without paying, swapping them at pawn shops for cash. The total amount stolen is enough for Gaydos to be charged with felony larceny and grand theft. TMZ first reported the arrests shortly after midnight, March 3, 2019.

Though he made his mark as a child actor, Gaydos did not appear in any other films, focusing instead on music. When he was booked into the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office on February 14, 2019, for one of his arrests, his occupation was listed as “musician.”see more on Joey Gaydos

Jussie Smollett

Photo: via Tumblr

Empire actor Jussie Smollett was arrested on suspicion of filing a false report February 20, 2019, following the investigation into an alleged attack on January 29, 2019. Chicago police have stated that the actor paid $3,500 to two men to stage the attack. Smollett’s bail hearing will be the same day.

A cast member on Empire, Smollett’s scenes on upcoming episodes of the popular Fox drama have been reduced. The Chicago police claim Smollett staged the alleged attack as a bargaining chip for his salary. Early on January 29, 2019, actor Jussie Smollett checked himself into the Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago and reported that he had been attacked and called slurs related to his race and for being gay. Over the next month, different accounts and issues with the case began to unfold, revealing inconsistencies and problems with Smollett’s story and casting doubt on how or if it truly occurred.

YNW Melly

Photo: ynwmelly/Instagram

Rapper YNW Melly was arrested February 13, 2019 and charged with two counts of first-degree murder in Broward County Florida. The rising Florida rap star, whose legal name is Jamell Demons, was ordered to remain in jail without bond. The charges are related to the slayings of two of the rapper’s friends, who were victims of a drive-by-shooting in December 2018.

A statement was posted on YNW Melly’s official Instagram account on February 13, 2019, which clarified he was turning himself in, adding “I lost my two brothers by violence and now the system want to find justice.. unfortunately a lot of rumors and lies are being said but no worries god is with me.”

Jordan Klepper

Photo: NYTVF/flickr/CC-BY-ND 2.0

Comedian and former Daily Show correspondent, Jordan Klepper, was arrested in Atlanta, Georgia, on February 12, 2019. Klepper was filming a segment for his new show, Klepper, at the Board of Regents meeting in the Georgia Capitol Building. When asked to leave, Klepper and those he was with did not leave and the group was arrested for criminal trespassing.

The next day, Klepper posted an image of his arrest on his Instagram. In the caption, he said “Places like Freedom University are fighting the good fight. I was honored to stand with them and the other community faith leaders, teachers and protestors.”

21 Savage

Photo: via Tumblr

The rapper 21 Savage, whose birth name is Shayaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on February 3, 2019. Although Abraham-Joseph has long been associated with and rapped about his upbringing in Atlanta, ICE stated that the rapper was is a citizen of the United Kingdom who overstayed his visa in July 2006.

Saying that 21 Savage is a role model to young people, his lawer Dina LaPolt, is working to release Abraham-Joseph from custody.

Bow Wow

Photo: Metaweb (FB)/CC-BY

Rapper Bow Wow as arrested and charged with battery on February 2, 2019. He allegedly got into an altercation in Atlanta with his girlfriend, ending with both members of the altercation under arrest and sustaining injury. No information regarding bail or court date for either party was available from Fulton County Jail, where the two were detained.

Gina Kirschenheiter

Photo: Gina Kirschenheiter/Twitter

Gina Kirschenheiter, one of the cast members of Real Housewives of Orange County, was arrested by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department on in the early morning of February 1, 2019. Allegedly arrested for driving under the influence, Kirschenheiter was released around noon the same day.

Kirschenheiter’s court date is set for February 28, 2019. Filming for season 14 of Real Housewives of Orange County is expected to begin soon.

Ryan Edwards

Photo: Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office

Star of Teen Mom OG, Ryan Edwards, was arrested and booked into the Hamilton County Jail on January 23, 2019, for “theft of services under $1,000” for allegedly walking out of a bar without paying his bill in December 2018. Held on $500 bond, Edwards was also arrested on possession of heroin, for which he is held with no bond.

Edwards was sentenced and arrested twice in 2018 for breaking probation of a herioin charge. His court date is set for February 6, 2019.

Chris Brown

Photo: Tibrina Hobson/Getty Images

Chris Brown and two other unidentified people have been detained in Paris on charges of aggravated rape and multiple narcotics offenses. The French magazine Closer reported that Brown was placed in police custody on January 21, 2019, based on the statement of an unnamed womanregarding his actions the night of January 15-16. He was released without charge by French police and the investigation is continuing.

Brown has most recently been in jail on a felony battery charge in April 2017. On January 22nd, Brown’s attorney Raphael Chiche stated on Twitter that the singer would be filing a slander suit against the woman who made the statement.

Chris Hansen

Photo: NBC

The former Dateline reporter and host of To Catch A Predator, Chris Hansen, turned himself in to the Stamford Police in Conneticut on January 15, 2019. The former NBC reporter had allegedly bounced checks and failed to pay for almost $13,000 worth of promotional materials. After writing a check that bounced in September 2017 for the mugs, t-shirts, and decals he had ordered from a Stamford merchant on delivery, Hansen again wrote a check that bounced in April 2018.

After turning himself in, Hansen was released on a signed promise to appear in court.see more on Chris Hansen

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Glaciers are losing billions and billions of tons of ice each year

Glaciers have lost more than 9 trillion tons of ice since 1961. Glaciers lost more than 9 trillion tons (that’s 9,625,000,000,000 tons) of ice between 1961 and 2016, according to new research. The loss led to a 27-millimeter increase in global sea levels over this period, researchers found

Source: http://bit.ly/2Vycmo3

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FDA approves new nasal spray to treat depression

A new drug has been approved by the FDA for patients with treatment-resistant depression. The drug is called esketamine — it’s a chemical cousin to an illegal …

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Woman Says Online Romeo Scammed Her Out of $80,000 and Proposed After 1 Week and She’s Not Alone!

John Martin Hill, 35, is behind bars after allegedly meeting a woman online, proposing to her after a week and then swindling her out of $80,000.

John Martin Hill, 35 FRANKLIN POLICE DEPARTMENT

Love hurts.

It can also cost a bundle.

Just ask the Georgia woman who met an online Romeo who allegedly swindled her out of more than $80,000 after asking her to marry him just a week after they met.

On Tuesday night, police in Franklin, Tennessee, arrested the man, John Martin Hill, 35, on an outstanding warrant in connection with the alleged theft, the Gwinnett County, Georgia, Police Department says in a news release obtained by PEOPLE.

Hill is being held at the Williamson County Jail in Tennessee on a $500,000 bond and is awaiting extradition to Georgia, where he faces a felony charge of with theft by deception, the Gwinnett County Police Department says in the release.

John Martin Hill, 35 FRANKLIN POLICE DEPARTMENT

“By sharing this story, it is our hope that he is not able to victimize any other women using this scam,” police say in the release. “These types of con men are very good at manipulating their victims. They tend to say everything that a woman wants to hear.”

In this case, the alleged scam came to light when a woman from Alpharetta called the Gwinnett County Police Department to report that she met a man named John Hill on Match.com who bilked her out of more than $80,000.

John Martin Hill, 35 GWINNET COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT

Hill allegedly told the victim that he was a millionaire — and promised more.

“During their short romance, he convinced her that they were in love and wanted to buy a house together,” police allege in the release.

They allegedly went house-hunting and selected a home they liked. Within a week of knowing one another, they allegedly agreed to get married.

Preparing for her new life with Hill, the woman allegedly gave the suspect more than $80,000 to use to buy the house and furniture, say police.

She never heard from him again.

As authorities began looking into the case, they discovered that Hill was allegedly living a completely different life than the one he led the woman to believe.

Hill, one of the detectives learned, lives an apartment in Duluth — about 11 miles away from Alpharetta — with another woman and child.

Acting on a tip Tuesday night, police in Tennessee  arrested Hill — considered a fugitive out of Georgia — at the Cool Springs Marriott, Frankllin Police say in a news release.

Before he was ultimately arrested, Hill allegedly “attempted to evade arriving Franklin Police Officers by darting into a hotel conference room and hiding under a table,” the release says.

Suspect Allegedly Wooed Other Women

The Alpharetta woman wasn’t the only woman Hill had allegedly swept off her feet and scammed, police learned.

“Further investigation into John Hill revealed that he has changed his name over five times in the past two and a half years,” police say in the release, adding that women in  Virginia, Delaware, Maryland, and New Jersey have accused him of similar crimes.

It is not known if he has been charged in those cases.

Since authorities first alerted the public to Hill’s alleged scam, they say they’ve heard from other women who allege that they were either in a relationship with Hill or knew someone who was romantically involved with him, the release says.

It is unclear if Hill has retained an attorney who can speak on his behalf. He has not yet entered a plea.

The department cautions people who meet others online to be careful not to share personal information, financial information, or cash with someone in the early stages of a relationship.

Anyone with information on Hill is asked to contact GCPD detectives at 770-513-5300.  To remain anonymous, tipsters should contact Crime Stoppers at 404-577-TIPS (8477) or visit www.stopcrimeATL.com.

Source: http://bit.ly/2W4WudJ

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Who’s the victim, and who is to blame? A bullet, a miscarriage and an unthinkable question

A 27-year-old Birmingham woman was indicted on manslaughter charges Wednesday in the loss of her pregnancy, even though, police say, another woman pulled the trigger. The East Thomas neighborhood is shaken with the question of who is to blame. (Gheni Platenburg for The Washington Post)

A 27-year-old Birmingham woman was indicted on manslaughter charges Wednesday in the loss of her pregnancy, even though, police say, another woman pulled the trigger. The East Thomas neighborhood is shaken with the question of who is to blame.

BIRMINGHAM — As she recovered in a hospital bed on a chilly December night, Marshae Jones could only think about what she’d lost.

The 27-year-old was five months pregnant when she was involved in a fight that, authorities say, prompted a woman to fire a gun in self defense. The bullet tore through Jones’s abdomen and caused a miscarriage, anguishing the young mother — and the historic East Thomas neighborhood of central Alabama, where her family has lived for generations.

“As her pastor, I would ask whoever to prayerfully consider the heart of this young lady,” said Rev. George Robinson Jr., the pastor of First Baptist of East Thomas, where Jones and her family attend church. “Marshae is not the person that has been pictured or painted of her. She’s not that young lady.”

Robinson said he prayed with Jones in the hospital that night, and in the weeks leading up to Wednesday, when a grand jury indicted her on a manslaughter charge for the death of her own fetus.

The complex case has divided those seeking to place blame in the fetus’s death, a tension augmented by the abortion debate in Alabama and the state’s broad manslaughter law, which makes it a felony to “recklessly” cause the death of another person.

“She was really sorrowful about everything that actually transpired up to this point,” Robinson told The Washington Post, speaking of the woman’s reaction in the aftermath of the shooting. “Her words to me were she could not believe she lost the baby.”

In a Friday statement, the office of District Attorney Lynneice Washington said they have not decided whether Jones will be prosecuted for manslaughter, face a lesser charge or be cleared in the death of her fetus. A grand jury looked at actions by both women and declined to indict Ebony Jemison, the woman who fired the shot, prosecutors said. The jurors instead returned an indictment for Jones.

Robinson and others close to Jones, who has a young daughter, say it’s difficult to picture the “lovable and caring” mother as an aggressor. They say Jones may have been caught up in the heat of the moment on the afternoon of Dec. 4, 2018, when police and prosecutors allege she initiated a fight with Jemison outside a Dollar General.

In a phone interview late Thursday, Jemison’s mother, Earka, told The Post that her daughter was cleared by the grand jury because evidence and testimony was presented to suggest that Jones started the fight, causing Ebony to fire a warning shot out of fear. Jones worked at the same company as Ebony Jemison and the fetus’s father, and tension developed between the two women, according to Jemison’s mother.

She said things boiled over in December when Jones, who was driving with friends at the time, spotted Jemison and leaped out of the vehicle to attack her. Jones’s friends left the car soon afterward and began to move toward the scuffle, she said.

“Ebony was afraid for her life and reached in her purse for the gun,” her mother said, adding that her daughter had a license to carry the weapon. “She tried to fire a warning shot to get away from her.”

But the shot — which Jemison’s mother says was aimed at the ground — ricocheted into Jones. Earka Jemison told The Post that her daughter received threats after the indictment.

“If they weren’t sitting in the courtroom, let them talk,” the mother said about the people threatening her daughter. “I saw the evidence. I saw the evidence.”

Jones was released on $50,000 bond Thursday. In a statement Friday, Jones’s attorneys said their client was facing “unprecedented legal action” that had tarnished the reputation of both Jones and the state of Alabama. The law firm White Arnold & Dowd said it would fight vigorously for her exoneration to prevent a “grave injustice.”

“This young mother was shot in the stomach while five months pregnant and lost her baby as a result. She lost her home to a fire and lost her job,” the firm said. “Now, for reasons that defy imagination, she faces an unprecedented legal action that subjects this victim of violence to further distress and harm.”

In front of a modest blue home in Birmingham on a hot, sunny day, Jamal Jones identified himself as Marshae Jones’s second cousin. He told The Washington Post that Jones and Jemison had feuded in the past but that Jones has always been a quiet, soft-spoken person.

“She’s a good mom,” the 37-year-old said of Jones, who has a young daughter. “Her daughter is with her everywhere. She makes sure she gets her to school every day, picks her up, feeds her. She don’t try to put her off on anybody.”

Booking photo of Marshae Jones. (Jefferson County Jail)

He added: “She’s a good person. I’m not just saying that because she’s my cousin. She gets along with anybody.”

Jones’s mother, who declined to give her first name, said she was turning to her faith amid a trying time for her family.

Jones “is a fun-loving mom, churchgoing, a hard-working lady,” Jones’s mother said. “My child just doesn’t bother anybody.”

Speaking with AL.com, Jones’s grandmother, Patrice Jones, echoed those sentiments.

“It’s not fair,’’ the grandmother said. “Marshae didn’t have a gun. How did they turn it around on her?”

“We feel sympathy for the families involved, including Ms. Jones, who lost her unborn child,’’ the district attorney’s office said. “The fact that this tragedy was 100 percent avoidable makes this case even more disheartening.”

Alabama is among 38 states with laws that classify fetuses as victims in homicide or assault, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. In Alabama, a “person” includes embryos and fetuses at any stage of development. And rights groups say those laws are ensnaring pregnant women.

Lynn Paltrow, executive director of National Advocates for Pregnant Women, says Alabama leads the country in mothers charged with crimes related to pregnancy. But she said this case was unique.

“This is the first time the idea that fertilized egg or fetal personhood has provided the basis for arrest of a woman because she was pregnant, and she herself was the victim of a criminal act,” Paltrow said. “Alabama has indicted Ms. Jones, claiming it is a crime for a woman to be unable to protect her own life and health.”

Randall Marshall, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama, said the state “is one of the most dangerous places in the country for a black woman trying to carry her pregnancy to term, and this prosecution is just one more attack on the basic human rights and dignity of black women in our state.”

Rev. Robinson, the pastor at Jones’s church, said he did not see young woman as a criminal. He called the situation “shocking” and said the 200 or so members of his tight-knit congregation are equally concerned about the case.

As they struggle to answer unthinkable questions, the East Thomas community waits for a prosecutor to decide whether Jones should be held accountable for her lost pregnancy.

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A Former Cop Was Sentenced To 12 And A Half Years In Prison For Fatally Shooting An Unarmed Australian Yoga Teacher

“Uber took my daughter past the point of no return.”

The family of a 12-year-old Florida girl who died by suicide after taking an Uber alone is demanding the ride-hailing company make changes to enforce its policy of not allowing minors to use the service without an adult.

On the morning of Jan. 10 while her parents were sleeping, Benita Diamond downloaded the Uber app on her mother’s phone and requested a ride to a downtown Orlando parking garage, where she killed herself.

“I believe that if the driver had questioned or followed the rules or denied a ride, my daughter would be here today,” the girl’s mother, Lisha Chen, said during a press conference Thursday.

Uber requires all account holders to be at least 18 years old and prohibits children from riding without an adult. Drivers are instructed to decline ride requests if they suspect the person requesting the ride is underage and may request ID to confirm, according to the company.

“If a rider is underage, please do not start the trip or allow them to ride,” Uber’s website states.

But, according to her family, the 12-year-old was able to create an account without her parents knowledge on Jan. 8, using just a name, an email address, and a gift card she received for Christmas. Two days later, an Uber driver picked up the 4-foot-11-inch seventh-grader and drove her to the City Commons Parking Garage.

“At no point was she asked her name, was she asked her age — no questions were asked why a little girl under 5 feet tall dragging a polka-dot backpack was out in the wee hours of the morning by herself,” the family’s attorney, Laura Douglas, said.

An Uber spokesperson said in an email to BuzzFeed News that the incident had not been reported to the company over the last six months and that it was now investigating and planned to “take appropriate action.”

The spokesperson said that when the company receives a report of an underage rider it investigates to determine whether the driver or account holder should lose access to the app.

“Drivers are asked to report situations where a rider is underage to Uber for further review/investigation by our 24/7 customer support team,” the spokesperson said.

Benita’s parents described their daughter as a happy child who excelled in school and at playing the piano and performing jujitsu. They said she did not have a history of behavioral issues or mental illness.

“Everybody was shocked because nobody suspected she had any problems,” Chen said, adding that they still don’t know why she killed herself.

Ronald Diamond, the girl’s father, said their daughter wrote in a suicide note that she thought she would have more difficulty getting an Uber and that she was “basically … past the point of no return now.”

“I think if Uber had followed their policy, without a doubt our daughter would still be here. That would have been the one red flag that we would have caught,” Diamond said. “Uber took my daughter past the point of no return.”

The family is considering filing a lawsuit against the company in the hopes that Uber will better enforce its policies and make changes to prevent minors from creating accounts.

“I want other families not to go through this,” the girl’s grandfather Richard Diamond said. “It’s not just about suicide. It’s about all the other things that horrific happen to young kids when they’re on their own.”

source

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WOW! Jay-Z named world’s first billionaire rapper!

Nine years ago, two unlikely lunch partners sat down at the Hollywood Diner in Omaha, Nebraska. One, Warren Buffett, was a regular there. The other, Jay-Z, was not. The billionaire and the rapper ordered strawberry malts and chatted amiably, continuing the conversation back at Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway offices.

Buffett, then 80, walked away impressed with the artist 40 years his junior: “Jay is teaching in a lot bigger classroom than I’ll ever teach in. For a young person growing up, he’s the guy to learn from.” This moment, which was originally captured in our 2010 Forbes 400 package, made it clear that Jay-Z already had a blueprint for his own ten-figure fortune. “Hip-hop from the beginning has always been aspirational,” he said.

Less than a decade later, it’s clear that Jay-Z has accumulated a fortune that conservatively totals $1 billion, making him one of only a handful of entertainers to become a billionaire—and the first hip-hop artist to do so. Jay-Z’s steadily growing kingdom is expansive, encompassing liquor, art, real estate (homes in Los Angeles, the Hamptons, Tribeca) and stakes in companies like Uber.

His journey is all the more impressive given its start: Brooklyn’s notorious Marcy housing projects. He was a drug dealer before becoming a musician, starting his own label, Roc-A-Fella Records, to release his 1996 debut, Reasonable Doubt. Since then he’s amassed 14 No. 1 albums, 22 Grammy awards and over $500 million in pretax earnings in a decade.

Crucially, he realized that he should build his own brands rather than promote someone else’s: the clothing line Rocawear, started in 1999 (soldfor $204 million to Iconix in 2007); D’Ussé, a cognac he co-owns with Bacardi; and Tidal, a music-streaming service.

Kasseem “Swizz Beatz” Dean, the superproducer behind some of Jay-Z’s biggest hits (“On To The Next One,” Beyoncé’s “Upgrade U”), looks at Jay-Z as something others can model: “It’s bigger than hip-hop … it’s the blueprint for our culture. A guy that looks like us, sounds like us, loves us, made it to something that we always felt that was above us.”

“If he’s a billionaire now, imagine what he’s about to be,” Swizz Beatz says. “Because he’s only just starting.”

What’s Jay-Z Worth?

To calculate his net worth, we looked at the artist’s stakes in companies like Armand de Brignac champagne, applying our customary discount to private firms. (He owns 100% of Armand de Brignac and has partial ownership of the other companies.) Then added up his income, subtracting a healthy amount to account for a superstar lifestyle. We checked our numbers with a roster of outside experts to ensure these estimates were fair and conservative. Turns out, Jay-Z really is a business, man.

Armand de Brignac

$310 million

Jay-Z has used his music to shill the $300 gold bottles of the “Ace of Spades” champagne since launching the brand with the 2006 video “Show Me What You Got.” More recently, his verse on Meek Mill’s “What’s Free” put a half-billion-dollar value on the wine, which seems like a bit too bubbly a number.

Cash & investments

$220 million

A vast investing portfolio includes a stake in Uber worth an estimated $70 million. He reportedly purchased his piece for $2 million back in 2013—and then wired founder Travis Kalanick another $5 million in an attempt to increase his holdings, but was rebuffed.

D’Ussé

$100 million

Jay-Z’s cognac, a joint venture with beverage giant Bacardi, moves almost 200,000 cases and has grown nearly 80% annually. “Jay-Z resonates with consumers who are attracted to the ultra-premium lifestyle,” says Eric Schmidt, Beverage Marketing Corp.’s Director of Alcohol Research.

Tidal

$100 million

In 2015, Jay-Z submitted a bid to purchase the Scandinavian streaming service’s parent company for just shy of $60 million. He relaunched Tidal later that year with a roster of celebrity investors including his wife, Beyoncé, and other music luminaries, from Kanye West to Calvin Harris.

Roc Nation

$75 million

This wide-ranging entertainment company started over a decade ago as part of a joint venture with concert giant Live Nation. Roc Nation represents some of the top stars in the entertainment through its sports agency (Kevin Durant, Todd Gurley) as well as its record label and artist-management arms (Rihanna, J. Cole).

Music catalog

$75 million

Before the beginning of his stint as Def Jam’s chief in 2004, Jay-Z negotiatedthe eventual return of his master recordings from the aforementioned label that helped launch his career; in a separate deal with EMI, he clawed back his publishing rights. Wise move: his hits now clock close to 1 billion streams annually.

Art collection

$70 million

In the song “Picasso Baby,” Jay-Z boasted about a “Basquiat in my kitchen corner.” He probably wasn’t kidding. For over a decade, he’s been scooping up masterpieces like Basquiat’s “Mecca,” purchased in 2013 for a reported $4.5 million. “He’s rapped about it all in detail,” says Fab 5 Freddy, a contemporary and friend of the late painter. “Jay-Z helped educate millions of hip-hop fans mentioning Jean-Michel.”

Real estate

$50 million

After welcoming twins in 2017, Jay-Z and Beyoncé bought a pair of homes to match: a $26 million East Hampton mansion and a $88 million Bel Air estate. Jay-Z also owns a Tribeca penthouse, snagged for $6.85 million in 2004.

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Shady secrets McDonald’s doesn’t want you to know

For a company that specializes in food, folks, and fun, it’s pretty amazing how shady McDonald’s actually is. You might think it’s no big deal to walk in, order a burger, get it in two minutes, and then leave. But apparently such a thing can only be accomplished by bending (or outright breaking) every rule in the book. Some genuine sociopathy from the people in charge helps too, as you’re about to find out.

They once got (and still might get) their nuggets from lethally abused chickens

Obviously, to enjoy meat of any kind, some animal had to sacrifice its life. But it’s always refreshing to know the animal lived peacefully and died in its slumber. But, according to summer 2015 footage released by activist group Mercy For Animals, McDonald’s cares not one iota for that, working with farms that openly, brazenly, and possibly gleefully abuse their chickens before murdering them into almost-food. The farm that Mercy For Animals targeted, T&S Farm, was recorded beating chickens to death with spiked clubs, with the occasional curb-stomping for variety’s sake. The workers knew full well what they were doing, with one outright asking the cameraman, “you don’t work for PETA, do you?” like a kid caught with his hand in an extremely bloody cookie jar.

Since the video, McDonald’s has disavowed the chicken-killing farm, giving the usual PR responses to assuage as many disgusted customers as humanly possible. But not even the slickest press release can answer three burning questions: how long has this happened, why did it take this video for a major company to realize bludgeoning food to death for fun is evil, and since it’s been a year already, are they secretly working with that farm again?

They won’t pay workers overtime for working major holidays

For a long time, McDonald’s understood what Thanksgiving and Christmas meant, and so they allowed their workers to enjoy both the holiday and all the turkey they can stomach. But money cares not for our arcane traditions and emotions, and so in 2012 McDonald’s started opening on the holidays. This was always a thing company-owned stores did, but now they were “urging” (or, really, forcing) franchisees to do the same. Apparently, doing so rakes in thousands per restaurant, which is all that matters anymore. And yes, if you’ve hit McDonald’s either of these days, you’re officially part of the problem. Commence feeling bad…now.

That’s pretty sucky of them, but at least franchise owners can pay holiday overtime. Workers at the company-owned stores, unfortunately, are fresh out of luck—McD’s flat-out refuses to pay them extra for working on a day that, as far as many are concerned, should only be worked by those who deal in emergencies. (No, Big Mac withdrawal doesn’t count.) They hide under the excuse that, because workers volunteer to work those days, they’re not entitled to overtime pay. Because when you’re dirt-broke, struggling to raise a family, and living from minimum-wage paycheck to minimum-wage paycheck, you definitely have the option of not volunteering to get paid for something.

Like so many other thieving rich folk, McDonald’s has apparently devolved into filthy, leeching tax cheats. According to the wonderfully titled Golden Dodges: How McDonald’s Avoids Paying Its Fair Share of Tax, between 2009 and 2013, McDonald’s avoided paying over $1.8 billion in taxes. The company used a series of barely legal (and something not even that) loopholes and cleverly shifting profits from whatever country they earned them in, to low-tax havens in countries they didn’t. This seems to especially be true overseas, where McDonald’s is looking at charges that they stole a billion euros ($1.1 billion American) from the European Union by sending their profits through Luxembourg, a country barely big enough to physically store all that money. Australia claims McDonald’s did the same thing there, sending their profits through Singapore and magically pocketing about a half billion in would-be taxes.

Even Brazil has a McBone to pick with the company, claiming they regularly bribe tax officials for minor favors like, oh, ignoring all laws so suddenly the company pays fewer taxes with no issues. But hey, they might have to charge ten extra cents per box of nuggets if they can’t deprive the world’s schools and hospitals of much-needed funding, and we can’t have that.

For some reason, enough people hit McDonald’s with their health in mind for the company to make mad bank selling food meant to trim your waistline on the cheap. That sounds great, except that it’s wrong in every conceivable way. The chicken kale Caesar salad, for example, clocks in at a cool 730 calories, 53 grams of fat, and 1,400 milligrams of sodium—numbers that absolutely should not be attached to a bunch of leaves. For comparison’s sake, a Double Big Mac has 680 calories and 1,340 mgs of sodium, meaning they’re touting a healthy salad that’s unhealthier than their unhealthiest hunk of cow. But don’t worry, you can skip the dressing, eat a plain dry salad, and save 200 calories, so now it’s only unhealthier than a single Big Mac. Small victories are still victories.

For the breakfast crowd, McDonald’s oatmeal has got you covered, and hornswoggled. Thanks to “fun” additives like cream, “natural flavor,” and sugar, the McOatmeal clocks in at 290 calories, with 32 sugar grams. You would literally do better with candy for breakfast—a regular-size Snickers bar, for example, only has 280 calories and 30 grams of sugar. Plus, Snickers doesn’t pretend to be anything it’s not. You can trust a Snickers bar, unlike anything Ronald McDonald touts as good for your abs.

They’ll sue anyone with the gall to run a business with ‘Mc’ or ‘Mac’ in its name

Once you get greedy enough, any threat to even a dime of your profit must be fought tooth-and-nail, even if it means losing more money to lawyers than you ever would’ve to the “competition.” It’s the principle that counts. In this case, we have McDonald’s going after literally any small business that uses “Mc” or “Mac,” because that’s their thing, and they don’t customers getting confused by seeing it anywhere else. The customer is apparently both always right, and the dumbest people on the planet.

Sometimes, they sue fast food joints, like McJoy in the Philippines or Mac Dooglas in Colombia (which was destroying McDonald’s bottom line with three whole restaurants in a tiny village no one outside the tiny village had even heard of.) But other times they just get petty, like when they sued a coffee shop called McCoffee—which had that name for 17 years—until they finally agreed to change their name and stop leeching tens of dollars from poor little McDonald’s. Though probably the stupidest case was when they went after a hot dog stand called McAllan. Like, a single hot dog stand, which is a product McDonald’s doesn’t even serve. That’s like Budweiser suing some kid’s lemonade stand. They lost that case, after the judge returned with a verdict of “really?” But usually, McDonald’s wins hands-down, valiantly beating back the evil little guy with the almighty power of Unlimited Wealth.

McDonald’s would rather use self-serve kiosks than pay employees a higher wage

Does McDonald’s food actually taste good? Who cares? It’s cheap! One of the primary ways that McDonald’s pulls that off is by paying the majority of its employees the least that it’s legally allowed to do so. In most places, that’s right at, or close to, the federal standard of just $7.25 an hour, an amount economic experts prefer to as “a complete tease.”

However, many cities and states have recently opted to raise their local minimum wages, in the hopes that workers can finally afford more than a closet inside a studio apartment. In Arizona and Colorado, it’s set to rise to $12 an hour, Washington’s will soon be $13.50 per hour, and Los Angeles workers will get a minimum of 15 bucks an hour. These states that have the audacity to pay workers a living wage could severely cut into McDonald’s bottom line, so the company has responded by threatening to replace its employees with robots: specifically, self-service kiosks. Robots work for free! At least, until the Uprising.

Here’s how it works: Customers come into a McDonald’s, enter their order on a touchscreen, the company CEO buys another 500-foot yacht and vacations in Bermuda. RoboClerk then sends the order to the kitchen, where an actual human (for now) puts the food together. Yes, they do have to pay somebody for that job (for now), but it does mean McDonald’s no longer has to staff a person at the counter—a great savings to the company, even at minimum wage.

They’ll roll these kiosks out nationally and internationally, if they prove to be efficient and cost-effective in test runs. What a golden time the future will be, when a screen instead of a human will ask “do you want fries with that?”

Their burgers don’t decompose

Burgers taste best when they’re hot and freshly prepared, but if you order those things at Mickey D’s and for some reason can’t get to them for a while, like say, a few months, don’t worry about it, they’re still “fine.” Or at least, they look fine. Eerily, McDonald’s small hamburgers don’t seem to rot at a regular pace. Or much at all, really.

In 2008, a health blogger named Karen Hanrahan posted a photo of a McDonald’s hamburger … that she’d bought in 1996 and saved, just to see what would happen. What happened is that, after twelve years, it looked the same as it looked in 1996, and it also looked the same as a brand-new McDonald’s hamburger.

Hanrahan argued that the immortality of the burger must be due to the vast array of preservatives in the burger, which rendered it “chemical food” that lacked any sort of natural nutrition. But according to food scientist J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, writing for Serious Eats, regular McDonald’s hamburgers don’t decompose normally because they don’t — and can’t — dry out. A typical McBurger is a non-perishable food on the level of dried beans, saltines, and other pantry staples. Paranoid of the apocalypse? Building a fallout shelter? Install a McDonald’s. Wasteland be damned, you’ll never starve.

How is this possible, though? Simple — there’s nothing to dry. A small McDonald’s hamburger is thin but flat, making for a high surface area-to-volume ratio. Then, it’s cooked until well-done on a hot grill, sucking out all the tasty, delicious, mortal moisture. No moisture means no bacteria—decaying agents—can propagate. Ever. And thus, the food lasts forever. Basically, you’re eating a mummy.

The company receives hundreds of millions in government cheese

The 2015 launch of all-day breakfast at McDonald’s led to two things: the meaningless of time, with regards to breakfast being a morning thing, and increased sales at McDonald’s nationwide. During the last quarter of that year, the company raked in a whopping $6.22 billion, attributable largely to the novelty of being served an English muffin with eggs on it just in time for Jeopardy!

That being said, it’s much easier for a company to rake in the profits if they’re getting free money from the government so it can play with its menu and experiment with late-evening hash browns. And they do — between 2003 and 2013, McDonald’s got subsidies from 42 state and city governments totaling nearly $4 million. McDonald’s even got a piece of the big federal “bailout” package in 2008 and 2009: a $203 million piece to be exact. McDonald’s: Too big to fail, and as long as government fatcats get literally fat off of midnight snack McGriddles, it never, ever will.

There’s a whole herd of cattle in that one burger

McDonald’s store signs claim “billions and billions served,” which means the number of burgers sold as much as it does the customers who have eaten those burgers. To serve that many burgers, McDonald’s has to slaughter and prepare an incredibly high volume of cattle in incredibly large and sophisticated meat-processing facilities. McDonald’s calls this burger creation the “blending process,” and it somehow gets more appetizing when you learn the step-by-step process.

In a nutshell, just so, so many cows are slaughtered. Their meat gets mixed together, and then formed into patties, but it’s done so haphazardly that a single beef patty may contain the meat of up to 100 different cows. A Bessie is a Bessie is a Bessie, apparently. But hey, even if you eat nothing but McDonald’s burgers, you’re still eating a wide variety of food from all over the globe.

The truth behind the “hot coffee” lawsuit

It’s the case most associated with “frivolous lawsuits” or an overly litigious society: the woman who successfully sued McDonald’s after she went and spilled a cup of their coffee on herself. The reality of the case, however, is quite complex, and, frankly, horrifying.

In 1992, 79-year-old Stella Liebeck went through a McDonald’s drive-through and pulled up on the lid to put in some cream—which, you know, cools it down—and wound up dumping it all over her sweatpants-covered lower half. But coffee, especially McDonald’s coffee, is hot: Even with clothes on, the brown stuff caused third-degree burns on over 16 percent of Liebeck’s body, including her thighs and genitals, burning the skin away completely in some places. During her eight-day hospitalization Liebeck underwent painful skin graft surgery.

Liebeck sued McDonald’s, initially wanting just $20,000 to cover medical costs and lost income during her recovery. That’s not so bad, but as we’ve made perfectly clear thus far, McDonald’s is both cheap and petty. The company offered $800 (roughly 800 cups of McDonald’s coffee), which was so insulting, Liebeck’s lawyers took them to court. Ultimately, she was awarded about $3 million by a jury who did find her partially responsible, because she pulled up on the lid too hard, but McDonald’s mostly responsible, for serving coffee way too hot for human consumption and/or handling.

Among the information that came out in the trial: McDonald’s required its restaurants to serve coffee at around 185 degrees, which is way hotter than what Mr. Coffee produces. In fact, a thermodynamics expert testified a liquid that temperature can burn through human skin in as little as two seconds. Even more shocking: In the decade before the Liebeck case, McDonald’s had received more than 700 complaints from people who had burned themselves on the coffee—and yet the company still refused to lower the temperature. They could’ve lost no money, then could’ve lost just 20 K, then lost 3 million, all because they were stubborn. Food, folks, and fantastic stupidity.

The weird history of Ronald McDonald

It is seemingly impossible to escape the lure of McDonald’s. Much like Jason Voorhees, run as hard as you want, but everywhere you turn, there it is, staring at you with its golden arches. Resistance is futile. At the center of the McDonald’s universe, holding it all together for generations, is the cherry-red smile of the infamous Ronald McDonald. While the mere mention of McDonald’s invokes images of pure Americana, Ronald’s white face-paint, carrot-top hair and peering smile masks a more oddball history. Grab your fries, kids.

Ronald was a replacement

Let the truth be told: Ronald started life as a scab.

In the Washington, D.C., area, Bozo the Clown, a children’s TV character that was franchised locally and played by different performers in different markets, was used to help promote the local McDonald’s franchise, owned by Oscar Goldstein and John Gibson. When Bozo went off the air in the D.C. marketplace, “Ronald McDonald, the Hamburger-Happy Clown” appeared faster than The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air could recast Aunt Viv. One second, Bozo was there, then Ronald burst upon the scene. Gullible children were none the wiser, and they continued to gobble burgers.

Clad in a yellow jumpsuit and striped shirt, early Ronald wore a paper cup for a nose and a tray for a hat while a complete McDonald’s meal hung from his belt buckle. Today, the Fashion Police would be blasting sirens, but the 1960s were a more colorful and accepting time. At least for clowns.

While Bozo faded into the past as a warmly-regarded nostalgia act, Ronald began to build his empire upon the foundation his predecessor had left behind. After just three local D.C. commercials, the clown was plucked from obscurity to star in national commercials. A star was born, but poor Bozo would never be publicly credited as Ronald’s forefather. Pie to the face for you, Bozo!

His creator was ignored for decades!

While credited by McDonald’s as the first performer to portray Ronald McDonald, the fast food kings have been less than forthcoming with the role famous television weatherman Willard Scott had in creating Ronald. They never told you the truth, Ronald. He is your father.

In his 1982 book Joy of Living, Scott wrote that the owners of the local Washington, D.C., McDonald’s franchise hired him to come up with the burger-boosting replacement for Bozo the Clown. A local radio personality at the time, Scott took center stage in a trio of McDonald’s commercials as the clown, including one ensuring the flower power generation was indeed aware of Stranger Danger.

Ray Kroc, responsible for the franchise’s expansion nationally and beyond, sensed potential, promoting Ronald to national mascot. Scott, however, was cast aside, and the role was recast. Much as Kroc left the McDonald brothers in the dust, Ronald abandoned Scott, who was uncredited for the role he originated, without as much as an Extra Value Meal to show for it.

Scott famously had a decades-long run as an NBC weatherman, but even he couldn’t forecast that after he went public with his claims, McDonald’s would remain silent, beyond a brief acknowledgement Scott was the first to portray Ronald. Brrrr. Talk about a cold front. Even more insulting, the official credit for Ronald’s creation went to Oscar Goldstein, one of the franchise owners that tapped Scott to create Ronald to begin with.

Scott’s role would continue to be ignored until March 2000, when NBC’s Today Show aired a tribute to Scott that featured Henry Gonzalez, at the time President of McDonald’s Northeast Division, finally thanking Scott for his role in creating Ronald. Scott would retire from television in 2015, but had he received royalties for siring Ronald, certainly he’d have been long gone, lounging on some giant tropical island and basking in all his creative glory.

His best friend was evil

Everyone loves Grimace. He’s Ronald’s best friend, that jovial blob who popularized purple decades before Prince was singing about rain. However, it’s been a deep-harbored secret that Grimace was not always as fun-loving — he used to be straight-up evil.

Evil Grimace, as he was originally coined, debuted as a four-armed thief out to steal milkshakes and sodas, only to be thwarted by Ronald, who tricked him into leaving all of the stolen goods behind by pretending to be a mailman delivering a fake invitation for a McDonald’s beauty contest. Yes, this is how they sold burgers in the ’70s. Groovy, man.

While Grimace may have been the scourge of McDonaldland when he debuted back in 1971, his reign of terror did not last long. After a few appearances, he was retconned into the dim-witted, happy right-hand man for Ronald we know today. They even cut off two of his arms.

Exactly how this happened in-universe has never been revealed. Was Evil Grimace apprehended and reprogrammed, A Clockwork Orange-style? McDonald’s isn’t talking, but it’s possible. Such treatment might kill a mere mortal, for as we know, nothing can kill the Grimace.

He lived in a psychedelic nightmare

Everyone needs a place to hang their hat, right? Spokesclowns are no different, and in trippy days of the 1970s, his home, McDonaldland, was revealed. Featuring anthropomorphic characters designed to espouse the enrichment of the world through fast food, McDonaldland was complete sensory overload to children, with bright, colorful characters that looked as if they escaped Disney purgatory. Even better, you didn’t need to go on vacation to see them — they were broadcast right to you, originally in a memorable series of commercials, before evolving into VHS adventures that McDonald’s used to enrapture guests at children’s birthday parties, along with some of the trippiest playgrounds of all time.

Presided over by Mayor McCheese, a politician who remains so beloved he was actually endorsed in the 2016 Presidential Election, McDonaldland was a fantastic fever dream, filled with apple pie trees and thick shake volcanoes — the magical place where Ronald and Grimace foiled the sinister plots of Hamburglar and others who sought to swipe McDonald’s meals for themselves. These colossal battles of good vs. evil deftly balanced delivering moral lessons to kids while also accomplishing their true task: They Live-style subliminal advertising that McDonald’s is yummy and awesome and kids should ask for it all the time. Indoctrinating the young is the key to repeat business. Ask the WWE.

Like Atlantis before it, McDonaldland was lost to time and the ever-changing whims of corporate America. Modern campaigns put the gang out to pasture. Still, future civilizations may one day come across the ruins of McDonaldland and assume we worshiped at the altar of a crazy clown in a yellow jumpsuit. Stranger things, indeed.

He was sued by H.R. Pufnstuf

When the McDonaldland ad campaign was launched, the colorful characters starring in madcap adventures certainly delighted thousands of children, but there was one family it didn’t delight — The Kroffts. Brothers Sid and Marty Krofft ruled over their own magical puppet kingdom, and were at the height of their popularity at the time. They were the kings of the psychedelic ’70s Saturday morning genre, so it was hardly a surprise when they were approached by McDonald’s ad agency Needham, Harper and Steers and asked to sprinkle some of that unbridled creativity over Ronald’s head. The two sides came to terms, but the agency soon yanked those plans.

So imagine The Kroffts’ surprise when McDonaldland debuted and Mayor McCheese bore a striking resemblance to their own top creation, H.R. Pufnstuf. To make matters worse, the Krofft brothers later learned some of their former employees had also worked on the campaign, and the Ice Capades later declined to renew the usage of Kroft characters, in favor of the McDonaldland copycats. Faster than you can say Freddy the Flute, a lawsuit was launched from the Land of the Lost, with all parties soon sitting before a magical jury that was to decree whether The Kroffts’ copyrights had been infringed.

The jury agreed with the Kroffts, but only awarded $50,000 in damages. Both sides flew like Birdie the Early Bird to an appeals court — The Kroffts, to get more of that Fry Guy cash, while McDonald’s, like Captain Crook, wanted to escape scot-free. Testimony indicated that representatives of Needham had toured Krofft HQ even after they had opted not to go with the family, leaving McDonald’s in quite the bind, legally. In the end, it was decided that The Kroffts were indeed owed some of that McDough, to the tune of $1,044,000. On top of that, McDonaldland commercials were shuttered. The Hamburglar did not escape this time, folks.

Moral of the story, kids? Who’s your friend when things get rough? Lawyers, that’s who.

McDonald’s tried to put a real-life Ronald McDonald out of business

McDonald’s is extremely protective and litigious over their brand. Just open any business that features a “Mc” and watch McLawyers descend upon you for a McBeating. So, it probably came as no surprise when McDonald’s attempted to legally smack down Fairbury, Illinois, eatery McDonald’s Family Restaurant over the use of the McDonald’s name.

What was unique was that the owner and proprietor was one Ronald McDonald. No kidding. Ronald McDonald opened his 240-seat eatery in 1956. When corporate McDonalds became aware of this establishment, it began firing off legal letters and phone calls, warning the McDonald family that they were trading on McDonald’s good name. In response, the family slightly changed the title, removing the possessive “s” from their name.

Not good enough for McDonald’s: it then descended upon Fairbury and opened its own outlet, seeking to plant a flag and become the dominant local McDonald’s. It was McDavid vs. McGoliath, for the hearts and stomachs of fair Fairbury.

The battle lasted three years, and, despite their corporate might, McDonald’s found itself unable to uproot Ronald. They finally tapped out, shutting down their location. This led Ronald to snark, “Most of our customers tried it once and never went back. They say they don’t miss it and they are glad we won out.” A McDonald’s spokesperson gave it their best spin, noting, “Closings rarely happen, because we are normally very good at site evaluation.” Hey, Mike Tyson was great at knocking people out, too, but then he met Buster Douglas.

Victorious, Ronald even kicked a little dirt on his clownish cousin post-victory, adding the possessive “s” right back to the name of his own eatery, where it has remained to this very day. Fairbury remains McNugget-free for two decades and counting.

The Hamburglar is real

Debuting in 1971, the Hamburglar joined the Ronald’s rogue’s gallery, attempting, over and over, to commit grand theft burger and hoard McDonaldland’s finest all for himself, but falling short every time. He’s received a few makeovers over the years, going from red-headed stepchild to his most recent incarnation, where he came to life and swapped his trademark bush hat for a Twitter-trending fedora, until dropping off the radar again. Or did he?

In April 2016, international headlines were made when a mysterious hat-wearing suspect broke into a Five Guys restaurant in the Washington, D.C., area and promptly cooked himself a meal. Despite calls to the public for help in identifying this hardened criminal, authorities were unable to apprehend this menace to society. Officer Big Mac, asleep on the job. Robble robble!

The McMarketing may have gotten out of hand

Ronald and McDonaldland were specifically designed to market McDonald’s to children, and in that regard, it did gangbuster business, not only in keeping registers ringing across the country, but in getting the characters out of the restaurants and into the hands of children as tangible playthings. There were action figures, plush dolls, McWrist Wallets, novelty records, McDonaldland playsets, VHS tapes, and playgrounds, some of which as dangerous as they were colorful.

In the late-’80s and early-’90s, that weirdness spread to the world of videogames. There was 1993’s McDonald’s Treasure Land Adventure for the Sega Genesis, where Ronald fights off pirates en route to tracking down a treasure map so they could return home via an intergalactic rainbow. Or, 1992’s multi-platform MC Kids, where our heroes chase down Ronald’s magic bag after it was stolen by the Hamburglar. Does Felix the Cat know about this?

All of this madness pales in comparison to the insanity of 1988’s Japanese Famicom-only title Donald Land, where Ronald has to rescue all of his kidnapped friends from an evil clown named Gumon, fighting his own brainwashed friends and evil animals along the way. How did corporate approve this?

The licensing of Ronald across the board was all over the place, to be sure, but hey, it doesn’t matter what we think. He’s enshrined in the National Museum of American History — at least in doll form — forever, and we’re not. So there.

He’s a failed actor

While he’s starred in countless commercials and home videos designed to build upon McDonald’s propaganda, Ronald is also a failed film actor, with just one lone credit to his name. Box office bomb Mac & Me was released in 1988 as an attempt to cash-in on the hot alien craze that followed the release of Spielberg classic E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. One can almost smell Hollywood deal-making in the air as the film unspools, taking the E.T. plot point that used Reese’s Pieces to forge a bond between E.T. and Elliot, only attempting to Xerox that strategy to the umpteenth degree, throwing in any and all product placement the producers could force-feed the audience.

None of these attempts are more traumatizing than an entire sequence that takes place at a mythical McDonald’s, where local children have congregated outside to break-dance. Ronald himself is there as the master of ceremonies for a children’s birthday party that our hero, Eric, attends, secretly bringing his alien pal Mac along for the ride. With Mac safely hidden inside the skin of a teddy bear, this fever dream of a sequence leads to a huge dance number, because, well, it’s the ’80s.

Ronald was heavily involved in promoting the film, but, in the end, it’s become a forgotten relic of the era, sucking the life out of viewers and Ronald’s cinematic dreams alike. The Flashdance reboot will have to wait. Until that day, Ronald will have to settle for motivational speaking gigs.

There have been calls for his retirement

Ronald has been around for generations, a welcoming face to wave families in the door before they scarf down their McNuggets. In recent years, however, his once rock-solid show of support has slipped. As Aaron Eckhart famously said in The Dark Knight, “You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.” To some, Ronald has become the sneaky villain, tricking generations into making terrible choices, like that last shot at closing time.

“This clown is no friend to our children or their health,” proclaimed Corporate Accountability International, who called for Ronald’s unceremonious retirement in 2010, bemoaning him as the key ingredient in the secret sauce of obesity. To some, Ronald, not irresponsible parenting, was the root cause of a fast food nation brimming with health issues.

While McDonald’s did blink, in some regard, adding healthier fare on their menu, and introducing a slightly more grown-up hipster Ronald, in the end, the Southwest Salad and dialing down the kid-friendliness did little to change a nation’s craving for a late night Big Mac. Pass the diabetes.

Creepy clowns almost did him in

Every Superman has his kryptonite. In 2016, it appears that Ronald McDonald’s was discovered: creepy clowns. For inexplicable reasons, a plethora of creepy clowns descended upon planet Earth, popping up in major metropolitan cities and quiet towns alike.

Although there was no evidence that Ronald was culpable in this rising army of sinister clowns, he still shouldered some of the blame, since, for the first time, McDonald’s decided it was going to distance itself. Admitting it was “mindful of the current climate around clown sightings in communities,” the company opted to downplay Ronald’s appearances in the company’s many community and charity events. Although innocent, he was a persecuted clown.

Eventually, the sightings diminished, yet Ronald remains relegated to the shadows, his commercial run apparently far behind him. Until the tides change, one envisions him quietly waiting for the day when he gets to hold court while championing Big Macs yet again. Until then, tears of a clown. An innocent clown. Or was he?

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50 Cent Claims Rotimi Owes Him Money: ‘I Want to Punch This N***a Nose’ (UPDATE)

UPDATED 5/29 AT 4:00 pm EST: After being ambushed by 50 Cent, actor Rotimi has taken to social media to clear the air regarding the rapper’s claims that he owes him money.

In a video uploaded to his Instagram, Rotimi insists that he doesn’t owe 50 Cent any cash.

“I feel like I need to address this. N****s calling me saying I owe 50 money, 50 saying I owe him money. I don’t owe 50 Cent any money,” Rotimi said before listing out his recent accomplishment. “Why now? Why wait until Walk With Me is no. 1 on the charts? Why would you wait until my project is no. 1 on the R&B charts to bring something up like this? I don’t owe you bread.

Yet, 50 states otherwise. Shortly after Rotimi’s post went public, 50 Cent added a video to his account where he gave more information on the alleged debt.

“You do owe me money,” 50 said in caption. “My man you owe a outstanding balance of $300,000 now WALK WITH ME to the bank. That’s right. You owe me 300,000 thousand… You no. 1. Now, you can pay me my money.”

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Since morphing into “FOFTY” 50 Cent has become worse than the IRS. The rapper has dedicated a good portion of his time to tracking down people that owe him various amounts of money and using his social media presence to bully them into paying back their debt. Now, it appears the FOFTY has found a new target as he claims Power star Rotimi has his bread. POST CONTINUES BELOW

Like his other victims, 50 took to Instagram on Wednesday where he gave the entertainer a deadline to cough up the cash.

“Man fuck all that I want my money by Monday,” 50 captioned a video of Rotimi promoting his new album. “Cash n***a where the bag at.”

Of course, this was just the beginning of 50’s tirade. In the following posts, the rapper referenced the success of Rotimi’s album as proof the singer has the bread to pay him back.

“I want to punch this n***a nose [Rotimi] got the #1 RNB album time to pay me on gang,” Fif wrote before continuing to use Rotimi’s album as fuel for his beef. 

“Walk with you, yeah I’m a walk with you to the bank,” 50 captioned a picture of the album’s cover art. “I need to see that bag.”POST CONTINUES BELOW

Although 50 has yet to detail the nature of Rotimi’s debt, he did explain that the entertainer gave him “some” of the money. But, it seems like FOFTY wants all his bread back now that Rotimi’s album is a success.

Unlike 50’s previous squabbles with actors Jackie Long and Teairra Mari, Rotimi has yet to respond to Fif’s antics. Yet if history is a good indicator, Rotimi will likely explain the source of their issues and pay the rapper back before the banks close on Monday. 

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Ohio Family Of Four & Their 3 Dogs Were Found Dead Of Suspected Carbon Monoxide Poisoning In Their Home!

When firefighters entered the home, they found readings inside of 1,000 ppm — the maximum reading on the meter.

A family of four was found dead in their Ohio home on Thursday, the victims of what authorities believe is a case of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Richard Gabriel Reitter III, 50, and his wife, Jennifer Reitter, 49, were found dead in their Genoa Township home along with their two children, Richard and Grace. The families three dogs also died.

“Our community suffered a terrible loss,” Genoa Township Police Chief Stephen Gammill said at a press conference Friday.

Police checked in on the Reitter family Thursday when relatives contacted authorities after being unable to reach the family since Monday.

Officers were told members of the family had been complaining of illness, sparking their concern.

When police arrived, the home was secure and they encountered a suspicious odor, prompting them to contact fire officials, Gammill said.

“Once personnel got on scene, they suspected a carbon monoxide incident,” Genoa Township Fire Deputy Chief Joseph Ponzi said.

Ponzi noted his department deems 30 parts per million (ppm) for carbon monoxide as potentially harmful. When firefighters entered the home, they found readings inside of 1,000 ppm — the maximum reading on the meter.

At 1,000 ppm, a person can lose consciousness within an hour, Ponzi said.

“It was unsafe for any person to enter that structure,” he said.

Carbon monoxide is odorless and colorless, and can spark symptoms similar to the common flu, such as dizziness, headache, and nausea.

Winter months tend to be the time officials most often find cases of potential carbon monoxide poisoning due to faulty heating systems, but officials said the chemical can originate from multiple appliances.

Officials are still looking at the source of the carbon monoxide that lead to the family’s deaths, Gammill said.

“We cannot stress enough to have at least one carbon monoxide detector on every level of your home,” Ponzi said.

On Facebook, Holly Reitter paid tribute to her late cousin’s family and urged people to install and check carbon monoxide monitors.

“Please check and double check your detectors or order more if you need to. Life is too short,” she wrote. “Save your life and others by a simple gesture. RIP to my cousin and his family suddenly lost by this silent killer.”

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