Ananda Lewis helped define the MTV VJ at the turn of the millennium
'Ananda is Cleopatra. You know she's a queen,' Prince told the
Advertisement
'Giving them the space to talk to people who would honor and respect who they were, especially brown people at the time, was really special,' she said in 2020. Three years later, Paramount Global shut down MTV's news division, and Lewis
Lewis, who was born in Los Angeles in 1973 and grew up in San Diego, had her own talk show from 2001 to 2002 and hosted the celebrity news show 'The Insider' before stepping away from the entertainment world and becoming a carpenter in the 2010s. The short-lived 2019 reboot of 'While You Were Out' brought her two career trajectories together, and in recent years she'd popped up on documentaries that covered her era of MTV. She had been diagnosed with breast cancer in the late 2010s, and during a 2024 CNN roundtable, she revealed that it had progressed to Stage IV. Lewis died on June 11 at her home in Los Angeles, where she was in hospice care.
Advertisement
'MTV was like going to an amusement park and having the FastPass to every ride, and you were on the ride with your favorite people every single time,' Lewis told Check the Rhymes TV. During the channel's reign as America's chief arbiter of pop music, Lewis and other standout VJs brought millions of viewers along for each trip with knowledge and enthusiasm.
Maura Johnston is a writer and professor living in Allston. She can be reached at
.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Buzz Feed
4 hours ago
- Buzz Feed
10 Everyday Phrases With Surprising Origins
It goes without saying that language is always evolving, and new words and phrases enter our everyday speech all the time. Often, we start using them without even realizing it, adopting them naturally from friends, media, or, of course, because of online discourse and social media. Many of these expressions have interesting or surprising origins that most of us never stop to think about. So, I decided to put together 10 terms that all of us use, and whose origins you might not know. "Bucket list" first appeared in popular use in 2007 with the release of the Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson film The Bucket List, where the characters set out to do things they'd always wanted before they died (or kicked the bucket). The phrase was coined by the movie's screenwriter, Justin Zackham, who shortened his own "List of Things to do Before I Kick the Bucket" into "Justin's Bucket List." He ended up using "bucket list" as the title when writing the screenplay. It should come as no surprise that the word "binge-watch" was popularized because of Netflix in the early 2010s. But it actually existed a bit before that! People began using the term in the early 2000s, when DVD box sets of TV shows and DVRs allowed you to watch multiple episodes or entire seasons in one sitting. Netflix helped push the term into the mainstream around 2013, when it began releasing entire seasons at once and even used "binge-watching" in its marketing. Of course, before that, the concept existed, but it was just called a "TV marathon." The term "friend zone" comes from a 1994 episode of Friends. In the episode "The One with the Blackout," Joey tells Ross that he and Rachel are never going to happen because he has waited too long to ask her out, and now he has fallen into "the friend zone." The episode's writers, Jeff Astrof and Mike Sikowitz, to this day, have no idea who came up with the phrase. The word "podcast" is a portmanteau — a combination of the words "iPod" and "broadcast." The term itself was actually created by accident in 2004. The term was first coined by journalist Ben Hammersley in an article he was writing for the UK's the Guardian about the new emerging technology of being able to download audio programs and radio. According to Hammersley, he turned in the article, but was told it was a few words too short. In order to pad it out a bit more, he added the line: "But what to call it? Audioblogging? Podcasting? GuerillaMedia?" It being called "podcast" makes sense since listening to podcasts on iPods was the most popular way to consume them. The term "catfish" or "catfishing" didn't come from the MTV show; it actually originated from the 2010 documentary Catfish, which later inspired the series of the same name. However, it was the Manti Te'o scandal in 2013 that helped popularize the phrase. Today, when we say "life hack," we mean any simple tip or trick that helps make life easier. However, the term was first coined by tech journalist Danny O'Brien in 2003, to describe clever shortcuts programmers used to simplify their work life. Ever wonder if "spam email" came from Spam the meat? Well, the answer is yes! During WWII and after, because of rationing, Spam became ubiquitous in England. So much so that in the 1970s Monty Python did a popular sketch where a customer tries to order food without Spam at a cafe that served every dish with it, only to be drowned out by a group of Vikings who keep chanting "Spam, Spam, Spam." The repetition and unavoidable presence of Spam in the skit inspired early internet users (many of whom were Monty Python fans) in the 1980s and 1990s to call excessive and unwanted emails "spam." The term "gaslighting" comes from the 1938 play Gas Light and its two film adaptations in the 1940s — both entitled Gaslight. Set in the 1880s, the story is about a husband who manipulates small elements — like dimming the gas lights — in the house while insisting his wife is imagining things, making her doubt her own perception and to think that she is suffering from a mental illness. Though the term was very sporadically used over the decades, it wasn't until the 2010s that it really took off. We might be able to blame the term "main character energy" on the pandemic. The idea of seeing oneself as the protagonist in a story took off on X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok in 2020, and you might have the posts still up to prove it! And lastly, most millennials know this one, but it might be lost on younger people. The term "stan" comes from the 2000 song "Stan" by Eminem, which tells the story of a creepily obsessed fan named Stan who writes increasingly desperate letters to the rapper. Weirdly, "stan" evolved in internet slang to describe anyone who is an extremely devoted or enthusiastic fan of a celebrity, artist, film series, etc. Of course, today, it's used both as a noun ("I'm a huge stan of that show") and a verb ("I stan that singer"). Okay, did you know this? Or do you know the origin of a term you think I should have included? Let me know in the comments below!
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
Pigtails, pink tracksuit, 'permanent performance mode': Alyson Stoner pulls back the curtain on childhood stardom
Come for the juicy child star gossip, stay to dismantle the system. Alyson Stoner's life radically and irreversibly changed in the aisle of a grocery store in 2002. A week after the MTV premiere of Missy Elliott's 'Work It' music video, which featured a 9-year-old Stoner dancing for a few brief seconds in pigtails and a pink tracksuit, a stranger approached the child with a request. 'Are you the little white girl in the Missy video?' the man asked, before adding, 'Can you do the dance?' The young dancer obliged, soon surrounded by customers watching the spectacle. This was the beginning of what Stoner, who uses they/them pronouns, calls 'permanent performance mode.' Stoner's career as a child star took off from there, and they became a mainstay on the Disney Channel for many years, appearing in Camp Rock and Mike's Super Short Show but never fully breaking out with their own series or movie like fellow Mouse House stars Miley Cyrus or Demi Lovato. It's an unusual trajectory, and Stoner's new book, Semi-Well-Adjusted Despite Literally Everything, is not the typical kid performer memoir. It's OK if you think so at first, though. It's all part of the plan. 'Copy-and-paste downward spirals' Stoner says they noticed a series of recent memoirs and documentaries highlighting a 'repeated pattern of former child performers … experiencing copy-and-paste downward spirals,' but no one had yet unpacked the ecosystem that creates that kind of pattern, nor tried to intervene and prevent it from continuing to harm children. 'I thought, 'I want to not only share my lived experiences — yes, all of the juicy details from the sets growing up — but also connect new dots for people across media, culture, child development and the industry,' Stoner, now 32, tells Yahoo over Zoom. 'Folks might show up to read about the childhood chaos of it all, but I hope they stay for the cultural critique.' Stoner is still an entertainer, and they recognize that their work onscreen is probably what you know them from. But they're also a mental health practitioner. For every reveal of childhood trauma or candid tale about a familiar name in their book, there's a revelation about something broken in the entertainment industry and a proposal to fix it. Knowing that fame and trauma would be the draw for a lot of readers, Stoner worked with a writing supervisor to strategize about what exactly to include. It's written chronologically and guided by Stoner's inner monologue over time, pulling directly from journal entries. With that in mind, the vulnerability on display is impressive. Stoner details heart-wrenching stories from their life: public and private scrutiny that contributed to an eating disorder that they sought treatment for in rehab, a tumultuous home life with an abusive stepfather and alcoholic mother, run-ins with stalkers and extortionists, rape and suicidal ideation. There are even stories about the inner workings of Hollywood and its stars that became tabloid fodder the same day the book was released. But that's just Stoner's real life. They're working with what they've got. 'There are ways you can speak about your direct, personal experience and still honor the humanity of everyone involved while calling for some accountability, while accepting that there are consequences beyond my control, no matter what I do or don't say,' Stoner says. 'So I wanted to make sure that even though the truth is not always polite, I could still deliver it with integrity … if I'm going to write a memoir, now is the time to get it [all] off my chest.' 'We're speaking about children as commodified products' Though the Disney Channel stars of today have a new playbook, Stoner says their learnings from childhood fame are more relevant than ever. 'Anyone with a Wi-Fi connection and social media profile can deal with challenges related to privacy, to safety, to parasocial relationships, mental health challenges due to our tech use,' they say. In June, I saw Stoner speak on a panel at VidCon, an annual convention for content creators and their fans. Their bravery stuck with me. Stoner interjected as experts discussed how the kid influencer industry could protect the young and famous, speaking clinically and professionally about the laws and regulations in place to protect them. 'I do want to ground the conversation in the reality that we're speaking about children as commodified products at the moment. I was one of them,' they said onstage. 'There are well-meaning people in all areas of the [entertainment] industry, [but] the entire system of it is warped here … we're talking about a child who cannot legally consent, who doesn't have legal rights to control what their parent shares of them.' Stoner brought humanity to a hot-button issue often discussed by the people revolving around and profiting from famous children. They had made their point — kids aren't products, nor do they know what might affect them later on in life. I asked them about it a month later on our call. 'I think any string of experiences that is too overwhelming for any young person will take its toll in one shape or form. You may not always be able to recognize it right away, because young people oftentimes want to please the adults around them.' Stoner explains. 'They also don't have any alternative map of reality to compare their experience against. So whatever we normalize for them is what becomes the patterns that dictate their trajectory.' I thought of the early chapters of Stoner's book, in which they describe the constant pain and rejection of the audition process as a child actor. On a plane to Hollywood for a series of TV pilot auditions at 7 years old, Stoner recalls thinking, 'I just want to show them all I'm special … I better make it count.' In order to feel good, they had to successfully book projects over and over again. While meeting with their agent, they were encouraged to alter their appearance and learn more special skills to become more marketable. 'It didn't register that I was being groomed to be sold. I was no longer a child; I was a commodity … physical beauty — coupled with high versatility— increased my price tag,' Stoner writes in their memoir. In 2025, kids don't need an agent or auditions to experience this. Anyone who's posting online can. Drawing on their mental health expertise, Stoner tells Yahoo that young people are losing the opportunity to have a 'play-based childhood,' where they're allowed to fail and experiment in private, giving them time and space to process what they're going through and better 'find equilibrium after intense experiences.' 'It's when it becomes a chronic and incessant experience with no respite that we start to see young people developing their own coping strategies,' Stoner says. That can lead to eating disorders and harmful obsessions. For child social media stars, it might even be worse. 'They're not portraying a character … this is actually the literal commodification of their humanity. And that's worth spending some time reflecting on,' they say. The plan to stop the spiral The more I talked to Stoner and read about their traumatic experiences as a child star, the more I was surprised that they were still in show business. I would have run for the hills to never think about this again. I was a big fan of Stoner when we were both kids, and I never considered why their disappearance from Disney might have been strategic, until they went viral in a 2021 YouTube post about the 'toddler to train wreck industrial complex' that they 'narrowly survived.' The reason Stoner isn't running away from the entertainment industry entirely is fairly simple, but perplexing — and it speaks volumes about their strength. Their 'unique and unexpected upbringing' gave them an understanding of both children and Hollywood, they tell me. 'I'm hoping that I can hold the middle in a way that allows people on all sides to be able to hear each other … so we can think about these things holistically and always … center the fact that children are not just mini adults,' Stoner says. 'Their brains and bodies are at literal different developmental stages and phases.' The child star industrial complex desperately needs to be rebooted. Discussion and legislation help, but Stoner has a practical and actionable plan. They created the Artist Wellbeing Essentials, a toolkit for performers and parents to learn about the pitfalls and potential risks they may face. It's made up of over 50 videos about specific experiences that performers go through, from learning to get into and out of character to managing audition rejection, and how they may affect other areas of their lives, like finances and education. 'I'm hoping [that material] is something that becomes standardized as a preventative resource, just like anyone would get if they're onboarding to a new job,' they say. Maybe Stoner's desire to stay in and overhaul an industry they 'narrowly survived' is less of an act of defiance than a genuine calling. Destiny is rarely this apparent outside of the Disney movies Stoner once acted in, but their real-life story is far more compelling.
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Yahoo
VIDEO: Liverpool and Bournemouth fans unite at Anfield in incredible tribute to Diogo Jota on 20th minute of Premier League curtain-raiser
Fans applaud in the 20th minute to honour Diogo Jota Bournemouth supporters join emotional Anfield tribute Mosaic and silence mark tragic loss before PL opener Follow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱 WHAT HAPPENED? Before kick-off, a mosaic dedicated to Jota and his brother was displayed across The Kop and Sir Kenny Dalglish Stand. A moment of silence was observed as players and fans alike stood in reflection. When the 20th minute arrived, Anfield rose to its feet yet again, with Liverpool and Bournemouth fans uniting in applause and song for the much-loved forward. WATCH THE CLIP THE BIGGER PICTURE Jota's sudden passing in a car crash in Spain last month sent shockwaves through the footballing world. The tribute was not just a Liverpool affair, with Bournemouth supporters also joining in the show of respect. WHAT NEXT FOR LIVERPOOL? The Reds will carry Jota's memory with them as they embark on their Premier League title defence. The club is expected to hold further tributes throughout the season, including a permanent memorial at Anfield.
