Source: Alberto E. Rodriguez / Getty
This week, the stars aligned for one Twitter user with big dreams about Michael B. Jordan.
It was also a week where White ally-ship for Black issues was once again up for question. Peep the winner for this week below, then hit the next page for a loss that went viral.
Winner
Bolu Babalola
It should be well known by now that if you shoot your shot at Michael B. Jordan, the Creed II star might bless you with his presence in the near future.
Daring fan Sylvia Wilson had such success back in May when she DMed Michael while he was on set in Philadelphia. They arranged a meet-up and Wilson was able to get a pic with the sex symbol movie star.
Now, one Bolu Babalola (@BeeBabs on Twitter) found such luck when her friend Photoshopped a picture of her with Michael B. Jordan, then Babalola tweeted out the pic with a comment insinuating that she and Michael had a summertime fling.
https://twitter.com/BeeBabs/status/1066481720294342657
Babalola’s fictitious post went viral with many other fans following her lead and Photoshopping pics of themselves with their favorite star.
Along with her new viral celebrity, Babalola’s luck skyrocketed even more when Michael happened to be in London for a Creed II screening and Q&A a few days after her post.
Babalola, a Nigerian Londoner, was able to attend the screening and she got a chance to ask Jordan a question. After posing her question, she revealed that she was the woman who went viral for Photoshopping a picture of him and herself. In a recording of the encounter, Bolu apologized for all the hoopla she caused, and Michael responded by saying, “why are you apologizing?”
Jordan then agreed to take a pic with Babalola after the Q&A and the rest was history!
After the photo was taken, Babalola hopped on Twitter and hilariously gushed about her encounter with her new boo.
Michael even showed love to Babalola again on Twitter…
Dreams really do come true…
Winning.
Losers
Sam Whiteout
*Sigh*
Once again the White folks who get too comfortable have to be collected.
Sam Whiteout first gained popularity a couple of years ago as a White member of the predominantly Black Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity. His strolling videos and outspokenness about certain racial justice issues caused him to amass a large following on social media.
Unfortunately, his stints of popularity with the Black folks caused him to think he can write about anything (and for any publication) when it comes to Black issues.
On Thursday, Sam shared an article he wrote for the Harvard Kennedy School Journal of African American Public Policy called “Popularizing Wokeness.”
The article gave very general examples of what it means to be “woke” in a good way and what it means to be “woke” in a bad way. He used Drake‘s “God’s Plan” music video and the Black Panther movie as examples of what it means to be woke in a good way without ever rigorously contextualizing the politics surrounding the projects. He didn’t even take the time to consider if the creators of such “wokeness” even accepted the term “woke” in the first place.
To put it plainly, Sam’s article wasn’t written well.
And Black Twitter could tell.
Even Erykah Badu came out the woodwork to trash the article…
And ironically, Sam had lines in his article like, “as the link between wokeness and profit becomes more clear, we will face more and more attempts to capitalize off this trend without actually being woke or doing any good at all.”
Ya don’t say.
A lot of folks pointed out how Sam had the nerve to write his messy White article for a Black publication.
Sam didn’t even mention once in his article that he was White either.
Eventually, Sam must have felt all the heat because he took down his tweet with the article and put up another tweet apologizing.
“I was wrong to accept an invitation to write for the publication,” he said in a full letter. “My participation in the journal contributes to a long history of white people being given privileged access to prestigious institutions, including academia.”
He continued, “If I was going to write about this topic, I would have needed to do so in a way that deconstructs whiteness while being self-reflective about how I, as a white man, fit into the structure. Rather than making progress on the issue, I caused further harm.”
You can read Sam’s full letter below…
Time will tell if Sam will move differently and respectfully in his racial justice endeavors.
But until then, we’ll pass on the articles and think pieces.
