title: Scramble for Africa

text: Between 1904 and 1908, Germany's colonies in German South West Africa and German East Africa were rocked by separate, contemporaneous native revolts against their rule. In both territories the threat to German rule was quickly defeated once large-scale reinforcements from Germany arrived, with the Herero rebels in German South West Africa being defeated at the Battle of Waterberg and the Maji-Maji rebels in German East Africa being steadily crushed by German forces slowly advancing through the countryside, with the natives resorting to guerrilla warfare.


title: Scramble for Africa

text: German efforts to clear the bush of civilians in German South West Africa resulted in a genocide of the population. In total, as many as 65,000 Herero (80% of the total Herero population), and 10,000 Namaqua (50% of the total Namaqua population) either starved, died of thirst, or were worked to death in camps such as Shark Island concentration camp between 1904 and 1908. Between 24,000 and 100,000 Hereros, 10,000 Nama, and an unknown number of San died in the genocide. Characteristic of this genocide was death from starvation, thirst, and possibly the poisoning of the population's wells, whilst they were trapped in the Namib Desert.


title: Scramble for Africa

text: In its earlier stages, imperialism was generally the act of individual explorers as well as some adventurous merchantmen. The colonial powers were a long way from approving without any dissent the expensive adventures carried out abroad. Various important political leaders, such as William Gladstone, opposed colonization in its first years. However, during his second premiership between 1880 and 1885 he could not resist the colonial lobby in his cabinet, and thus did not execute his electoral promise to disengage from Egypt. Although Gladstone was personally opposed to imperialism, the social tensions caused by the Long Depression pushed him to favour jingoism: the imperialists had become the "parasites of patriotism." In France, Radical politician Georges Clemenceau was adamantly opposed to it: he thought colonization was a diversion from the "blue line of the Vosges" mountains, that is revanchism and the patriotic urge to reclaim the Alsace-Lorraine region which had been annexed by the German Empire with the 1871 Treaty of Frankfurt. Clemenceau actually made Jules Ferry's cabinet fall after the 1885 Tonkin disaster. According to Hannah Arendt in "The Origins of Totalitarianism" (1951), this expansion of national sovereignty on overseas territories contradicted the unity of the nation state which provided citizenship to its population. Thus, a tension between the universalist will to respect human rights of the colonized people, as they may be considered as "citizens" of the nation state, and the imperialist drive to cynically exploit populations deemed inferior began to surface. Some, in colonizing countries, opposed what they saw as unnecessary evils of the colonial administration when left to itself; as described in Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" (1899)—published around the same time as Kipling's "The White Man's Burden"—or in Louis-Ferdinand Céline's "Journey to the End of the Night" (1932).


title: Scramble for Africa

text: Colonial lobbies emerged to legitimise the Scramble for Africa and other expensive overseas adventures. In Germany, France, and Britain, the middle class often sought strong overseas policies to ensure the market's growth. Even in lesser powers, voices like Enrico Corradini claimed a "place in the sun" for so-called "proletarian nations", bolstering nationalism and militarism in an early prototype of fascism.


title: Scramble for Africa

text: A plethora of colonialist propaganda pamphlets, ideas, and imagery played on the colonial powers' psychology of popular jingoism and proud nationalism. A hallmark of the French colonial project in the late 19th century and early 20th century was the civilizing mission ("mission civilisatrice"), the principle that it was Europe's duty to bring civilisation to benighted peoples. As such, colonial officials undertook a policy of Franco-Europeanisation in French colonies, most notably French West Africa and Madagascar. During the 19th century, French citizenship along with the right to elect a deputy to the French Chamber of Deputies was granted to the four old colonies of Guadeloupe, Martinique, Guyanne and Réunion as well as to the residents of the "Four Communes" in Senegal. In most cases, the elected deputies were white Frenchmen, although there were some black deputies, such as the Senegalese Blaise Diagne, who was elected in 1914.


title: Scramble for Africa

text: By the end of World War I the colonial empires had become very popular almost everywhere in Europe: public opinion had been convinced of the needs of a colonial empire, although most of the metropolitans would never see a piece of it. Colonial exhibitions were instrumental in this change of popular mentalities brought about by the colonial propaganda, supported by the colonial lobby and by various scientists. Thus, conquests of territories were inevitably followed by public displays of the indigenous people for scientific and leisure purposes.


title: Scramble for Africa

text: Carl Hagenbeck, a German merchant in wild animals and a future entrepreneur of most Europeans zoos, decided in 1874 to exhibit Samoa and Sami people as "purely natural" populations. In 1876, he sent one of his collaborators to the newly conquered Egyptian Sudan to bring back some wild beasts and Nubians. Presented in Paris, London, and Berlin these Nubians were very successful. Such "human zoos" could be found in Hamburg, Antwerp, Barcelona, London, Milan, New York City, Paris, etc., with 200,000 to 300,000 visitors attending each exhibition. Tuaregs were exhibited after the French conquest of Timbuktu (visited by René Caillié, disguised as a Muslim, in 1828, thereby winning the prize offered by the French "Société de Géographie"); Malagasy after the occupation of Madagascar; Amazons of Abomey after Behanzin's mediatic defeat against the French in 1894. Not used to the climatic conditions, some of the indigenous died from exposure, such as some Galibis in Paris in 1892.


title: Scramble for Africa

text: Geoffroy de Saint-Hilaire, director of the Jardin d'Acclimatation, decided in 1877 to organise two "ethnological spectacles", presenting Nubians and Inuit. Ticket sales at the Jardin d'Acclimatation doubled, with a million paying entrances that year, a huge success for these times. Between 1877 and 1912, approximately thirty "ethnological exhibitions" were presented at the zoo. "Negro villages" were presented in Paris' 1878 World's Fair; the 1900 World's Fair presented the famous diorama "living" in Madagascar, while the Colonial Exhibitions in Marseilles (1906 and 1922) and in Paris (1907 and 1931)displayed human beings in cages, often nudes or quasi-nudes. Nomadic "Senegalese villages" were also created, thus displaying the power of the colonial empire to all the population.


title: Scramble for Africa

text: In the U.S., Madison Grant, head of the New York Zoological Society, exposed Pygmy Ota Benga in the Bronx Zoo alongside the apes and others in 1906. At the behest of Grant, a scientific racist and eugenicist, zoo director William Temple Hornaday placed Ota Benga in a cage with an orangutan and labeled him "The Missing Link" in an attempt to illustrate Darwinism, and in particular that Africans like Ota Benga are closer to apes than were Europeans. Other colonial exhibitions included the 1924 British Empire Exhibition and the 1931 Paris "Exposition coloniale".


title: Scramble for Africa

text: From the beginning of the 20th century, the elimination or control of disease in tropical countries became a driving force for all colonial powers. The sleeping sickness epidemic in Africa was arrested through mobile teams systematically screening millions of people at risk. In the 1880s cattle brought from British Asia to feed Italian soldiers invading Eritrea turned out to be infected with a disease called rinderpest. It continues to infect 90% of Africa's cattle. Decimation of native herds severely damaged local livelihoods, forcing people to labor for their colonizers.


title: Scramble for Africa

text: In the 20th century, Africa saw the biggest increase in its population because of lessening of the mortality rate in many countries through peace, famine relief, medicine, and above all, the end or decline of the slave trade. Africa's population has grown from 120 million in 1900 to over 1 billion today.


title: Scramble for Africa

text: The continuing anti-slavery movement in Western Europe became a reason and an excuse for the conquest and colonization of Africa. It was the central theme of the Brussels Anti-Slavery Conference 1889–90. From start of the Scramble for Africa, virtually all colonial regimes claimed to be motivated by a desire to suppress slavery and the slave trade. In French West Africa, following conquest and abolition by the French, over one million slaves fled from their masters to earlier homes between 1906 and 1911. In Madagascar, the French abolished slavery in 1896, and approximately 500,000 slaves were freed. Slavery was abolished in the French controlled Sahel by 1911. Independent nations attempting to westernize or impress Europe sometimes cultivated an image of slavery suppression. In response to European pressure, the Sokoto Caliphate abolished slavery in 1900, and Ethiopia officially abolished slavery in 1932. Colonial powers were mostly successful in abolishing slavery, though slavery remained active in Africa, even though it has gradually moved to a wage economy. Slavery was never fully eradicated in Africa.


title: Scramble for Africa

text: During the New Imperialism period, by the end of the 19th century, Europe added almost – one-fifth of the land area of the globe – to its overseas colonial possessions. Europe's formal holdings included the entire African continent except Ethiopia, Liberia, and Saguia el-Hamra, the latter of which was eventually integrated into Spanish Sahara. Between 1885 and 1914, Britain took nearly 30% of Africa's population under its control; 15% for France, 11% for Portugal, 9% for Germany, 7% for Belgium and 1% for Italy. Nigeria alone contributed 15 million subjects, more than in the whole of French West Africa or the entire German colonial empire. In terms of surface area occupied, the French were the marginal leaders, but much of their territory consisted of the sparsely populated Sahara.


title: Scramble for Africa

text: Political imperialism followed the economic expansion, with the "colonial lobbies" bolstering chauvinism and jingoism at each crisis in order to legitimise the colonial enterprise. The tensions between the imperial powers led to a succession of crises, which exploded in August 1914, when previous rivalries and alliances created a domino situation that drew the major European nations into World War I.


title: Scramble for Africa

text: After the First World War, Germany's possessions were partitioned among Britain (which took a sliver of western Cameroon, Tanzania, western Togo, and Namibia), France (which took most of Cameroon and eastern Togo) and Belgium (which took Rwanda and Burundi).


title: Scramble for Africa

text: During the interwar period, Italian Ethiopia formed together with Italian Eritrea and Italian Somaliland the Italian East Africa (A.O.I., "Africa Orientale Italiana", also defined by the fascist government as "L'Impero").


title: Scramble for Africa

text: The British were primarily interested in maintaining secure communication lines to India, which led to initial interest in Egypt and South Africa. Once these two areas were secure, it was the intent of British colonialists such as Cecil Rhodes to establish a Cape-Cairo railway and to exploit mineral and agricultural resources. Control of the Nile was viewed as a strategic and commercial advantage.


title: Scramble for Africa

text: Liberia was founded, colonised, established and controlled by the American Colonization Society, a private organisation established in order to relocate freed African American and Caribbean slaves from the United States and the Caribbean islands in 1822. Liberia declared its independence from the American Colonization Society on July 26, 1847. Liberia is Africa's oldest republic and the second-oldest black republic in the world (after Haiti). Liberia maintained its independence during the period as it was viewed by European powers as either a territory, a colony or protectorate of the United States.


title: Scramble for Africa

text: The same powers assumed Ethiopia to be a protectorate of Italy although the country had never accepted this, and its independence from Italy was recognized after the Battle of Adwa which resulted in the Treaty of Addis Ababa in 1896. With the exception of Italian occupation between 1936 and 1941 by Benito Mussolini's military forces, Ethiopia is Africa's oldest independent nation.


title: Scramble for Africa

text: Anti-neoliberal scholars connect the old scramble to a new scramble for Africa, coinciding with the emergence of an "Afro-neoliberal" capitalist movement in postcolonial Africa. When African nations began to gain independence after World War II, their postcolonial economic structures remained undiversified and linear. In most cases, the bulk of a nation's economy relied on cash crops or natural resources. These scholars claim that the decolonisation process kept independent African nations at the mercy of colonial powers by structurally dependent economic relations. They also claim that structural adjustment programs led to the privatization and liberalization of many African political and economic systems, forcefully pushing Africa into the global capitalist market, and that these factors led to development under Western ideological systems of economics and politics.


title: Scramble for Africa

text: In the era of globalization, several African countries have emerged as petrostates (for example Angola, Cameroon, Nigeria, and Sudan). These are nations with an economic and political partnership between transnational oil companies and the ruling elite class in oil-rich African nations. Numerous countries have entered into a neo-imperial relationship with Africa during this time period. Mary Gilmartin notes that “material and symbolic appropriation of space [is] central to imperial expansion and control”; nations in the globalization era who invest in controlling land internationally are engaging in neocolonialism. Chinese (and other Asian countries) state oil companies have entered Africa's highly competitive oil sector. China National Petroleum Corporation purchased 40% of Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company. Furthermore, the Sudan exports 50–60% of its domestically produced oil to China, making up 7% of China's imports. China has also been purchasing equity shares in African oil fields, invested in industry related infrastructure development and acquired continental oil concessions throughout Africa.


title: Vanilla Ice

text: Robert Matthew Van Winkle (born October 31, 1967), known professionally as Vanilla Ice, is an American rapper, actor, and television host. Born in South Dallas, and raised in Texas and South Florida, Ice released his debut album, "Hooked", in 1989 on Ichiban Records, before signing a contract with SBK Records, a record label of the EMI Group, which released a reformatted version of the album in 1990 under the title "To the Extreme" which became the fastest-selling hip hop album of all time and contained Ice's best-known hits: "Ice Ice Baby" and a cover of "Play That Funky Music". "Ice Ice Baby" was the first hip hop single to top the "Billboard" charts and has been credited with helping to diversify hip hop by introducing it to a mainstream audience.


title: Vanilla Ice

text: Although he was successful, Ice later regretted his business arrangements with SBK, which had paid him to adopt a more commercial appearance to appeal to a mass audience and published fabricated biographical information without his knowledge. Soundtrack appearances and a live album, "Extremely Live", continued the success, but a second mainstream studio album, "Mind Blowin'", featured an image change which saw a massive drop in popularity for Ice, and his subsequent albums, "Hard to Swallow", "Bi-Polar" and "Platinum Underground", failed to chart or receive much radio airplay. In 2009, Ice began hosting "The Vanilla Ice Project" on DIY Network.


title: Vanilla Ice

text: Robert Matthew Van Winkle was born in Dallas, Texas, on October 31, 1967. Van Winkle has never known his biological father; he was given the family name of the man his mother was married to at the time of his birth. When Van Winkle was four, his mother divorced. Afterward, he grew up moving between Dallas and Miami, where his new stepfather worked at a car dealership. Van Winkle was affected by hip hop at an early age, saying "It's a very big passion of mine because I love poetry. I was just heavily influenced by that whole movement and it's molded me into who I am today." Between the ages of 13 and 14, Van Winkle practiced breakdancing, which led to his friends nicknaming him "Vanilla", as he was the only one in the group who was not black. Although he disliked the nickname, it stuck. Shortly afterward, Van Winkle started battle rapping at parties and because of his rhymes, his friends started calling him "MC Vanilla". However, when he became a member of a breakdance troupe, Van Winkle's stage name was "Vanilla Ice" combining his nickname "Vanilla" with one of his breakdance moves, "The Ice". When Ice's stepfather was offered a better job in Carrollton, Texas, he moved back to Texas with his mother. When Ice was not learning to ride motorbikes, he was dancing as a street performer with his breakdancing group, now called "The Vanilla Ice Posse". Ice wrote "Ice Ice Baby" at the age of 16, basing its lyrics on a weekend he had with friend and disc jockey D-Shay in South Florida. The lyrics describe Ice and Shay on a drug run that ends in a drive-by shooting while praising Ice's rhyming skills. He attended R. L. Turner High School.


title: Vanilla Ice

text: In 1985, he was focusing all of his energy on motocross, winning three championships. After breaking his ankle during a race, Ice was not interested in racing professionally for some time, using his spare time to perfect his dance moves and creating his own while his ankle was healing. Ice used his beatboxing and breakdancing skills as a street performer with his friends at local malls during this time. One evening he visited City Lights, a South Dallas nightclub, where he was dared to go on stage by his friend Squirrel during an open-mic. He won the crowd over and was asked by City Lights manager John Bush if he wanted to perform regularly, which he accepted. Ice would be joined on stage with his disc jockey D-Shay and Zero as well as Earthquake, the local disc jockey at City Lights. The Vanilla Ice Posse or "The V.I.P." would also perform with Ice on stage. As a performer for City Lights, Ice opened up for N.W.A, Public Enemy, The D.O.C., Tone Lōc, 2 Live Crew, Paula Abdul, Sinbad and MC Hammer.


title: Vanilla Ice

text: In January 1987, Ice was stabbed five times during a scuffle outside of City Lights. After spending ten days at the hospital, Ice signed a contract with the owner of City Lights, Tommy Quon and his management company, Ultrax. Two years later, Ice would open for EPMD, Ice-T, Stetsasonic, and Sir Mix-A-Lot on the Stop the Violence Tour. Quon saw commercial potential in Ice's rapping and dancing skills. Buying studio time with Quon's earnings from City Lights, they recorded songs that had been perfected on stage by Ice and his acquaintances with various producers, including Khayree. The two year production was distributed by an independent record company called Ichiban Records in 1989. "Play That Funky Music" was released as the album's first single, with "Ice Ice Baby" appearing as the B-side. Tommy Quon personally sent out the single to various radio stations around the US, but the single was seldom played and when it was, it did not get the reaction Quon was hoping for. When disc jockey Darrell Jaye in Georgia played "Ice Ice Baby" instead of the single's A-side, the song gained a quick fanbase and other radio stations followed suit. Quon financed $8,000 for the production of a music video for "Ice Ice Baby", which received heavy airplay by The Box, increasing public interest in the song.


title: Vanilla Ice

text: Following the success of "Ice Ice Baby", record producer Suge Knight and two bodyguards arrived at The Palm in West Hollywood, where Ice was eating. After shoving Ice's bodyguards aside, Knight and his own bodyguards sat down in front of Ice, staring at him before finally asking "How you doin'?" Similar incidents were repeated on several occasions. Eventually, Knight showed up at Ice's hotel suite on the fifteenth floor of the Bel Age Hotel, accompanied by a member of the Los Angeles Raiders football team. According to Ice, Knight took him out on the balcony by himself, and implied that he would throw him off the balcony unless he signed the publishing rights to the song over to Knight; Knight used Ice's money to help fund Death Row Records.


title: Vanilla Ice

text: On the basis of Ice's good looks and dance moves, Public Enemy tried to convince their producer, Hank Shocklee, to sign Ice to Def Jam, but Ice later signed a contract with SBK Records in 1990. SBK remixed and re-recorded "Hooked" under the title "To the Extreme". The reissue contained new artwork and music. According to Ice, SBK paid him to adopt a more commercial, conventional appearance. This led Ice to later regret his business agreements with SBK.


title: Vanilla Ice

text: "To the Extreme" became the fastest selling hip hop album of all time, spending sixteen weeks at #1 on the "Billboard" 200 and selling eleven million copies. SBK Record executive Monte Lipman stated that he received calls from radio stations reporting over 200 phone calls requesting "Ice Ice Baby". SBK wanted Ice on the road as soon as possible. MC Hammer, an old acquaintance from his club days, had Ice on as an opening act on his tour. Reviews of "To the Extreme" were mixed. "Entertainment Weekly" reviewer Mim Udovitch gave the album a B, citing "Ice Ice Baby", "Play That Funky Music", "Dancin'" and "It's a Party" as the album's highlights. Robert Christgau gave the album a C− rating, writing that Ice's "suave sexism, fashionably male supremacist rather than dangerously obscene, is no worse than his suave beats". Criticizing the technique and style of Vanilla Ice, Allrovi reviewer Steve Huey wrote:


title: Vanilla Ice

text: In late 1990, Ice began an eight-month relationship with Madonna, and appeared in photographs for her book, "Sex". In the height of Ice's popularity, SBK licensed a 12" doll which was made by THQ. In January 1991, he was the musical guest on "Saturday Night Live". Ice branched out into the film industry with an appearance in the film "", which he later called "one of the coolest experiences" of his career. Ice was very secretive about his personal life, with the intention of protecting his family. When a Dallas Morning News reporter asked Ice what his mother's profession was, he replied, "None of your fucking business." In an attempt to rectify this, his former label wrote a fake biography in his name and tried to pass it off as his official life story without his knowledge. While on tour in 1991, Ice found out that SBK had instigated the publication of the biography which detailed false biographical information, including claims that he had attended school with Luther Campbell and exaggerating his living conditions in Miami, which Ice later had to debunk by himself.


title: Vanilla Ice

text: Ice's second major release was the live album "Extremely Live", released in March 1991. The album was a live recording during Vanilla Ice's performance in Miami during his To The Extreme tour. Premiering new songs like "Rollin' in My 5.0", "Road To My Riches" and "Satisfaction", the album peaked at #30 on the "Billboard" 200, but it received mainly negative reviews, with "Entertainment Weekly" reviewer David Browne calling it "one of the most ridiculous albums ever released", comparing it to "The Best of Marcel Marceau", an album which consisted of two sides of silence opened by brief applause. According to Browne, "Extremely Live" "affords you the chance to hear inane stage patter [...] and unaccompanied drumming, during which, one assumes, Ice and his posse are onstage dancing." Monte Lipman later stated that SBK only released the live disc to make more money from Ice's fame. In April 1991, Ice began to film the SBK produced "Cool as Ice", in which he played a leading role.


title: Vanilla Ice

text: "Cool as Ice" opened on October 18, 1991, in 393 theaters in the United States, grossing $638,000, ranking at #14 among the week's new releases. Reviews of the film were negative. Film website Rotten Tomatoes, which compiles reviews from a wide range of critics, gives the film a score of 8%. Ice received a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst New Star. SBK stated that they overexposed Ice and Ice decided to stop taking their business advice as well as distancing himself from the image that SBK was trying to create for him. In late 1991, Ice appeared in the Circus of the Stars and Sideshow, driving his motorcycle through a wall of fire. While his fame in the United States had severely dropped, Ice continued touring in 1992, playing in South America, Europe, Australia and Asia, premiering new songs like "Get Loose", "The Wrath", "Now & Forever", "Where the Dogs At? (All Night Long)", "Minutes of Power" and "Iceman Party". After a performance in Acapulco, the city honored Ice with a medal that represented "all the respect and admiration to [Ice's] music and to [him] as an artist from the Mexican people". Ice also served as a spokesperson for Nike and Coca-Cola throughout 1991 and 1992. In 1993, Ice toured Eastern Europe again and premiered songs off his upcoming album in St. Petersburg, Russia in front of President Boris Yeltsin.


title: Vanilla Ice

text: After almost non-stop touring for the previous three years, Ice took a break from music in 1993 and began competing in jet skiing. as well as resuming Motocross racing.


title: Vanilla Ice

text: By 1994, Ice received less publicity and faded from the public spotlight. After becoming more interested with the Rastafari movement, Ice became a vegetarian, grew dreadlocks and talked more openly about smoking cannabis. On March 22, 1994, Ice released his second studio album, "Mind Blowin'". Reviews were unfavorable. "Entertainment Weekly" reviewer James Bernard called the album "more clunky than funky". Allrovi reviewer Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote that "There isn't a single moment that establishes a distinct musical identity, and the whole thing is rather embarrassing."


title: Vanilla Ice

text: At around this time, Ice began using ecstasy, cocaine and heroin. During periods of heavy drug use, Ice received many tattoos from artist acquaintances. According to Ice, he "was in [his] binge days. [He] didn't even realize how many [he] was getting". Ice attempted suicide with a heroin overdose on July 4, 1994, but was revived by his friends. After being revived, Ice decided that it was time to change his lifestyle. As a symbol of his attempt to begin anew, he got a tattoo of a leaf on his stomach. After expanding his Mind Blowin tour overseas in 1995, Ice sold his estate in California and took a break from music, rather focusing on motocrossing and jet skiing in Florida. By the summer, Ice was the world's No. 6-ranked sit-down jet ski racer, competing nearly every weekend and earning a Kawasaki sponsorship.


title: Vanilla Ice

text: Uncertain about his future career, Ice studied real estate and started working on the side renovating and selling houses. In late 1995, he set up a recording studio in Miami and joined a grunge band, Pickin Scabz. The name was set to reflect Ice's career, and how he was healing from his suicide attempt, and that he was now "picking up the pieces". In 1996, longtime associate and friend Monte Lipman signed Ice for Universal Republic Records. He did guest vocals with no stage name for the song "Boom" by Bloodhound Gang on their CD "One Fierce Beer Coaster".


title: Vanilla Ice

text: Ice later developed a friendship with producer Ross Robinson, who had become known for producing music by Deftones, Korn, Limp Bizkit and Sepultura. Robinson and Ice shared an interest in motocross racing. Monte Lipman hoped that Robinson would produce a new Vanilla Ice album. According to Robinson, others had attempted to discourage him from working with Ice, saying it might hurt his reputation. Rather than being dissuaded, Robinson was encouraged by their reticence and agreed to work with Ice. In an interview, Robinson stated, "It's the most punk-rock thing you could do." Despite not being happy with his old image, Van Winkle stated that he never had a problem with his older music. He decided against changing his stage name, as he felt no need to run from his past, despite being uneasy with some of it, and started performing again, booking a hundred shows a year.


title: Vanilla Ice

text: Ice's third studio album, "Hard to Swallow", featured a darker sound and lyrics than Ice's previous work, as well as various mixtures of different styles of hip hop and hard rock, which garnered media attention. Ice attracted a whole new audience when he started touring again, some who were even unfamiliar with his more mainstream sound. Reviews were generally negative; Jon Pareles of "The New York Times" wrote, "The most earnest new song, "Scars", condemns an abusive father. The sentiments would sound more genuine if Korn hadn't gotten there first." Richard Torres of "Rolling Stone" gave the album two out of five stars, writing that while "nothing, however, can redeem Ice's wack boasting," the album "isn't half-bad." In "The New Rolling Stone Album Guide", Rob Kemp gave the album three out of five stars, writing that it contained Ice's "most convincing music". In promotion of "Hard to Swallow", Ice toured with a seven-piece live band which included future Weezer bassist Scott Shriner. The band opened with rock-oriented material from "Hard to Swallow" and concluded with older hip hop songs. The setlist also included "Power", based upon Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song". Ice said that writing the songs and performing them were like therapy, as he had tried to hide his anger when making his older songs but Robinson was the first producer who told him to use it to create.


title: Vanilla Ice

text: Vanilla Ice was a member of the softball team "The Hip Hop Stars" alongside Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and Method Man in a 1999 game shown on MTV Rock N' Jock . Later in 1999, MTV asked Vanilla Ice to join their cast to "retire" the music video for "Ice Ice Baby" on the MTV special "25 Lame", in which Ice himself was asked to destroy the video's master tape. When Ice was given a baseball bat, he ended up destroying not only the film but the show's entire set as well. In 2001, DJ ReAnimator remixed "Ice Ice Baby" with Vanilla Ice re-doing his vocals for the track. "Ice Ice Baby 2001" was released as a single and music video for the European market, spawning a wave of new overseas interest in Vanilla Ice.


title: Vanilla Ice

text: Having attracted a following outside of his former mainstream audience, Ice began recording independently, despite still being signed to Universal. During a recording session, Ice met the all-female American hard rock band from Southern California, Betty Blowtorch. The late Bianca Halstead bonded with Ice and asked if he wanted to contribute a rap interlude to their track "Size Queen". On Ice's collaboration with the band, lead vocalist and bassist Halstead was quoted saying, "I asked him if he could rap over [the track] and he said he can rap over anything. And he could!" Per his stepfather's request, Ice started working with his former manager Tommy Quon again. While hoping to re-create some of the magic that they worked hard on in the early 1990s, Ice denied any interest in trying to become big again, stating that his only passion was music, not fame.


title: Vanilla Ice

text: In May 2000, Ice wrestled in a match promoted by Juggalo Championship Wrestling, then known as Juggalo Championshit Wrestling, filling in for Insane Clown Posse member Shaggy 2 Dope, who had been injured during a match. MTV News reported that Insane Clown Posse would make an appearance on Ice's next album, tentatively titled "Bomb Tha System". In October 2000, Ice announced that his next album would be titled "Skabz", and that Chuck D was confirmed to appear on the album. It was initially planned as a double album featuring a disc containing rock-oriented material and a disc of hip hop songs. In July 2001, Ice performed at the second Gathering of the Juggalos. On October 23, 2001, "Skabz" and "Bomb Tha System" were released together as "Bi-Polar". The album also featured La the Darkman, Perla, Insane Poetry and Bob Kakaha. Bradley Torreano of Allrovi disliked the album, criticizing it as "wildly uneven and at times hilariously bad", but also stating "Vanilla Ice is still better than a lot of the rap-metal bands that erupted in 2000/2001." and the rap beats on "Bomb Tha System" "are surprisingly solid". In "The New Rolling Stone Album Guide", Rob Kemp gave the album one out of five stars, calling the album "utterly listless". According to a Sony BMG executive, sales of "Bi-Polar" were "not bad...for Vanilla Ice. That's pretty respectable. Seriously."


title: Vanilla Ice

text: With Quon back as manager, Ice was scheduled to appear in various reality TV programs. Ice, still an entertainer at heart, felt that the experience would be good for him. In 2002, he appeared on Celebrity Boxing, fighting Todd Bridges under the name 'Bi-Polar'. In 2003, he appeared in five episodes of Hollywood Squares, eight episodes of "The Farm" and three episodes of Celebrity Bull Riding Challenge, and made a cameo appearance in The New Guy in 2002. Around this time, Vanilla Ice also returned to the world of motocross. He auditioned for the 2002 X Games in the freestyle division and placed seventh at the 2003 Suzuki Crossover challenge, according to Sports Illustrated. He told the magazine that the track "is where I'm happiest."


title: Vanilla Ice

text: In 2003, Ice contributed vocals to "Off the Chain" by 7x70, a side project of Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain and Anthrax guitarist Dan Spitz. A demo of the song was leaked in June. In 2003, Ultrax reissued "Bomb Tha System" (the second part of "Bi-Polar") under the title "Hot Sex", which was a single from the original album.


title: Vanilla Ice

text: From January to February 2004, Ice appeared on the reality television series "The Surreal Life". Although much of the series was staged, Ice found the experience to be therapeutic, stating that a comment made by Tammy Faye Messner during filming, "We are who we are because of who we were", helped him accept his past.


title: Vanilla Ice

text: On August 2, 2005, Ice released his fifth studio album, "Platinum Underground". He stated that the title of the album reflected the fact that he could maintain a fanbase without mainstream airplay. Allrovi reviewer Rob Theakston panned the album, writing that it "has more bad spots in it than most". Ice included a song titled "Ninja Rap 2", which was set to be a hardcore remix. Aside from the name, the song has very little connection to Ice's original 1991 single, but rather talks about his appreciation of his fans, his love of performing at clubs and playing at the Gathering of the Juggalos with Insane Clown Posse. "Ninja Rap 2" was the first song to be released from "Platinum Underground" and was available to download for free off of Ice's official website.


title: Vanilla Ice

text: In 2007, Ice returned to a spin-off of "The Surreal Life" titled "", where he again trashed the set after being voted off. In September 2008, Ice signed a contract with Cleopatra Records, recording the cover album "Vanilla Ice Is Back!" at the label's request. The album was released on November 4, 2008, and contained covers of songs by Public Enemy, House of Pain, Bob Marley, and Cypress Hill. IGN reviewer Spence D. called the album "an embarrassing


title: Vanilla Ice

text: endeavor that sounds like it should have stayed locked inside Ice's studio (or at the very least leaked on YouTube and passed off as a piss take)." On February 27, 2009, Ice performed as part of a joint performance with MC Hammer in Orem, Utah, called "Hammer Pants And Ice", which featured twenty four dancers and a full choir.


title: Vanilla Ice

text: In August 2009, Ice announced on his official Twitter account that he had signed a contract with StandBy Records; however, Ice later left the label. Ice was a special musical guest at the 2010 National Television Awards in January, performing with Jedward for their remix and debut single "Under Pressure (Ice Ice Baby)". Ice also recorded his verse for their album Planet Jedward and appeared in the music video. He was a part of The Back2Kool concert tour with Turbo B and MC Hammer, playing worldwide in late 2010, and reunited with his former DJ, Floyd 'Earthquake' Brown, for the shows overseas. In early 2011, Vanilla Ice appeared on the sixth season of the UK show "Dancing on Ice", as well as various ice skating tours surrounding the show.


title: Vanilla Ice

text: In 2009, Ice started filming a reality television series called "The Vanilla Ice Project", which premiered on DIY Network on October 14, 2010. The season was focused on renovating a house in Palm Beach, Florida, with each episode dedicated to a different room in the house. In 2011, Ice published a book on the subject, "Vanilla Ice Project – Real Estate Guide", on how to succeed in real estate. The book was made available as a free digital download on his real estate website. The second season began airing in January 2012, the third season in January 2013.


title: Vanilla Ice

text: In June 2011, Ice filmed a role in the movie "That's My Boy", starring Adam Sandler and Andy Samberg, (released in 2012). In the film, Ice portrays an exaggerated version of himself called Uncle Vanny. While shooting, he collaborated with Samberg and Sandler musically. In August, Ice performed at the 2011 Gathering of the Juggalos, where it was officially announced that he had signed with Psychopathic Records; however, he later departed from the label without releasing anything. His sixth studio album, "WTF", was released on August 19 through Radium Records. While the record featured an array of different styles, like other recent Vanilla Ice albums, it also featured Ice's return to Electronica, with songs like "Turn It Up", "Rock Star Party", "Nightmare Disco" and "Cadillac Ninjas". Regarding the new record and its numerous musical genres, Ice said, "It's like techno hip-hop. European. I live a lot in Europe, and when I'm over there I get way into the techno stuff and I get into new music. So I thought I'd make a record of it. I did the thing and it was a lot of fun".


title: Vanilla Ice

text: In December 2011, Ice played Captain Hook in the Chatham, Kent, Central Theatre pantomime production of "Peter Pan", a role that previously belonged to Henry Winkler. He also turned on the Christmas lights for Rochester, Kent, in Rochester Castle, as part of the promotion for the panto. On May 12, 2012, Vanilla Ice helped in the launch of the Mr. Freeze Reverse Blast roller coaster at Six Flags over Texas in Arlington with a free concert for valid daily park ticket or 2012 Season Pass holders. In mid 2013, Vanilla Ice joined the New Kids on the Block tour alongside Boyz II Men.


title: Vanilla Ice

text: On September 15, 2013, Vanilla Ice performed at the halftime show of a Houston Texans game. Houston went on to lose the remaining fourteen games of the season, leading some players to blame Vanilla Ice for the losing streak.


title: Vanilla Ice

text: In the Western comedy film "The Ridiculous Six", released in 2015, Ice portrayed Mark Twain. He also had a non-speaking cameo in another Netflix movie; "Sandy Wexler"


title: Vanilla Ice

text: On August 30, 2016, Vanilla Ice was announced as one of the celebrities who will compete on season 23 of "Dancing with the Stars". He was partnered with professional dancer Witney Carson. They were eliminated on October 4, 2016.


title: Vanilla Ice

text: On January 1, 2017, Vanilla Ice was invited by Insane Clown Posse and Psychopathic Records to take part in the free concert (September 16, 2017), the "Juggalo March On Washington" (September 17, 2017). Between 2015 and 2016, Vanilla Ice was one of the main headliners for the worldwide 'I Love the 90s Tour'.


title: Vanilla Ice

text: On January 4, 2019, it was announced that Dave Franco was attached to star as Ice in a biopic chronicling the rapper.


title: Vanilla Ice

text: On December 31, 2020, Ice was the star attraction at a New Year's Eve party at President Trump's mansion Mar-a-Lago. The President himself was unable to attend, but Donald Trump Jr. captured Ice's performance on his cellphone. New Year's Eve 2020 was also the younger Trump's 43rd birthday. Notable attendees included Don Jr.'s girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle, Rudy Giuliani, Sean Spicer and others. Ice performed before hundreds of maskless attendees dancing.


title: Vanilla Ice

text: In June 2021, Ice narrated a BBC Radio 5 Live documentary podcast covering the theft of the racehorse Shergar.


title: Vanilla Ice

text: Vanilla Ice dated Madonna for eight months in 1991–1992. Ice married Laura Giaritta in 1997; they have two daughters, Dusti Rain (born 1998) and KeeLee Breeze (born 2000). Ice describes himself as a "Juggalo", a fan of Psychopathic Records hip hop groups.


title: Vanilla Ice

text: In 2013, Ice stated that he has Choctaw heritage through his maternal grandmother. In 2015, after Ice repeated his claim of Choctaw identity in response to criticisms of Native American portrayals in "The Ridiculous 6", Choctaw genealogists researched his family tree, finding his maternal genealogy to be mostly German, with no Choctaw ancestry possible. Ice responded via Twitter that "I'm not going to pretend I'm Indian, Just because I have Indian blood. Sorry for any disrespect, to me Indians are American royalty."


title: Vanilla Ice

text: In 2016, Ice's wife filed for divorce, saying that the marriage was "irretrievably broken." His third child with his new wife was born in 2018.


title: Vanilla Ice

text: In 1990, Ice was threatened with copyright infringement for use of samples from "Under Pressure" by Queen and David Bowie. The matter was settled out of court.


title: Vanilla Ice

text: On June 3, 1991, he was arrested in Los Angeles on firearm charges after threatening a homeless man, James N. Gregory, with a pistol. Gregory had approached Ice's car outside of a supermarket and attempted to sell him a silver chain. Ice and his bodyguard were charged with three weapons offenses. Ice pleaded no contest.


title: Vanilla Ice

text: In January 2001, Ice was arrested by police in Davie, Florida, for assaulting his wife, Laura. According to the criminal complaint, Ice and his wife argued as they drove on Interstate 595. Ice admitted to pulling hair from her head to prevent her from jumping out of the truck's window. He pleaded guilty to charges of disorderly conduct four months later and was sentenced to probation and ordered to attend family therapy sessions.


title: Vanilla Ice

text: Ice's pet wallaroo, Bucky, and pet goat, Pancho, escaped from his wife's grandmother's home in Port St. Lucie, Florida in November 2004. After wandering around local streets for over a week, the animals were caught and returned to Ice. He paid a $220 fine for expired pet tags and an undisclosed fine for the escape of the animals.


title: Vanilla Ice

text: Ice appeared in West Palm Beach court in September 2007 to be arraigned for driving with an expired license. In the months leading up to the court hearing, he had been pulled over for doing 74 in a 45-mph zone, violating high-occupancy vehicle lane restrictions and having illegally tinted car windows.


title: Vanilla Ice

text: On April 10, 2008, Ice was arrested in Palm Beach County on a battery charge for allegedly kicking and hitting his wife. He was released the following day, after she declared that her husband had only pushed her. In court, the couple's neighbor, Frank Morales, stated that it was merely a verbal argument. Ice was ordered by a Florida court to stay away from his wife following his arrest, and to communicate with his children only if Morales accompanied him. The judge told Ice that he could only contact his wife via telephone. On April 29, 2008, Ice's lawyers, Bradford Cohen and Joseph LoRusso, were able to get the charges dropped after providing the state attorney with evidence that conflicted with what was originally reported.


title: Vanilla Ice

text: In February 2015, Ice was arrested and charged with residential burglary and grand theft after he allegedly stole furniture, a pool heater, bicycles and other items from a Florida home that he believed to be vacant. He later accepted a plea deal which would result in the charges being dropped following his completion of 100 hours of community service and payment of restitution to the estate of the homeowner.


title: Vanilla Ice

text: , Ice's live performances feature a mix of newer, rock and techno-influenced material and old-school hip hop. Ice performs with a live drummer and DJ, and sometimes sprays his audience with bottled water. Ice's performances often feature an inflatable grim reaper balloon, a dancer in a clown mask, and confetti thrown into the audience. Describing his performances, Ice stated "It's high energy, stage diving, pyrotechnics, girls showing their breasts. It's crazy party atmosphere."


title: Vanilla Ice

text: Ice stated that his musical style was influenced by underground music, rather than mainstream music, and that his influences included hip hop and funk artists such as Funkadelic, Rick James, Roger Troutman, Egyptian Lover and Parliament. Ice is a big fan of 50's and 60's reggae and Bob Marley's work and has also stated that he enjoys Rage Against the Machine, Slipknot, and System of a Down.


title: Vanilla Ice

text: Ice sometimes plays bass, drums and keyboards on studio recordings. Vanilla Ice referred to his mainstream music as "above-ground" rather than underground, as he tried to make danceable beats and removed expletives so that the songs could reach a wider audience. A lot of his early hits had Ice boasting sexual conquests, in 1991, Ice was quoted "I rap about what I know. Girls and stuff. That's what is going through my head."


title: Vanilla Ice

text: When asked about his darker sound in 2002, Ice replied; "Music is about reflection and I'm just reflecting my life and everything it's been and there's no way I'm going to be able to stress what I want and mean over a break beat, you know, it's too emotional and it's too intense, so you have to have the intensity of the band, it's like a symphony, you know, you have to build on the intense parts, and so it just wasn't going to happen, to come extreme over some hip hop record, so to exorcise my demons I had to have the band."


title: Vanilla Ice

text: Along with Beastie Boys, 3rd Bass, and House of Pain, Ice was one of the earliest white rappers to attain major success. Chuck D has credited Ice as a regional breakthrough, stating "He broke through in the mid-South, in a Southern area in Texas, in something that was kind of indigenous to that hip-hop culture down there. He just doesn't get credit for it." In 1991, 3rd Bass released a single called "Pop Goes the Weasel", and in the lyrics comparing Ice unfavorably to Elvis Presley. The song's music video featured Henry Rollins as Ice, who is depicted as being assaulted by 3rd Bass. Ice responded to "Pop Goes the Weasel" with his 1992 song "The Wrath". Del tha Funkee Homosapien referred to Ice in the lyrics of "Pissin' on Your Steps", which appeared on his 1991 debut album "I Wish My Brother George Was Here". Similar to 'Pop Goes the Weasel', the song negatively makes a connection between Ice and Elvis, while saying Ice alongside MC Hammer are mocking hip hop by being commercial. Vanilla Ice answered back to most of his critics in the song "Hit 'em Hard".


title: Vanilla Ice

text: Vanilla Ice appears as a video game character in "Championship Motocross" released in 2001 on PlayStation 2. The hairstylist character in "" is also modeled after Vanilla Ice. Former Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight champion Chuck 'The Iceman' Lidell used Ice's song "Too Cold" for his entrance to the ring. In 2007, Nike released Vanilla Ice shoes for their "Fallen Heroes" pack. Rapper G-Child, best known for her appearance on "ego trip's The (White) Rapper Show", has credited Ice as being a major influence on her work. After meeting Ice in 2000, G-Child performed freestyle raps at six of Ice's performances, and opened for him four times. The late rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard appeared on stage with Vanilla Ice during the 2004 Gathering of the Juggalos and expressed interest in working on a song together after stating that he was Ice's "greatest fan". In March 2009, Ice participated in a Virgin Mobile advertising campaign titled "Right Music Wrongs", apologizing for his 1990s image. As part of the campaign, Ice was placed on "trial", and was voted innocent by users of the campaign website. He also appeared in a commercial for the South African light beer Castle Lite. In 2010, Vanilla Ice was featured on the debut single of the Irish duo Jedward, a mashup of "Under Pressure" and "Ice Ice Baby". "Under Pressure (Ice Ice Baby)" was released in the United Kingdom on January 31, 2010, via download and as a physical single on February 15, 2010. In 2010, Serbian musicians Slađa Delibašić and Shwarz released the single and music video "Dizel Power". The music video and song feature various references to Vanilla Ice, including the performers dancing next to a graffiti mural of Ice. The video has reached two million views on YouTube.


title: Vanilla Ice

text: After signing with Psychopathic Records, Violent J mentioned that Insane Clown Posse were longtime fans of Ice's work; "We were bumping him way before "Ice Ice Baby" blew up. We were bumping him when he had his first record out on Ichiban. Shaggy had the vinyl and we used to bump that shit up in his room. It felt like two summers before that shit blew up." "Thanda Thanda Pani" (Cold Cold Water) by Baba Sehgal was inspired heavily by Vanilla Ice's music and style. Rapper Riff Raff has mentioned in interviews that Vanilla Ice was one of his biggest influence.


title: Vanilla Ice

text: Eminem has often name-dropped Vanilla Ice in his songs. Starting during taped freestyles he did with rapper Proof in 1992 where they performed against each other portraying Ice and MC Hammer, respectively. In his first single "Just Don't Give a Fuck", Eminem mentions Ice alongside Everlast, boasting in a playful manner that he is a better rapper. In "Role Model", Eminem says he ripped out Vanilla Ice's dreadlocks. Ice responded to in a magazine interview with "Vibe" saying that Eminem "raps like a girl". While Vanilla Ice and Eminem neither look at their responses as an actual beef, Eminem did reply to the quote in his song "Marshall Mathers" which also featured a verbal attack on the Insane Clown Posse. Eminem mentioned Ice again in the song "Purple Pills" in 2001, which caused Vanilla Ice's only response in song. On his album "Bi-Polar", Ice mentions Eminem in a positive light ("Hip Hop Rules") and in a negative light ("Exhale"), however, Ice stated that he has no bad feelings towards Eminem. In a 2002 interview, Vanilla Ice stated that he thought Eminem's references were flattering, going on to say "I give him credit, I think he's talented, I think he's a killer rapper, you know I don't compare myself to him because he's another white rapper, I don't compare myself to any other rapper period, I don't colorize hip hop, it's stupid, but for people who are doing that are just looking through the eyes of a racial standpoint, and it really shouldn't be looked at that way, you're looking at two musicians that are in a broad brand of hip hop, so you don't need to compare us two. Following me, any white rapper is going to have to hear 'oh, you think you're Vanilla Ice?', so I am sure he's heard that." In April 2009, Ice appeared in the music video for Eminem's song "We Made You".


title: Laura Ingraham

text: Laura Anne Ingraham (born June 19, 1963) is an American conservative television host. She has been the host of "The Ingraham Angle" on Fox News Channel since October 2017, and is the editor-in-chief of LifeZette. She formerly hosted the nationally syndicated radio show "The Laura Ingraham Show".


title: Laura Ingraham

text: Ingraham worked as a speechwriter in the Reagan administration in the late 1980s. Afterwards, she earned a J.D. degree and then went on to work as a judicial clerk in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York and then for United States Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. She also worked for the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom in New York City. Ingraham began her media career in the mid-1990s. Ingraham is known for her support for Donald Trump, and acted as an informal advisor during his presidency.


title: Laura Ingraham

text: Ingraham grew up in Glastonbury, Connecticut, where she was born to Anne Caroline (née Kozak) and James Frederick Ingraham III. Her maternal grandparents were Polish immigrants and her father was of Irish and English ancestry. She graduated from Glastonbury High School in 1981.


title: Laura Ingraham

text: In 1985, Ingraham earned a B.A. from Dartmouth College. She then attended the University of Virginia School of Law, where she was a notes editor for the "Virginia Law Review". She graduated with a Juris Doctor in 1991.


title: Laura Ingraham

text: In the late 1980s, Ingraham worked as a speechwriter in the Reagan administration for the Domestic Policy Advisor. She also briefly served as editor of "The Prospect", the magazine issued by Concerned Alumni of Princeton. After law school, in 1991, she served as a law clerk for Judge Ralph K. Winter Jr., of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, in New York and subsequently clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. She then worked as an attorney at the New York-based law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. In 1995, she appeared on the cover of "The New York Times Magazine" in connection with a story about young conservatives.


title: Laura Ingraham

text: In 1996, she and Jay P. Lefkowitz organized the first Dark Ages Weekend in response to Renaissance Weekend.


title: Laura Ingraham

text: Ingraham has had three stints as a cable television host. She first became a host on MSNBC in 1996. In the late 1990s, she became a CBS commentator and hosted the MSNBC program "Watch It!". Several years later, on her radio program, Ingraham began campaigning for another cable television show. In 2008, Fox News Channel gave her a three-week trial run for a new show entitled "Just In". In October 2017, she became the host of a new Fox News Channel program, "The Ingraham Angle".


title: Laura Ingraham

text: Ingraham launched "The Laura Ingraham Show" in April 2001. The show was heard on 306 stations and on XM Satellite Radio. It was originally syndicated by Westwood One, but moved to Talk Radio Network in 2004. In 2012, Ingraham was rated as the No. 5 radio show in America by "Talkers Magazine". In November 2012, she announced her departure from Talk Radio Network, declining to renew her contract with TRN after nearly a decade of being associated with the network. She was the second major host from TRN's lineup to leave the network that year: TRN's other major program, "The Savage Nation", left TRN two months earlier. Her new program, syndicated by Courtside Entertainment Group, began airing on January 2, 2013, and went off the air in December 2018. Ingraham continues to produce podcast material for Courtside's PodcastOne division.


title: Laura Ingraham

text: LifeZette is a conservative American website founded in 2015 by Ingraham and businessman Peter Anthony. In January 2018, Ingraham confirmed that she had sold the majority stake in LifeZette to The Katz Group, owned by Canadian billionaire Daryl Katz.


title: Laura Ingraham

text: In 2017, Ingraham was described by "The New York Times" as an "ardent nationalist". Ingraham has been described as "no stranger to generating controversy" by "Variety" and as a "name-brand provocateur" by "Politico". "Business Insider" has referred to Ingraham's on-air style as "wad[ing] into debates on racism and gun violence". Ingraham has said that her influences include Ronald Reagan, Robert Bork and Pat Buchanan.


title: Laura Ingraham

text: In her senior year at Dartmouth College, during her tenure as editor-in-chief of independent campus newspaper "The Dartmouth Review", Ingraham wrote several controversial articles. She sent a reporter undercover in 1984 to a campus Gay Students Association meeting, and later received criticism when, despite an oath of confidentiality being read to participants, Ingraham published a transcript of the meeting and included the names of the attendees, describing them as "cheerleaders for latent campus sodomites". Ingraham argued that confidentiality did not apply because the meeting had been advertised, and defended the outing of the gay students as a "freedom of the press issue". Jeffrey Hart, the faculty adviser for "The Dartmouth Review", described Ingraham as having "the most extreme anti-homosexual views imaginable", and said "she went so far as to avoid a local eatery where she feared the waiters were homosexual".


title: Laura Ingraham

text: In 1997, Ingraham wrote an essay in "The Washington Post" in which she stated that she had changed her views on homosexuality after witnessing "the dignity, fidelity, and courage" with which her gay brother, Curtis, and his partner coped with the latter being diagnosed with AIDS; Curtis's partner ultimately died of the disease. Curtis, on the other hand, has called his sister "a monster" and said she was influenced by their father, whom he described as a Nazi sympathizer as well as an abusive alcoholic. Ingraham has stated that she supports civil unions between same-sex partners, but believes marriage "is between a man and a woman".


title: Laura Ingraham

text: Ingraham is a frequent critic of immigration and has expressed anti-immigration views. She opposed the proposed bipartisan 2013 US Senate comprehensive immigration reform plan. In 2014, Ingraham said that allowing more immigrant workers to come to the United States would be "obscene to the American experience". In 2014, she denounced House Majority Leader Eric Cantor after he expressed support for the DREAM Act and a GOP bill to grant a pathway to citizenship for young immigrants. At the time, Cantor faced a primary challenge from Dave Brat, which he would go on to lose. According to "The New York Times", "Few people did more than Ms. Ingraham to propel Mr. Brat ... from obscurity to national conservative hero." Ingraham said the race would go "down as one of the most significant repudiations of establishment immigration reform that I've seen in my 20 years of doing politics", and that due to the outcome of the race, "immigration reform is DOA". That same year, Ingraham harshly criticized Republican congresswoman Renee Elmers for expressing support for a comprehensive immigration bill which included a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants who were in the country at the time. In an interview with Elmers, Ingraham accused Elmers of supporting amnesty and using liberal talking points, and said her arguments were "infuriating to my listeners".


title: Laura Ingraham

text: In September 2014, Ingraham claimed that then-President Barack Obama sent assistance to Africa during the 2014 Ebola outbreak and exposed Americans to the virus because of his guilt over "colonialism".


title: Laura Ingraham

text: In September 2017, amid reports that Trump was considering an agreement with Democrats on amnesty for approximately 800,000 DREAMers, Ingraham criticized Trump, tweeting "When does American working class w/out real wage increase in 15yrs & who send their kids to overcrowded public schools get amnesty?" In July 2018, Ingraham harshly criticized Republican congressman Kevin Yoder after he expressed support for a Democratic bill that rolled back Attorney General Jeff Sessions' order that immigration judges not be allowed to grant asylum to asylum seekers fleeing domestic abuse or gang violence in their home country. She called on the congressman "to stop selling out the Trump agenda".


title: Laura Ingraham

text: In February 2018, Ingraham said NBA players LeBron James and Kevin Durant should "shut up and dribble" after James called comments by Trump "laughable and scary". When her statement was criticized, Ingraham said there was "no racial intent in my remarks" and cited her 2003 book "Shut Up & Sing" and other intstances when she had said performers should "shut up" about politics. In 2020, when Drew Brees, a white athlete, criticized protesters who kneeled during the U.S. national anthem, Ingraham was criticized for supporting his statements, which she had not done in the earlier case with the African-American athletes.


title: Laura Ingraham

text: Ingraham defended the Trump administration's "zero-tolerance" family separation policy for children of illegal immigrants, and in a June 18, 2018, broadcast compared the children's facilities to "summer camps" that "resemble boarding schools". She further described criticism of the policy as "faux liberal outrage". Ingraham had referred to the border crossings as "slow-rolling invasion of the United States". School shooting survivor and activist David Hogg, who had led a previous campaign to pressure advertisers to leave "The" "Ingraham Angle", called for a second boycott, but advertisers interviewed by "The Hollywood Reporter" on June 19 did not plan to leave the show.


title: Laura Ingraham

text: Ingraham objects to the changing racial demographics of The United States. In August 2018, in what "The Washington Post" labeled an expression of "white anxiety", she stated "some parts of the country it does seem like the America we know and love doesn't exist anymore. Massive demographic changes have been foisted upon the American people. And they're changes that none of us ever voted for, and most of us don't like... much of this is related to both illegal and, in some cases, legal immigration that, of course, progressives love."


title: Laura Ingraham

text: Various commentators criticized Ingraham's comments, with "The Atlantic" claiming she was alluding to the U.S. becoming "less and less white with every passing year". Many outlets argued that it echoed white nationalist rhetoric or that itself constituted a "white nationalist rant". Ingraham's comments were endorsed by David Duke. In response, Ingraham called Duke a "racist freak whose name I won't even mention". Some mainstream media described Ingraham's views as advocating the white genocide conspiracy theory. In her August 9, 2018 "Ingraham Angle" monolog, Ingraham stated she was not talking about "race or ethnicity" and went on to say, "There is something slipping away in this country and it's not about race or ethnicity. It's what was once a common understanding by both parties that American citizenship is a privilege, and one that at a minimum requires respect for the rule of law and loyalty to our constitution."


title: Laura Ingraham

text: In October 2018, Ingraham urged her audience to vote Republican in the upcoming midterm elections, saying that Democrats "want to replace you, the American voters, with newly amnestied citizens and an ever-increasing number of chain migrants."


title: Laura Ingraham

text: In May 2019, Ingraham showed a graphic on her show of "prominent voices censored on social media", which included "people who believe in border enforcement, people who believe in national sovereignty." Among those listed was Paul Nehlen, known for making numerous anti-Semitic remarks, who was banned from Twitter after making racist remarks about Meghan Markle, the wife of Prince Harry.


title: Laura Ingraham

text: In June 2019, she spread unsubstantiated claims that asylum seekers to the United States may carry the Ebola virus.


title: Laura Ingraham

text: Ingraham has supported deregulation and has spoken against lawsuits. In 2021 Ingraham suggested getting rid of unemployment benefits for people capable of work, asking a guest, "What if we just cut off the unemployment? Hunger is a pretty powerful thing." In September 2022, Ingraham criticized the Biden administration's student loan forgiveness program, stating that her mother worked as a waitress until she was 73 to help pay for Ingraham's loans. The statement was ridiculed by critics who noted that Ingraham had held high-salary jobs since the 1980s and should've been able to pay off her loans herself rather than depend on her mother during that time period.


title: Laura Ingraham

text: Ingraham advocated for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. However, during the 2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, she said she considered the Iraq war a mistake, and criticized "Bushism" as Trump ran against Jeb Bush. In August 2019, Ingraham condemned China's "brutal violation of basic human rights" and China's Xinjiang re-education camps for Muslim ethnic minority groups. Ingraham is a supporter of Israel, which she called "one of our closest allies". She criticized Ilhan Omar's description of Israel as an apartheid regime.


title: Laura Ingraham

text: Ingraham is known for her strong support for Donald Trump. During his presidency, she acted as an informal advisor to the administration, flouting journalistic ethical norms. In 2016 after Trump became the Republican nominee Ingraham expressed support for Trump during her speech at the Republican National Committee. In June 2019, Ingraham mocked reports that Trump had delayed his participation in D-Day commemoration activities to sit for an interview with her, strongly dismissing them as "patently false—fake news", despite video of the interview showing Trump saying, "These people are so amazing, and what they don't realize is that I'm holding them up because of this interview, but that's because it's you."


title: Laura Ingraham

text: Following the attack on the United States Capitol by Trump supporters on January 6, 2021, Ingraham was among those who advanced the conspiracy theory that people associated with antifa were responsible. During the attack, she had texted Trump's Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows, "Mark, the president needs to tell people in the Capitol to go home. This is hurting all of us. He is destroying his legacy." But she downplayed Trump supporter involvement that evening on "Ingraham Angle", stating, "They were likely not all Trump supporters. I have never seen Trump rally attendees wearing helmets, black helmets, brown helmets, black backpacks — the uniforms you saw in some of these crowd shots." She later ridiculed four members of the Capitol Police and D.C. Police who had responded to the insurrection, after they testified to House lawmakers on July 27, 2021.


title: Laura Ingraham

text: In 2022, Ingraham criticized the Justice Department and FBI for the search of Mar-a-Lago over Trump's handling of classified information, but suggested that Republican voters might "turn the page" and back another 2024 presidential candidate "if we can get someone who has all Trump’s policies, who’s not Trump".


title: Laura Ingraham

text: During the coronavirus pandemic, Ingraham repeatedly pushed for the unproven drug hydroxychloroquine as treatment for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). She characterized it as a miracle drug and booked guests on her show to promote the drug. She mocked Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Robert R. Redfield after he cautioned against the drug. After a study was released which tested the drug on 368 Veterans Affairs patients and showed that the drug was associated with an increased risk of death, she attacked the study as "shoddy", "shockingly irresponsible" and "agenda-driven". She questioned whether attempts to "disprove effectiveness" of the drug was "triggered by pure hatred of Trump? Of Fox? Of me?" On June 15, 2020, the Food and Drug Administration revoked the Emergency Approval of hydroxychloroquine (and chloroquine). FDA said that a review of some studies showed that the drugs' potential benefits in treating COVID-19 did not outweigh the risks.


title: Laura Ingraham

text: In May 2020, Ingraham criticized requirements that people wear face masks in public as a way to halt the spread of the coronavirus.


title: Laura Ingraham

text: She gave airtime to Harmeet Dhillon, a Republican operative who filed lawsuits against California to stop the implementation of stay-at-home orders intended to halt the spread of the coronavirus. She praised her as "leading the charge to keep Gavin Newsom's power grabs in check."


title: Laura Ingraham

text: In October 2020, Ingraham and her guest Victor Davis Hanson spread misinformation about New Zealand's response to the pandemic on her show. Referring to a "terrifying new response" which was months old, she called New Zealand's managed isolation facilities "camps" when they are in fact lavish hotels.


title: Laura Ingraham

text: Ingraham was an early media proponent of the anti-parasite drug ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19 (a use not recommended by the FDA), and promoted a conspiracy theory that doctors and officials "vilify and dismiss and demean, and, frankly, lie about it, the effectiveness of these drugs".


title: Laura Ingraham

text: Ingraham warned Trump not to support gun control; after comments he made in the wake of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, Ingraham said in a February 2018 tweet that "If the President @realDonaldTrump dives on the 2nd [Amendment], he won’t have to worry abt who runs his 2020 campaign."


title: Laura Ingraham

text: In March 2018, Ingraham's show was boycotted by 27 sponsors after she ridiculed David Hogg, a 17-year-old student survivor of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, for supposedly complaining about being rejected by four colleges. In response, Hogg posted a list of Ingraham's advertisers and called for a boycott, accusing her of cyberbullying. After several advertisers left the show Ingraham apologized, which Hogg dismissed as insincere. Advertising time during the show dropped by as much as 52 percent. After Ingraham returned from a vacation following the boycott, her program earned its best ratings ever, spiking 25% in total viewers and saw an increase of 36% in the key 25–54 age group demographic. As of October 2018, companies were continuing to shun Ingraham's show despite the increased ratings.


title: Laura Ingraham

text: Ingraham has promoted conspiracy theories about topics such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the January 6 United States Capitol attack.


title: Laura Ingraham

text: Ingraham has promoted the Great Replacement theory and stated that Democrats “want to replace you, the American voters, with newly amnestied citizens and an ever-increasing number of chain migrants". Ingraham also hosted Republicans Jim Banks, Stephen Miller, and Jim Jordan who also endorsed the theory.


title: Laura Ingraham

text: During an appearance on "Fox & Friends" Ingraham promoted the conspiracy theory that the Democratic National Committee was involved in the murder of Seth Rich.


title: Laura Ingraham

text: Ingraham attended a Baptist church until the age of twelve, later converting to Roman Catholicism. She studied Spanish and Russian.


title: Laura Ingraham

text: She is a single parent of three children: a girl, Maria, from Guatemala adopted in 2008, a boy, Michael Dmitri, from Russia adopted in 2009, and a second boy, Nikolai Peter, adopted from Russia in 2011.


title: Harrison Ford filmography

text: Harrison Ford is an American actor who has had a long and varied career in the entertainment industry across seven different decades. Ford made his film debut in 1966 and spent most of the first ten years of his career in small supporting roles in both films and television before rising to stardom for his portrayal of the iconic and heroic character Han Solo in the epic space opera films "Star Wars" (1977), "The Empire Strikes Back" (1980), "Return of the Jedi" (1983), and then again 32 years later in "" (2015) and "" (2019). In the early 1980s, his career soared to even bigger heights when he claimed the starring role of another heroic character Indiana Jones in the adventure films "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981), "The Temple of Doom" (1984), "The Last Crusade" (1989) and then again 19 years later in "The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" (2008). He has also famously portrayed two literary characters brought to the silver screen: the anti-hero detective Rick Deckard in the neo-noir dystopian science fiction film "Blade Runner" (1982) and its sequel 35 years later "Blade Runner 2049" (2017) and CIA analyst Jack Ryan in the spy thrillers "Patriot Games" (1992) and "Clear and Present Danger" (1994).


title: Harrison Ford filmography

text: Ford also played a small role in the acclaimed war film "Apocalypse Now" in 1979 before becoming a very high-profile movie star in leading roles throughout the 1980s and 1990s with such films as the romantic dramatic thriller "Witness" with Kelly McGillis for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, the romantic comedy-drama "Working Girl" with Melanie Griffith and Sigourney Weaver, the recovery drama "Regarding Henry" with Annette Bening, the man-on-the-run action-thriller "The Fugitive" with Tommy Lee Jones, and the romantic comedy-drama remake "Sabrina" with Julia Ormond, earning Golden Globe nominations for the latter two films.


title: Harrison Ford filmography

text: In 1997, Ford starred as fictional U.S. President James Marshall opposite Gary Oldman in the political action-thriller "Air Force One" and then went on to play Russian submarine Captain Alexei Vostrikov opposite Liam Neeson in the Cold War-era thriller "" in 2002, a film based on true events in which he also served as executive producer. He continued to diversify his choice of roles throughout the 2000s and 2010s, transitioning from leading man to character actor with such parts as cantankerous newsman Mike Pomeroy in the romantic comedy "Morning Glory" with Rachel McAdams and Diane Keaton, Colonel Woodrow Dolarhyde in the science fiction/western hybrid "Cowboys & Aliens" with Daniel Craig, real-life Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey in the historical sports drama "42" with Chadwick Boseman as Jackie Robinson, the no-nonsense Colonel Hyrum Graff in the science fiction adaptation of Orson Scott Card's novel "Ender's Game" with Ben Kingsley and Viola Davis, and the wounded aging lover William Jones in the romantic drama "The Age of Adaline" with Blake Lively and Ellen Burstyn. In 2019, Ford had his first voice performance in the animated film "The Secret Life of Pets 2", and starred as John Thornton in an adaptation of Jack London's 1903 novel "The Call of the Wild" in 2020. He is set to reprise his role as Indiana Jones in a planned fifth installment of the franchise due for release in 2023. In 2022, Ford was announced to have been selected by Marvel Studios to replace the late William Hurt as Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross in the upcoming 2024 films "" and "Thunderbolts", set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.


title: Harrison Ford filmography

text: In addition to feature films and television, Ford has also narrated and participated in several documentaries.


title: Prakash Raj

text: Prakash Raj (born Prakash Rai; 26 March 1965) is an Indian actor, film director, producer, television presenter, and politician. Known for his works in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi, and Malayalam-language films, he is the recipient of several accolades, including five National Film Awards, eight Nandi Awards, eight Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, five Filmfare Awards South, four SIIMA Awards, three CineMAA Awards, and three Vijay Awards. Apart from his mother tongue Kannada, Raj's fluency in Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam, English, and Marathi has placed him among the most sought after actors in Indian cinema.


title: Prakash Raj

text: After working in stage shows and television in Kannada for a few years, Raj ventured into films. He made his debut in Tamil cinema through "Duet" (1994), by K. Balachander, and has since been a commercially successful film star in Tamil. In remembrance, he named his production company Duet Movies.


title: Prakash Raj

text: A polyglot, he played a variety of roles, most notably as the antagonist and, of late, as a character actor. Prakash, as an actor has won a National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1998 for Mani Ratnam's "Iruvar", a National Film Award – Special Mention for the Telugu film "Antahpuram", directed by Krishna Vamsi in 1998 and a National Film Award for Best Actor in 2007 for his role in "Kanchivaram", a Tamil film directed by Priyadarshan.


title: Prakash Raj

text: As a producer, he has won a National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Kannada for "Puttakkana Highway", directed by his long-time theatre friend B. Suresha in 2011. Prakash was also the host of "Neengalum Vellalam Oru Kodi" during the show's second season.


title: Prakash Raj

text: His brother is Prasad Raj, who is also an actor. He completed schooling at St. Joseph's Indian High School and joined St. Joseph's College of Commerce, Bangalore. Actress Geetha introduced Prakash Raj to prominent Tamil film director K. Balachander. Prakash Raj changed his surname to 'Raj' upon K. Balachander's advice; he is still called Prakash Rai in his home state, Karnataka.


title: Prakash Raj

text: Prakash Raj married actress Lalitha Kumari in 1994. They had two daughters, Meghana and Pooja, and a son, Sidhu who died in 2004. The couple divorced in 2009.


title: Prakash Raj

text: Later, he married choreographer Pony Verma on 24 August 2010. They have a son, Vedhanth born in 2015.


title: Prakash Raj

text: Prakash Raj acted in back-to-back stage shows for 300 a month in the initial stages of his career, when he joined Kalakshetra, Bengaluru, and he has 2,000 street theatre performances to his credit.


title: Prakash Raj

text: Prakash began his television career with Doordarshan serials such as "Bisilu Kudure" (Kannada) and "Guddada Bhootha" (Tulu and Kannada). He later took up supporting roles in Kannada films such as "Ramachari", "Ranadheera", "Nishkarsha" and "Lockup Death". He was noticed for his dialogue delivery and histrionics. His breakthrough role came in "Harakeya Kuri", directed by K. S. L. Swamy starring Vishnuvardhan, with whom he had acted in other films such as "Mithileya Seetheyaru", "Muthina Haara" and "Nishkarsha". His performance was noticed by Geetha, the lead heroine of the film, who introduced Prakash to her mentor K. Balachander, a Tamil director. He acted under the screen name "Prakash Rai" in Kannada films and was given the name "Prakash Raj" by K. Balachander for his debut Tamil film "Duet", which saw him playing his first major role.


title: Prakash Raj

text: Prakash re-entered Kannada films through "Nagamandala" in 1997, directed by T. S. Nagabharana, which was selected for the Indian Panorama in the International Film Festival in 1997. He was also a part of Mani Ratnam's stage show "Netru, Indru, Naalai". In 1997, he acted in Mani Ratnam's biopic "Iruvar". The movie dealt with the relationship between politicians M. G. Ramachandran and M. Karunanidhi, for which he won the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor.


title: Prakash Raj

text: He starred in many Malayalam films in 1996: "The Prince", "Indraprastham" and "Oru Yathramozhi", the last of which released in 1997. He also acted in "Pandippada", with Dilip in 2005, "Thekkekara Superfast" in 2003, "Keerthichakra" in 2006, Amal Neerad's "Anwar" and Shyamaprasad's sensational movie "Elecktra" in 2010. For most of his Mollywood movies, he will render his own voice. He was also seen in the movie "Achayans along with Jayaram".


title: Prakash Raj

text: He acted in many Telugu films, including "Antahpuram" (1998), which earned him a National Film Award – Special Jury Award / Special Mention.


title: Prakash Raj

text: He played an important role in Venkat Prabhu's "Saroja". In 2008, he produced a film titled "Abhiyum Naanum" and played an important character in it. He remade the movie in Kannada as "Naanu Nanna Kanasu".


title: Prakash Raj

text: Prakash Raj also acted in a 2004-released multi starrer hit film Khakee along with Amithabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Ajay Devgn, Akshay Kumar & Tushar Kapoor, playing Assistant Commissioner of Police Shrikant Naidu, Angre's main mole in the police force. Since "Wanted" (2009), Prakash Raj has been a regular villain in Hindi language Bollywood movies, including "Singham", "Dabangg 2", "Mumbai Mirror" (2013), and "Policegiri".


title: Prakash Raj

text: He acted with actor Kamal Haasan in "Vasool Raja MBBS", which was a critical and commercial success. Then, he paired again with Kamal Haasan in "Thoongaa Vanam" (2015). He acted in the Telugu movie "Bharat Ane Nenu" (2018). He will be seen in "Major", which is directed by Sashi Kiran Tikka.


title: Prakash Raj

text: Prakash took on the mantle of director with "Naanu Nanna Kanasu", in Kannada in 2010, for which he was the joint producer. The film completed 125 days successfully in the theatres across Karnataka, becoming the biggest hit of the year. He was nominated for the Filmfare South "Best Director" category for his first film.


title: Prakash Raj

text: He then directed the Telugu and Tamil bilingual film "Dhoni". In 2014, he directed the multilingual film "Oggarane" (in Kannada), "Ulavacharu Biryani" (in Telugu) and "Un Samayal Arayil" (in Tamil). Although the Tamil and Telugu versions did not do any miracles at the box office, the Kannada version became the runaway blockbuster hit of the year.


title: Prakash Raj

text: Prakash became a film producer beginning with the Tamil film "Dhaya" (2002), in which he starred with actress Meena. It earned him a Special Jury National Award for his performance. He later produced films in Tamil such as "Naam" (2003), "Azhagiya Theeye" (2004), "Kanda Naal Mudhal" (2005), "Poi" (2006), "Mozhi" (2007), "Velli Thirai" and "Abhiyum Naanum", which won many Tamil Nadu State Awards in 2008, and "Inidhu Inidhu" in 2010.


title: Prakash Raj

text: The first non-Tamil film that he produced was his directorial debut in Kannada, "Naanu Nanna Kanasu", a remake of his own Tamil production "Abhiyum Naanum", for which he was the joint producer, along with his long-time Bengaluru theatre friend, Kannada director-producer B. Suresha. In 2011, he acted and jointly produced the Kannada film "Puttakkana Highway", again with Suresh, who directed the film. It was a milestone in Prakash's production career since "Puttakkana Highway" won him the National Award for Best Regional Film for the year 2010–2011, and an award in the fourth Bengaluru International Film Festival of 2011.


title: Prakash Raj

text: In 2011, he produced the Tamil version of the Tamil-Telugu bilingual "Payanam" in 2011, starring Nagarjuna Akkineni and himself. In 2012, he produced two Tamil films; "Mayilu" and "Dhoni". In 2013, he produced a Telugu-Tamil bilingual film; "Gouravam". He produced a multilingual film "Oggarane" (Kannada), "Ulavacharu Biryani" (Telugu) and "Un Samayal Arayil" (Tamil) in 2014. "Oggarane" became a huge blockbuster hit that year.


title: Prakash Raj

text: Prakash Raj started his active political movement with the hashtag #justasking on social media after his friend Gauri Lankesh's assassination incident in September 2017.


title: Prakash Raj

text: He contested in the 2019 Indian general election as an independent candidate for the Bengaluru Central Lok Sabha constituency. Raj lost the election, securing around 28,906 Votes (2.41%) in the election.


title: Prakash Raj

text: "If people who work with me say that I play hide and seek, why do they repeat me? Why am I in Mahesh's nine films out of his ten. Why don't you judge me with my work? How I go about it is not important. I don't go by the rules. I put my foot down, I don't take mediocrity. There are certain locations where I can come only at 12 in the morning. I don't go by the rules." It was the first time that an actor was banned by the Telugu industry. Telugu film industry insiders interpret the ban as a conspiracy by several big heroes and producers. Problems started during the shooting of the Telugu films Pawan Kalyan's "Jalsa", NTR Jr's "Kantri", and Allu Arjun's "Parugu".


title: Prakash Raj

text: There was controversy for his naked appearance in a sequence in his latest Telugu release "Ongole Githa". The film got an "A Certificate" from the Censor Board. Prakash reacted by saying: "I did not shed my clothes for creating sensation, I had no plans to star in that sequence. The script demanded it; as an actor, I have to abide by the script. Director Bhaskar told me that it would be an 'important' sequence in the context of the film and I just carried out his instructions."


title: Prakash Raj

text: Several Kannada organisations staged protests in front of theatres since they felt that some of the dialogue in a scene in the Hindi film "Singham", starring Ajay Devgan and Prakash were derogatory against the Kannadigas. The Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce (KFCC) had demanded the deletion of all "objectionable" dialogue from the movie. The screening was stopped in major centres of Karnataka. The controversial scene starts off with Prakash threatening Ajay that he would bring 1,000 people from the Karnataka border to thrash him. Ajay (who plays Bajirao Singham, a Maratha), retorts that one lion would suffice to shoo away a thousand dogs. The controversy assumes significance in the backdrop of the decades-old border dispute between Karnataka and Maharashtra. Kannada protesters also felt that Prakash, being a Kannadiga should have told the team that it is not right. Prakash reacted to it to the Kannada and the Telugu media by saying: "I am a Kannadiga myself and I love my mother tongue Kannada. I'm very proud of my community and would never deliberately do anything to hurt my people. How would I allow conversations that provide pain to people of Karnataka in any movie in which I am cast? There is nothing controversial about the dialogue. I am a Maratha in the movie, the controversy has started just because I am a Kannadiga and I used the word 'Karnataka border' in the film because the villain in the film stays in Goa, the Karnataka border." Finally the dialogue was removed, and the whole team of "Singham" including the director Rohit Shetty, the production house "Reliance Big Entertainment", and Prakash apologized to all the Kannadigas; the issue was resolved.


title: Groucho Marx

text: Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx (; October 2, 1890 – August 19, 1977) was an American comedian, actor, writer, stage, film, radio, singer, television star and vaudeville performer. He is generally considered to have been a master of quick wit and one of America's greatest comedians.


title: Groucho Marx

text: He made 13 feature films as a team with his siblings the Marx Brothers; he was the third-born of the brothers. He also had a successful solo career primarily on radio and television, most notably as the host of the game show "You Bet Your Life".


title: Groucho Marx

text: His distinctive appearance, carried over from his days in vaudeville, included quirks such as an exaggerated stooped posture, spectacles, cigar, and a thick greasepaint mustache and eyebrows. These exaggerated features resulted in the creation of one of the most recognizable and ubiquitous novelty disguises, known as Groucho glasses: a one-piece mask consisting of horn-rimmed glasses, a large plastic nose, bushy eyebrows and mustache.


title: Groucho Marx

text: Julius Henry Marx was born on October 2, 1890, in Manhattan, New York. Marx stated that he was born in a room above a butcher's shop on East 78th Street, "Between Lexington & 3rd", as he told Dick Cavett in a 1969 television interview. The Marx children grew up in a turn-of-the-century building on East 93rd Street off Lexington Avenue in a neighborhood now known as Carnegie Hill on the Upper East Side of the borough of Manhattan. His older brother Harpo, in his memoir "Harpo Speaks", called the building "the first real home they ever knew". It was populated with European immigrants, mostly artisans. Just across the street were the oldest brownstones in the area, owned by people including the well-connected Loew Brothers and William Orth. The Marx family lived there "for about 14 years," Groucho also told Cavett.


title: Groucho Marx

text: Marx's family was Jewish. His mother was Miene "Minnie" Schoenberg, whose family came from Dornum in northern Germany when she was 16 years old. His father was Simon "Sam" Marx, who changed his name from Marrix, and was called "Frenchie" by his sons throughout his life, because he and his family came from Alsace in France. Minnie's brother was Al Schoenberg, who shortened his name to Al Shean when he went into show business as half of Gallagher and Shean, a noted vaudeville act of the early 20th century. According to Marx, when Shean visited, he would throw the local waifs a few coins so that when he knocked at the door he would be surrounded by adoring fans. Marx and his brothers respected his opinions and asked him on several occasions to write some material for them.


title: Groucho Marx

text: Minnie Marx did not have an entertainment industry career but had intense ambition for her sons to go on the stage like their uncle. While pushing her second son Leonard (Chico Marx) in piano lessons, she found that Julius had a pleasant soprano voice and the ability to remain on key. Julius's early career goal was to become a doctor, but the family's need for income forced him out of school at the age of twelve. By that time young Julius had become a voracious reader, particularly fond of Horatio Alger. Marx would continue to overcome his lack of formal education by becoming very well-read.


title: Groucho Marx

text: After a few stabs at entry-level office work and jobs suitable for adolescents, Julius took to the stage as a boy singer with the Gene Leroy Trio, debuting at the Ramona Theatre in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on July 16, 1905. Marx reputedly claimed that he was "hopelessly average" as a vaudevillian, but this was typical Marx, wisecracking in his true form. By 1909, Minnie Marx had assembled her sons into an undistinguished vaudeville singing group billed as "The Four Nightingales". The brothers Julius, Milton (Gummo Marx) and Arthur (originally Adolph, but Harpo Marx from 1911) and another boy singer, Lou Levy, traveled the U.S. vaudeville circuits to little fanfare. After exhausting their prospects in the East, the family moved to La Grange, Illinois, to play the Midwest.


title: Groucho Marx

text: After a particularly dispiriting performance in Nacogdoches, Texas Julius, Milton, and Arthur began cracking jokes onstage for their own amusement. Much to their surprise, the audience liked them better as comedians than as singers. They modified the then-popular Gus Edwards comedy skit "School Days" and renamed it "Fun In Hi Skule". The Marx Brothers would perform variations on this routine for the next seven years.


title: Groucho Marx

text: For a time in vaudeville, all the brothers performed using ethnic accents. Leonard, the oldest, developed the Italian accent he used as Chico Marx to convince some roving bullies that he was Italian, not Jewish. Arthur, the next oldest, donned a curly red wig and became "Patsy Brannigan", a stereotypical Irish character. His discomfort when speaking on stage led to his uncle Al Shean's suggestion that he stop speaking altogether and play the role in mime. Julius Marx's character from "Fun In Hi Skule" was an ethnic German, so Julius played him with a German accent. After the sinking of the in 1915, public anti-German sentiment was widespread, and Marx's German character was booed, so he quickly dropped the accent and developed the fast-talking wise-guy character that became his trademark.


title: Groucho Marx

text: The Marx Brothers became the biggest comedic stars of the Palace Theatre in New York, which billed itself as the "Valhalla of Vaudeville". Brother Chico's deal-making skills resulted in three hit plays on Broadway. No other comedy routine had ever so infected the Broadway circuit. All of this stage work predated their Hollywood career. By the time the Marxes made their first movie, they were already major stars with sharply honed skills; and by the time Groucho was relaunched to stardom in television on "You Bet Your Life", he had been performing successfully for half a century.


title: Groucho Marx

text: Marx started his career in vaudeville in 1905 when he joined up with an act called The Leroy Trio. He answered a newspaper want ad by a man named Robin Leroy who was looking for a boy to join his group as a singer. Marx was hired along with fellow vaudeville actor Johnny Morris. Through this act, Marx got his first taste of life as a vaudeville performer. In 1909, Marx and his brothers had become a group act, at first called The Three Nightingales and later The Four Nightingales. The brothers' mother, Minnie Marx, was the group's manager, putting them together and booking their shows. The group had a rocky start, performing in less than adequate venues and rarely, if ever, being paid for their performances. Eventually brother Milton (Gummo) would leave the act to serve in World War I and was replaced by Herbert (Zeppo), and the group became known as the Marx Brothers. Their first successful show was "Fun In Hi Skule" (1910).


title: Groucho Marx

text: Marx made 26 movies, 13 of them include his brothers Chico and Harpo. Marx developed a routine as a wisecracking hustler with a distinctive chicken-walking lope, an exaggerated greasepaint mustache and eyebrows and an ever-present cigar, improvising insults to stuffy dowagers (frequently played by his old friend Margaret Dumont) and anyone else who stood in his way. As the Marx Brothers, he and his brothers starred in a series of popular stage shows and movies.


title: Groucho Marx

text: Their first movie was a silent film made in 1921 that was never released, and is believed to have been destroyed at the time. A decade later, the team made two of their Broadway hits—"The Cocoanuts" and "Animal Crackers"—into movies. Other successful films were "Monkey Business", "Horse Feathers", "Duck Soup" and "A Night at the Opera". One quip from Marx concerned his response to Sam Wood, the director of "A Night at the Opera". Furious with the Marx Brothers' ad-libs and antics on the set, Wood yelled in disgust: "You can't make an actor out of clay." Marx responded, "Nor a director out of Wood."


title: Groucho Marx

text: Marx also worked as a radio comedian and show host. One of his earliest stints was a short-lived series in 1932, "Flywheel, Shyster and Flywheel," costarring Chico. Though most of the scripts and discs were thought to have been destroyed, all but one of the scripts were found in 1988 in the Library of Congress.


title: Groucho Marx

text: In 1947, Marx was asked to host a radio quiz program "You Bet Your Life." It was broadcast by ABC and then CBS before moving to NBC. It moved from radio to television on October 5, 1950, and ran for eleven years. Filmed before an audience, the show consisted of Marx bantering with the contestants and ad-libbing jokes before briefly quizzing them. The show was responsible for popularizing the phrases "Say the secret word and the duck will come down and give you fifty dollars," "Who's buried in Grant's Tomb?" and "What color is the White House?" (asked to reward a losing contestant a consolation prize).


title: Groucho Marx

text: Throughout his career Marx introduced a number of memorable songs in films, including "Hooray for Captain Spaulding" and "Hello, I Must Be Going", in "Animal Crackers", "Whatever It Is, I'm Against It", "Everyone Says I Love You" and "Lydia the Tattooed Lady". Frank Sinatra, who once quipped that the only thing he could do better than Marx was sing, made a film with Marx and Jane Russell in 1951 entitled "Double Dynamite".


title: Groucho Marx

text: In public and off-camera, Harpo and Chico were hard to recognize without their wigs and costumes, and it was almost impossible for fans to recognize Groucho without his trademark eyeglasses, fake eyebrows, and mustache.


title: Groucho Marx

text: The greasepaint mustache and eyebrows originated spontaneously prior to a vaudeville performance in the early 1920s when he did not have time to apply the pasted-on mustache he had been using (or, according to his autobiography, simply did not enjoy the removal of the mustache because of the effects of tearing an adhesive bandage off the same patch of skin every night). After applying the greasepaint mustache, a quick glance in the mirror revealed his natural hair eyebrows were too undertoned and did not match the rest of his face, so Marx added the greasepaint to his eyebrows and headed for the stage. The absurdity of the greasepaint was never discussed on-screen, but in a famous scene in "Duck Soup," where both Chicolini (Chico) and Pinky (Harpo) disguise themselves as Groucho, they are briefly seen applying the greasepaint, implicitly answering any question a viewer might have had about where he got his mustache and eyebrows.


title: Groucho Marx

text: Marx was asked to apply the greasepaint mustache once more for "You Bet Your Life" when it came to television, but he refused, opting instead to grow a real one, which he wore for the rest of his life. By this time, his eyesight had weakened enough for him to actually need corrective lenses; before then, his eyeglasses had merely been a stage prop. He debuted this new, and now much-older, appearance in "Love Happy," the Marx Brothers's last film as a comedy team.