If you were ever hoping to be in the house for an Oprah show, better act fast! Oprah will end her show at the end of its 25th season in September 2011, her production company Harpo Inc said yesterday.

The media mogul will make the official announcement at the end of her talk show today, as well as disclose the reasons behind the decision.

Word is Ms. Winfrey plans to concentrate on the forthcoming cable channel, OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network, which is expected to draw subscriptions from 70 million American homes. While telling her staff of the decision to end the talk show, she made it clear that she will not transfer the show to her cable channel, but she is expected to appear on the channel in some form. The rumors say she will close up shop in Chicago, where she has lived since 1984, and move to Los Angeles.

By now it seems like anything Oprah touches will turn into gold, but what do you think about her ending the iconic show? Who do you think could fill her shoes?

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Ashley “A.J.” Jewel’s death has been officially ruled a homicide. Although a preliminary medical report suggested that sickle-cell anemia may have ultimately caused the death of the fiance of Real Housewives of Atlanta star Kandi Burruss, A.J.’s official cause of death was listed as “physical altercation resulting in sickle cell trait related exertional collapse.”

According to the Atlanta Constitution Journal the report continued: “Although Mr. Jewell died of complications of his underlying natural disease conditions, [the] complications would not have occurred if he had not experienced the extreme exertion that was part of the physical altercation. Due to the active involvement of another person, the manner of death is classified as a homicide.”

A.J.’s family is angered by the report and unsatisfied with the investigation. “Although the medical examiner’s report released to us yesterday does classify my son’s death as homicide, the report is contradictory because it simultaneously blames a ‘sickle cell crisis’,” said the Rev. A.B. Jewell, Sr.

The family also criticized the release on bond of Frederick Richardson, A.J.’s accused killer. Richardson is charged with voluntary manslaughter in the October 2nd death.

Richardson’s attorney told TMZ, “It’s an unfortunate situation, Frederick is sorry this situation happened and that A.J. died.”

According to a news release A.J.’s family plans to hold a prayer vigil at 7:30pm tonight in the parking lot of the strip club Body Tap, where the fight that led to his death occurred.

Here’s hoping the family is able to find peace and justice is properly served.

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Despite all the rumors of a reunion, Janet Jackson confirmed Jermaine Dupri is in fact an ex, referring to him as such in a recent interview with Atlanta’s The Bert Show.

In the interview Ms. Jackson said, “I’m not the type of girl that stays in touch with your ex like that,” so why have we seen the two canoodling out and about? She must’ve made a special exception for Jermaine because she also noted: ”Jermaine is one of my best friends. I love him to death. We’re still connected. We’re still good friends. We still talk.”

The couple split in July after eight years together amid reports they weren’t on the same page regarding her music career.

We’ll go with the break up for now, but I wouldn’t be surprised if these two got back together sometime down the line.

“We’re there for one another,” Janet said. “I think it will remain that way for the rest of my life.”

See? The love isn’t all gone.

Despite Rosie O’Donnell’s implications Gayle King insists that she and Oprah are not gay. In fact, she finds the whole never-ending rumor amusing.

Oprah’s BFF told Access Hollywood:

“The thing [is], if we were gay, we would tell you. We would so tell you. We wouldn’t try to keep that a secret because there’s nothing wrong with being gay. So if we were, we would tell you. The truth of the matter is we’re not. It’s hard enough for me to get a date on a Saturday night as it is.

This isn’t a rumor I’m trying to continue to explore, but no there’s nothing, there’s nothing wrong with it. I love that question. That never bothers me because it’s so silly.”

There it is (again). Next question?

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Move over ‘Sasha Fierce,’ Beyonce isn’t the only former Destiny’s Child member who has an alter ego! Michelle Williams took it to church for a photo shoot with Derek Blanks who used his notable alter ego technique. Blanks told the YBF.com that “the shoot is about her being judged as both a Christian artist and secular artist–-showing how people are judgmental in and outside of the church. She is herself in the purple, but how she feels she is looked at in the yellow.”

Closeups of the alter ego picture and more looks from the shoot below.  What do you think?

Chris Brown had to know it wouldn’t be an easy road back into the public’s good graces, but he thinks people are perceiving him wrong.  The notorious singer sat down with Wendy Williams on her show today to debut his new music video “Crawl” and told the daytime diva: “I think the steps that I’ve taken to show that I’m sorry probably have been perceived wrong,” Chris admitted. “Certain things that I’m doing in different interviews – how my posture is, how I’m acting. At the end of the day I’m definitely remorseful; it’s not something I take lightly – thinking like it’s under the rug.”

Rihanna fans sure aren’t ready to sweep the incident under the rug.  The New York Post posted a video of a Chris Brown appearance at a Foot Action Store yesterday where one bystander had some words for him: “fu—ing beater!” and “I hope someone beats the fu–ing s–t out of you!” Ouch!

Reunited?

50 Cent told Houston radio station 97.9 Vivica Fox will be back in his life. The rapper told that the actress is going to be in his next music video and said the two are still “friends” although he wouldn’t confirm whether or not they’re together  again (he did say for the 50 million time he’s not with Ciara).  Fiddy and Ms. Fox had a short romance back in 2007. Wonder if they’ll be an item again? If he wants to have a “baby by” her though he might want to get on that soon, Viv is 45!

About the Benjamins

‘Lil Kim may be a lot of things but her people want to you to know that trifling is not one of them. Earlier this week TMZ reported that the rapper bailed on six gigs in London after pocketing a $20,000 fee and blamed it all on a nosebleed. Today AllHipHop.com reports that ‘Lil Kim’s people shot back and said she never saw a dime of those Benjamins from the company who claims to have paid her up front. “We do not have a contract with Abstrakt Visions Entertainment and never received any money from them,” a spokesperson for the rapper said.  “Abstrakt Visions Entertainment is in the wrong for falsely promoting Lil Kim in London and will be dealt with accordingly. This matter is in the hands of our legal team.”

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Last month Wale and Solange raised relationship rumors when they were spotted spending time together in Brooklyn, NY and while the singer has said he’s not her boyfriend, the DC rapper has us thinking they might be headed to coupledom soon.

HoneyMag.com sat down with Wale and he had this to say about the younger Knowles:

“I do love her,” he admits of Solange, flashing a Cheshire. “We’re friends. She’s amazing. She’s a good person. Any single mother contributing to society the way she does — I got a lot of love for them. She’s got to do a lot on her own and raise a young black man in this day and age, so my hat goes off to her. She’s definitely an anomaly. And the way she can do that and manage to do the same things that I complain about having to do.”

His affection is as obvious as a set of flushed cheeks. And impossibly adorable. Wale, the former mixtape rapper from inner city DC, is borderline giddy. “Did you interview Solange about me?” Wale asks. He’s sprawled across his bed; head practically buried in the pillow. “Did she smile when you mentioned my name?”

Cute! Looks like someone’s sprung!

In case you were wondering what Wale looks for in a woman, he expanded on that in the interview too:

“It’s about the intangibles in 2010,” he says. “The superficial shit is cool — like, yeah she can fuck, or she got a big butt. That’s the x-factor. We’re not going to have sex 24/7 so we need to be friends. I want a girl who you could hijack all her extra artificial cosmetics for a week and not even notice. Somebody who’s smart and can stimulate me mentally because when you on the road it’s not like you can look at ‘em or touch ‘em. I can’t stand girls who don’t challenge their intellect. It don’t hurt if she can sing a little bit.”

Hmm. Sounds like that could be Solange to me! What do you think of this duo as a couple?

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Jennifer Lopez’s first husband is trying to make a profit off steamy footage of her, but the singer isn’t having it.

Last week, J-Lo filed a lawsuit to stop her ex-husband Oani Noa’s from releasing a film, “How I Married Jennifer Lopez: The JLo and Ojani Noa Story” claiming it violated an confidentiality agreement they signed years back. The film allegedly contains footage of the singer in skimpy clothing and in sexual situations in the hotel room from the former couple’s honeymoon. Lopez is seeking $10 million in damages, as well as a ban on the release of any intimate video of the couple. A judge has granted a temporary restraining order to stop distribution of intimate home video footage.

Noa, a chef and former model was married J-Lo in 1997 but the union only lasted for 11 months. In 2007 Lopez won a lawsuit that stopped Noa from publishing a tell-all book about the former couple’s brief marriage; she also got the last laugh and won $545, 000 for breach of contract. That book allegedly claimed Lopez frequently cheated on Noa, including with her current husband, Marc Anthony.

J-Lo’s ex just wont give up! It’s funny that he’s held onto the footage and information for a decade and is just recently trying to cash in (times must be hard!). Is anyone really still checking for J-Lo like that though?

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James Calfant will hold another hearing on Dec. 1 to make a final decision on the footage.

After months of only seeing her in paparazzi photos, Rihanna is officially back on the scene! Yesterday she sat down with MTV’s Alexa Chung, for her second interview since THE incident. She didn’t speak on the assault, although she did mention a song off of her new album called “Stupid in Love.” Last night the singer was amongst several honorees at  Glamour magazine’s Women of the Year Awards in New York. The songbird was recognized as “The Back-On-Top Superstar.”

Model Iman presented the award and said “She has taken her own scars and used them to create a new story of strength and awareness.” Iman also noted that Rihanna would serve as a role model to victims of domestic violence.

Now, a source who was in the house at the awards told me it  was embarrassing and “painful to watch” Rihanna get through her acceptance speech which she read completely from a crumpled piece of paper that she pulled out from her sweeping Stephane Rolland dress. The singer started off dabbing her eyes while announcing she was “PMSing” and then proceeded to tell the audience, which included notables like Maya Angelou (who received a “Lifetime Achievement” honor) and Bill Clinton,”I didn’t even know I had to speak, I didn’t know what kind of event it was, I didn’t know anything until a few hours ago.” Ummm? Did she forget that she was one of the cover girls for Glamour’s Women of the Year issues? Why didn’t her publicist give her the heads up before she took the stage? Yikes! We’ll give Rih-Rih a pass, though. I’m sure her people spent most of their energy prepping for that big 20/20 interview last week.

Rihanna thanked various people from her professional team as well as her mother and grandmother for making her the woman she is today. She  graciously accepted the award saying “It was a real honor to be named Glamour’s Woman of the Year, especially because I think of myself as just becoming a woman. I just turned 21 this year. Just to be mentioned in this group of women is overwhelming.”

Are you glad Rhianna’s making a comeback? Do you think she deserved a “Woman of the Year” award?

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Tameka Foster may not have regrets over her old marriage to Usher (the ugly divorce was finalized last week, finally) but she has thought twice about another major decision she once made. Remember back in February when she went to Brazil to have liposuction which resulted in her going into cardiac arrest, being placed in an induced coma for 24 hours, and spending over a week in intensive care? Well now Tameka is speaking out and calling her decision “foolish.”

She tells Ebony magazine, “It was silly because my baby had only (been born) nine weeks or so (before), and I should’ve just waited. It was too soon after giving birth to be concerned about what I looked like physically. The foolish part for me was the fact that I wanted to take the shortcut. This is something I teach my children: Do not take the shortcut. It bothered me that I fell prey to it.”

The surgery followed the December 2008 birth of the former couple’s second son Naviyd Ely Raymond.

Hindsight is 20/20. Better late than never Tameka!

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