Kwame Kilpatrick, the former mayor of Detroit who was removed from office and convicted of perjury, gave his first media interview in more than a year to reporters from The Final Call, the weekly news magazine of the Nation of Islam.

The interview covered various subjects ranging from the future of Detroit to national politics. However, Kilpatrick’s comments about his former chief of staff and lover Christine Beatty are creating the most buzz.

Kilpatrick and Beatty had a highly publicized affair. Beatty was also convicted of perjury for not admitting to the affair during a whistleblower lawsuit in 2008.

Below is an excerpt of the interview.  Click here to view video of the interview.

FCN: I’m glad you mentioned your family. Clearly, they have stood by you and your wife has demonstrated tremendous strength as well as your children with you being in such a public spot. As it relates to Ms. Christine Beatty, the sister who was in the news related to her relationship with you, do you have contact with her, do you all talk?

KK: I’ll simply say, I have talked to her since all of this stuff has happened. I try to make sure that she understands that I still care about her very deeply and I simply back up and say first that, a lot of times when women get caught in a situation like that, they are perceived as a wh— and sorry and I just think that is so unfair. It takes two to tango they say but I think even other than that she is a very good person. She is incredibly brilliant, a 4.0 student, masters (degree) and we made some bad decisions and we are living with the consequences of those decisions. I respect her tremendously and love her and wish her the best. That has been an incredible situation, somebody has been in your life since ninth grade, this is my friend, this wasn’t a person that just showed up. Ninth grade and now out of your life and having her own and you have to really figure out how to move forward with your wife and children. So I wish her the best. I have tried to keep tabs and make sure that she is doing all right. But as far as the kind of interaction we had, we will never really have again.

Oprah Winfrey said she was wrong for not challenging a comment made by Mike Tyson about wanting to “sock” Robin Givens during an interview on her syndicated television program.

From WENN.com

“Givens fought back angry tears as she revealed she sat in disbelief as Winfrey’s studio audience chuckled while Tyson admitted he wanted to “sock her” after an infamous TV interview with newswoman Barbara Walters.

A relieved Givens said, “Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

The mothers of Lil Wayne, T-Pain and Ne-Yo are teaming up to start their own talk show to help uplift women and single mothers.

From Bossip.com

“The women are in the process of producing a pilot to present to major television networks. The three women are set to talk about an array of topics from disorderly conduct in the hip hop world, to domestic issues and hot topics.

Since the women know first hand how to raise children in a difficult environment they will be relatable to many women and single mothers in the world. While their images could use some work, this show may be a pretty good concept.”

AOL.com has laid off Sheryl Huggins Salomon, the managing editor of AOL Black Voices. She was among 100 employees trimmed from the AOL.

Salomon, the former editor of NiaOnline.com said she will be a contributing editor for BlackVoices.

The PR war has begun.

Chris Brown’s friends, dancer’s and DJ used their Twitter accounts to express their dismay at Rihanna’s interview’s on ABC. (The first part of Rihanna’s interview was aired Thursday morning, Part II will air Friday night)

Brown, himself will also tell his side of the story to Sway during a MTV special to air 6pm EST Friday.

Here’s a sneak peak!

Music superstar Rihanna will have a one-on-one interview with Dianne Sawyer for the “Good Morning America” program to talk about domestic violence.

Rihanna was involved in a highly publicized domestic violence incident with Chris Brown which resulted in Brown being sentence to community service and probation.

From ABCNews.com

“This happened to me … it can happen to anyone,” she told Sawyer according to a statement from ABC.’

The interview is expected to be aired Thursday or Friday.

Former Fox News contributor and current Columbia professor Marc Lamont Hill speaks on his experience at Fox during an interview with WHYY Radio.

Hill said many opinion hosts on the network “turned off the mikes” of those who did not agree with their conservative views.

Rush Limbaugh and Lou Dobbs owe the President and their listeners/viewers an apology.

Limbaugh and Dobbs thought they had the story of the year as Time reporter Joe Klein discovered Barack Obama’s college thesis paper in which the then 20-something Columbia University student insulted the ‘Founding Fathers” and said the Constitution oppresses poor Americans.

Too bad the whole thing was made up.

The satirical blog was posted on Jumping In Pools and was meant to be a joke. But when another blogger for conservative blog network Pajamas Media picked up the story it reached as high up as CNN and Limbaugh.

When the real Joe Klein said that he has never seen the President’s thesis,bloggers from all over the country apologized for running with an unsubstantiated story. As for Limbaugh, he said this–even after realizing the story is bogus.

Is the story of 10 black women missing and our being found dead just a coincidence or the work of a serial killer?  And why haven’t you heard about this story on the 11pm news?

From Bossip.com

Ten women have been found slain or have been declared missing in Rocky Mount, N.C., in recent years. But the rest of the country hasn’t heard about…… a possible serial killer stalking the young women in this Southern town of 60,000. The latest victim, Elizabeth Jane Smallwood, was identified on Oct. 12. Why have the Rocky Mount homicides been largely ignored?

“When you think about the famous missing person cases over the last few years it’s Chandra Levy, Natalee Holloway, and Laci Peterson,” notes Sam Sommers, associate professor of psychology at Tufts University. All these women had a few things in common—they were white, educated, and came from middle-class families. The victims in Rocky Mount—which residents describe as a “typical Southern town,” and is about 40 percent white and more than 50 percent black—were different. They were all African-American, many were poor, and some had criminal histories including drug abuse and prostitution.

Click here to read more

Danyel Smith, the executive editor of TheRoot.com is stepping down after six weeks on the job.

According to the blog Richard Prince Journal-isms, Smith, 44, left the post due to issues with her commute. She lives in New York while The Root is based in Washington D.C.

When hiring Smith, the online publication anticipated Smith would be able to work in both cities, however the commute became too much. In a note to staff, Root publisher, Donna Byrd said she was happy to work with Smith.

“We are sad to see her go, but have appreciated her energy and insight and are happy she was a part of The Root family,” Byrd said.

The Root is a publication that features news and opinion from an African-American perspective. Renown Harvard University professor Henry Louis “Skip” Gates is editor in chief.