Actual Conversation From The Snob Household: Is That A Negro?

Sunday, Morning. Family Breakfast with Face the Nation

Papa Snob: Danielle! Is that man a black?

The Snob: Who?

Papa Snob: The brother that's talking on the TV right now. He looks white but he sounds black. I thought he was white at first but he keeps saying things like the way he says "right now" or other stuff that makes him sound like a Negro.

The Snob: What's his name?

Papa Snob: Arne Duncan.

The Snob: I'll look it up!

To the internet! One wikipedia check later!

The Snob: It says, "Duncan's spoken accent at this time led at least one college basketball coach to assume that he was of African-American descent." So he's white, he just grew up around a lot of black folks.

Papa Snob: Are you sure?

The Snob: It says his mother ran an afterschool program on the South side of Chicago for African American kids

Papa Snob: (Impressed) So his mother didn't run away from Negroes? Uh huh. Are you sure somebody's not ... you know?

Mama Snob: What's that supposed to mean?

Papa Snob: Nothing dear!

One Million Readers!

Today is the day (or should I say yesterday was the day), The Black Snob officially hit more than one million readers strong. That's one million readers since I officially started keeping count back in February 2008. I couldn't have done it without the readers, friends, fans, family, contributors and donors who all kept this blog going even when I wasn't sure how I would. But somehow a little personal blog that was an excuse for me to keep writing columns long after my newspaper gig went bye-bye grew into the multifaceted blog you're reading today, now with regular contributors (big ups to Luvvie and Nia!) as well as great supporters both financially and phyiscally in the form of Dot, Hopi, Joe V. and many, many others.

In honor of this milestone, all day long I will be reliving some of The Black Snob's Top Ten Posts, starting with what remains to be a popular series due to Google searches even though I haven't updated it in forever ...

More after the jump.

Click to read more ...

Your Favorite Minority Actors Get Jobs In the Fall (Only To Probably Lose Them When They Get Cancelled)

(Left to right) Wentworth Miller, Derek Luke, Daniel Henney, Stephanie Jacobsen and Harry J. LennixHere's to hoping that won't happen!

The Black Snob enjoys keeping tabs on all minority actors, mostly because I'm just happy when one of them gets a regular paycheck. I'm even more happy when it's someone I like (Daniel Henney or Derek Luke) versus someone I can't stand (Taye Diggs!), but am happy for their employment anyway. Unfortunately (or should I say "as usual"), there aren't many new roles for black actresses on the major networks. If you're a sister and you're on TV it's because you got rehired from your old job (talking to you, Chandra Wilson and S. Epatha Merkerson). Everyone else is SOL. Hope you get some guest spots.

That said, this fall a lot of new shows will premiere with black, Latino, Asian and lots of biracial cast members. (Although the biracial people almost never get to BE biracial -- *cough* Mark-Paul Gosselaar is half Indonesian! *cough* -- tis America, you are what you look the most like.) Here's the rundown of who's who on what's what.

More after the jump.

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So the Obama Speechwriter and Quincy Jones' Daughter ARE A Couple?

Now I can sleep better knowing that Obama Speechwriter/Nerd Hot dude Jon Favreau and actress/sometimes incognegro Rashida Jones are knocking the boots. My world is complete now.

From Page Six's "Sightings" column:

RASHIDA Jones, of NBC's "Parks and Recreation," with current beau Jon Favreau, President Obama's whiz kid speechwriter, in the lobby of Favreau's swanky DC apartment building, the Charleston

Random Obama Staffer Gossip O' the Week: Jon Farveau and Rashida Jones dating?

This photo is totally not real.Both this story and this lovely Photoshopped picture via Best Week Ever. The humorous blog is saying one of my favorite Incognegroes, Rashida Jones (the daughter of music mogul Quincy Jones and actress Peggy Lipton) may or may not be dating Obama Speechwriter Jon Favreau.

Jones, who is currently starring on NBC's Parks and Recreations was allegedly seen getting tipsy on a Friday night with the 27-year-old Favreau.

Details after the jump.

Click to read more ...

Not-So-Secret Negroes and Things About Being Black You Hate

Yes! They're back! By a LANDSLIDE!

Honestly, I stopped doing "Incognegro" because I got tired of being accused of being some colorist despite the fact that it seems all black people are fascinated to some degree with it. Oh well. I have a mandate now! Fifty-three percent. So either we all hate ourselves, or we enjoy going "OMG! I had no idea Carly Simon had some black in her! But look at that hair!" Yes. It is back.

WENWORTH MILLER AND RASHIDA JONES STORIES FOR ALL!!!!

(More after the jump)

Click to read more ...

Will Smith, Wentworth Miller and ... Strangely Pharell Williams Make Cosmo's Sexiest man in the world list

The top dog was Johnny Depp (not surprised). Willy from Philly was number eight and my favorite "Incognegro" Wentworth Miller was number 10. (Gawker thinks this must be from the British Cosmopolitan Magazine.) Pharell was lurking at the bottom at number 23. I am absolutely clueless as how he got on the list at all.

Both Miller and Smith are on Athena LaTrelle's The Great Wall of Sexy.

For more on the Cosmo story, click here. The list is below.

1 Johnny Depp, 45
2 George Clooney, 47
3 Jake Gyllenhaal, 27
4 Daniel Craig, 40
5 Brad Pitt, 44
6 James McAvoy, 29
7 JustinTimberlake, 27
8 Will Smith, 40
9 David Beckham, 33
10 Wentworth Miller, 36
11 Christian Bale, 34
12 Jonathan Rhys Meyers, 31
13 Take That: Gary Barlow, 37, Mark Owen, 36, Howard Donald, 40 and Jason Orange, 38
14 Ashton Kutcher, 30
15 Dermot O''Leary, 35
16 David Tennant, 37
17 Patrick Dempsey, 42
18 Clive Owen, 44
19 Pierce Brosnan, 55
20 Mark Ronson, 33
21 Gordon Ramsay, 41
22 Russell Brand, 33
23 Pharrell Williams, 35
24 Ryan Reynolds, 31
25 Olivier Martinez, 42

The Last Belated Celebrity Batch: Slash's B-Day

It was July 23 and it was legendary rock guitarist and incognegro Slash's birthday bash in Las Vegas, baby. With wife on arm and Fergie on vocals, Slash rocked out with a throng of curious guests, including a sighting from a dude I haven't spotted outside of captivity in years.

This is Slash and Perla Hudson, wife of Slash. All class, those two. Cigarettes and drinks in hand dressed in whatever was lying on the floor. I'm sure they sniffed it first before they put it on. It's that rock n' roll lifestyle, baby. We don't do laundry, we just stop wearing underwear!

Fergie Ferg and will.i.am who DJayed the bash.

Oh ... MY ... WORD! Who is that strange, tiny, ripped man? Cuddling up to the hard rock chicks with his shirt wide open is none other than comedian Tommy Freakin' Davidson. "In Living Color" star. Former addict. I had no clue that he and Slash were aces. Perhaps Davidson and Slash's ex-bandmate/ex-friend Axl Rose shared the same dope dealer at one time or something. Either way, he was the last person I expected to see shirtless in a sea of the skankiest looking rough riding rock chicks in the history of rough riding rock chicks.

Eh. Tommy's been a few times around the Mulberry bush as well, so maybe he's in his element. Work it, skinny boy.

will.i.am works it while Tommy D. poses with Christina Kim (and I don't trust WireImage on that being her name) and Anthony Lance (and Lord only knows who he is ... Snob nation? Any clues who these folks are?)

You know what time it is?

It's Fergie rocks it in the skin-tight, galvanized rubber black pants time!

I have to admit. Fergie is far more believable as a trashy rock cover band singer than an R&B/Hip Hop seductress. I mean, look at the way she thrashes it around in those scary-ass pants. You don't learn that shit. That's natural.

She's like a less attractive version of Tawny Kitaen straddling the hood of a car in a Whitesnake video. (Don't ask me how I know these things. I swear. My blackness credentials are in my other leather pants ... I say as I sing, "And here I go again on my own! Going down the only road I've ever known ...!")

When Being An Incognegro Gets You Accidentally Opted Out of Minority-Land (Update!)

I wish I could find the audio for it, but I'm going to have to ask you all to take my word for it. During Major League Baseball's Home Run Derby Monday night ESPN's announcers remarked that this was the "whitest" line-up ever with no Latino ballers and no black players. And as they laughed over the absurdity of this while Josh Hamilton went for his record breaking 28 homers in the first round, everyone forgot about about the secret Negro raging inside of Cleveland Indian center fielder Grady Sizemore. The not-black-black-man hit six homers in the first round, which would have been decent any other year accept Hamilton's 28-homer freak year.

It's not Grady's fault he doesn't give off that Jason "Don't believe your lyin' eyes" Kidd vibe. Every incognegro can't be a flaming incognegro!

Thank you reader Ciara for the video link!

PS. Grady was the first incognegro I wrote about for my Incognegro series.