logo
Stephanie Mills Writes Open Letter To Essence Fest Over 'Organizational Shortcomings'

Stephanie Mills Writes Open Letter To Essence Fest Over 'Organizational Shortcomings'

Yahoo08-07-2025
Stephanie Mills has penned an open letter to the organizers of the 2025 Essence Festival of Culture, detailing the 'multifaceted challenges' she faced while performing for the event.
The R&B diva shared the letter to her Instagram account Tuesday (July 8) following the conclusion of the New Orleans festival Sunday (July 6) night. Mills performed the final night and also attended the festival's National Urban League Women In Harmony Awards Luncheon Saturday (July 5).
'I am writing to share my feedback following my performance at this year's Essence Festival,' she began, adding that while she was appreciative of the platform, her performance was, 'marred by significant production issues that negatively impacted both my performance and the artist experience as a whole.'
She continued, 'The challenges I encountered were multifaceted and, in my view, indicative of broader organizational shortcomings. The scheduling and time management were severely lacking, creating a chaotic and stressful environment backstage. This disorganization cascaded unto the stage, impacting the flow of the event and ultimately diminishing the quality of the performances.'
Mills — who just completed the first leg of The Queens Tour alongside Chaka Khan, Patti LaBelle, and Gladys Knight — also insisted that technical issues were 'persistent,' adding, 'This lack of technical preparedness is unacceptable for an event of Essence Festival's caliber and prestige.'
She later added that the overall level of professionalism 'fell far short of the standards I expect from such a highly regarded festival,' insisting that organizers take an extensive look at this year's failings before moving forward with future plans. Check out the full letter below.
More from VIBE.com
Lauryn Hill Performs For Nearly Empty Superdome At Essence Fest Hours After Scheduled Set
Master P Responds To Mia X's Refusal To Perform With Him At ESSENCE Fest
The Queens Tour: A Celebratory, Iconic Flex Of Legendary Status
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

‘Cosby Show' star Keshia Knight Pulliam reacts to Malcolm-Jamal Warner's death: ‘I lost my big brother'
‘Cosby Show' star Keshia Knight Pulliam reacts to Malcolm-Jamal Warner's death: ‘I lost my big brother'

New York Post

time3 days ago

  • New York Post

‘Cosby Show' star Keshia Knight Pulliam reacts to Malcolm-Jamal Warner's death: ‘I lost my big brother'

Rudy Huxtable is saying goodbye to her big brother. 'The Cosby Show' alum Keshia Knight Pulliam paid tribute to her former co-star Malcolm-Jamal Warner after his death at age 54 with a touching social media post on Sunday. Knight Pulliam, 46, shared an Instagram video of Warner playing bass guitar onstage for a live audience at City Winery in Atlanta. 10 Keshia Knight Pulliam speaks onstage during 2024 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture. Getty Images for ESSENCE 10 Malcolm-Jamal Warner arrives at the FX and Vanity Fair Pre-Emmy Celebration in 2016. MediaPunch/INSTARimages The video then transitioned to a short clip of two young girls, who appeared to be Knight Pulliam's 7-year-old daughter Ella and Warner's 8-year-old daughter, walking with a horse on a farm. 'A week ago I lost my big brother, but I gained an angel…,' Knight Pulliam wrote in her caption. 'I love you… I miss you… We got our girls, ❤️.' 10 Malcolm-Jamal Warner in the video from Keshia Knight Pulliam's tribute. keshiaknightpulliam/Instagram 10 Keshia Knight Pulliam and Malcolm-Jamal Warner's daughters. keshiaknightpulliam/Instagram On her Instagram Stories, the actress told fans, 'Thank you for every text call and all of the love that you have sent my way … I've just needed a moment… ❤️.' Warner died of asphyxia by submersion after he accidentally drowned on a family vacation in Costa Rica on July 20. His daughter, whom he shared with his wife, was at the scene of the incident, but she wasn't in the water with Warner when he drowned. 10 Tempestt Bledsoe as Vanessa Huxtable, Malcolm-Jamal Warner as Theodore 'Theo' Huxtable, Keshia Knight Pulliam as Rudy Huxtable. NBCUniversal via Getty Images The late actor rose to fame playing Theodore 'Theo' Huxtable in 'The Cosby Show' from 1984 to 1992. Knight Pulliam, who played Theo's sister Rudy, stayed close with Warner after the sitcom ended. 10 Sabrina Le Beauf Tempest Bledsoe, Bill Cosby, Keshia Knight Pulliam, Phylicia Rashad, Raven Symone and Malcolm-Jamal Warner at the 'Today' studio in 2002. AP One month before Warner's death, Knight Pulliam appeared on his 'Not All Hood NAH' podcast and they spoke about their special bond. 'She is more than my friend, she is family. Our bond goes way beyond 'The Cosby Show,'' Warner said about Knight Pulliam. 'We have both managed to navigate through the murky waters of child stardom with our souls and dignity intact.' 10 Malcolm-Jamal Warner in an Instagram video a few weeks before his death. malcolmjamalwar/Instagram Knight Pulliam joked that Warner was 'stuck with me for life,' before noting that their daughters — who were born three months apart — 'adore each other.' 'That's the most surreal thing,' Warner added. 'And they love each other, and it's so surreal.' 10 Keshia Knight Pulliam at the 2024 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture in New Orleans. Getty Images for ESSENCE Bill Cosby, who played family patriarch Cliff Huxtable on the show, also reacted to Warner's tragic death last week. The 88-year-old TV star compared Warner's passing to losing his own son, Ennis Cosby, who was murdered in 1997. Cosby's rep also told The Post that Cosby 'spoke to Phylicia Rashad earlier today and they reminisced about Malcolm.' Rashad, 77, played family matriarch Clair Huxtable. 10 The cast of 'The Cosby Show.' NBCUniversal via Getty Images Back in 2021, Warner spoke with The Post about the legacy of the series after Cosby's sexual assault conviction that was later overturned. 10 'The Cosby Show' stars Lisa Bonet, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Phylicia Rashad, Sabrina Le Beauf, Keshia Knight Pulliam, Bill Cosby and Tempestt Bledsoe. NBCUniversal via Getty Images 'I can understand why some people can't watch the show and enjoy it because of everything that's going on now,' Warner said. 'But I think … there's a generation of young people who have pursued higher education or have started loving families because of the influence of that show.' 'So it's kind of like, you can't discount its impact on television culture and American culture,' he added.

Almost 20 Years After Katrina, a Filmmaker Visited New Orleans. Everyone Told Her the Same Thing.
Almost 20 Years After Katrina, a Filmmaker Visited New Orleans. Everyone Told Her the Same Thing.

Newsweek

time4 days ago

  • Newsweek

Almost 20 Years After Katrina, a Filmmaker Visited New Orleans. Everyone Told Her the Same Thing.

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. A visitor in New Orleans might frolic around the French Quarter, revel in Mardi Gras culture or get lost in a blues performance. When trying to track down the tastiest jumbo, it is easy to forget the trauma that meanders the Mississippi. But for residents, there is no getting away from the impacts of Hurricane Katrina, which still haunts the city two decades on. Filmmaker Traci A. Curry visited Essence Festival in 2023, a behemoth of Black American culture hosted annually in the city. She soon uncovered a startling truth, uttered by pretty much everyone in New Orleans—from Uber drivers to bartenders. "What was interesting was that all of them said some version of the same thing, which was that for those of us who come to New Orleans as visitors, it looks and feels as the New Orleans we all know. The one of our imagination. It's the Mardi Gras, it's the drinking, it's the food, it's the music. "But for us, they describe this bifurcated experience of the city—of before Katrina and after Katrina, that continues to this day," Curry told Newsweek in an interview at the London pre-screening of the upcoming five-part documentary Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time, premiering July 27 on National Geographic and streaming July 28 on Disney+ and Hulu. Anthony Andrews and Traci A. Curry during a Q&A event at the London pre-screening of "Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time". Anthony Andrews and Traci A. Curry during a Q&A event at the London pre-screening of "Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time". Lydia Patrick/Lydia Patrick It soon became clear to her that the city's recovery is somewhat surface-level. Curry's series—a five-part documentary—peels back the veneer of post‑Katrina New Orleans to reveal the lingering scars. A Man-Made Disaster Most Americans remember the mayhem when Katrina made landfall off Louisiana on August 29, 2005. Broadcasts aired stampedes of people trapped in the Superdome, overhead footage of submerged streets, and looted grocery stores. Now, the storm is memorialized as a "man‑made" disaster, noting the failure of the emergency response and the maintenance of the aging levee system that was supposed to protect the low‑lying neighborhoods from being utterly deluged. Curry told Newsweek: "So many of the things that happened during Katrina and the story that we tell were not things created by the storm. They were things that were revealed and exacerbated by the storm," noting how it disproportionately impacted poorer Black communities. A mandatory evacuation order was put in place; tens of thousands of the city's 480,000 residents fled, but more than 100,000 remained trapped. Many made their way to the Superdome, which descended into unbridled chaos as survivors were left without means to survive. Stranded New Orleans residents gather underneath the interstate following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Stranded New Orleans residents gather underneath the interstate following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. KTVT - TV/KTVT - TV "When you're talking about class and race and, you know, all these things—so much of the reason that there were so many people left behind is because they could not afford to just because you are working class and don't have money, you are more likely to perish during Katrina," Curry added. A crowd of stranded New Orleans residents are gathered outside of the Superdome following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. A crowd of stranded New Orleans residents are gathered outside of the Superdome following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. ABC News/ABC News The Personal Stories Curry and her team sifted through hundreds of hours of footage to reframe the narrative of Katrina with humanity. Curry explained during a post‑screening Q&A hosted by Anthony Andrews, co-founder of arts company We Are Parable: "I used to be a news producer, and I understand how it goes. If you're on a deadline, you get your shot and go. If you run the same footage of one guy taking the TV over and over, that becomes the story." But she believes something more nefarious took place, too: dangerous stereotypes against Black people were perpetuated, dehumanizing victims of the unfolding tragedy. "There's a pre‑existing narrative about Black people in the U.S.—violence and pathology—that the media can easily lean into. News cycles don't incentivize a nuanced human story," she said. A military helicopter arrives to rescue stranded New Orleans residents in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. A military helicopter arrives to rescue stranded New Orleans residents in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. John Keller/John Keller The Oscar-nominated director counteracted this with personal and individualized footage. "You can either look at footage, look through hundreds of hours and see like shirtless Black men running crazy and say like, 'That's a criminal,' or you say 'that's a human being that's trying to survive' and allow that to inform the storytelling, which is what I and the team did," she explained. "You as the audience member must look into the eyes of the human being." Personal stories include that of Lucrece, a mother trapped in her attic with her children. Her daughter wrote their names on the walls, believing they were going to die. They were rescued by boat, but had to confront her haunting reality, a submerged city. Lucrece Phillips, resident of the 8th Ward at the time of Hurricane Katrina, who shared her harrowing rescue story in the documentary series. Lucrece Phillips, resident of the 8th Ward at the time of Hurricane Katrina, who shared her harrowing rescue story in the documentary series. Disney/National Geographic/Disney/National Geographic "There's a point at which she sees the body of a dead baby in the water. She says, 'Stop the boat, we have to get her.' The man goes, 'We have to focus on the living,'" Curry recalled. Lessons Learned? Fast‑forward 20 years and New Orleans is a city forever etched by disaster. The Lower Ninth Ward was completely decimated by Katrina, and today the area once populated by working‑class Black residents remains largely vacant. "It looks like it just happened," Curry said. "There's footage in the fifth episode we shot last year: block after block of concrete steps leading nowhere—houses that no longer exist. That neighborhood has never recovered." Meanwhile, gentrification has "turbo‑charged" the displacement of the original community, as rising housing costs transform shotgun doubles into Airbnbs with skyrocketing rents. Natural disasters are still having devastating effects. Before production wrapped, Hurricane Helene made landfall in September 2025, causing extreme flooding in Asheville, North Carolina. Crushed vehicles and storm debris sit along the Swannanoa River in a landscape scarred by Hurricane Helene on March 24, 2025, in Asheville, North Carolina. Crushed vehicles and storm debris sit along the Swannanoa River in a landscape scarred by Hurricane Helene on March 24, 2025, in Asheville, North Carolina. AFP/Getty Images "There were different weather events—the fires in Hawaii and Los Angeles. All very different. Katrina was singular in many ways, but we've seen the same contours: a weather event exacerbated by man‑made environmental impacts, an infrastructure unfit to sustain it, and harm that disproportionately affects the most vulnerable. As severe weather worsens with climate change, this will only continue unless we center the needs of the most vulnerable before the storm," Curry warned. Curry added that, while Katrina's impact is New Orleans‑centric, similar inequalities plague other communities—like the predominantly Black "Cancer Alley" upriver, where higher-than-average cancer rates have been blamed on factory pollution, or neighborhoods saddled with heat‑intensive data "server farms" and tainted water. "Katrina's story just has so much to teach us about related issues that are continuing to happen today. I hope people wake up," she added. Highlighting this point is footage of President George W. Bush flying over the apocalyptic scenes of New Orleans. The series cuts in near‑identical footage from 1965's Hurricane Betsy—when the Lower Ninth Ward was submerged similarly—yet that time President Lyndon Johnson came immediately, and emergency operations began at once. Curry notes that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), whose response was heavily criticized, has since learned from Katrina and adjusted policies to better serve those most vulnerable before a storm. But today the agency faces significant financial cuts, and its survival hangs in the balance as political pressures threaten to dismantle the system altogether. Yet the bigger story Curry wants to tell—decades on from disaster—is one of community. "Even in the most inhumane conditions, when all of these systems had failed and civil society broke down, these people did not lose their humanity. They held onto it, expressed it through care for one another, and used whatever agency they had to maintain the tight bonds of kinship and community that characterize New Orleans."

The Clipse Have Surprising Reaction To Justin Bieber Seemingly Shading Their New Album
The Clipse Have Surprising Reaction To Justin Bieber Seemingly Shading Their New Album

Yahoo

time23-07-2025

  • Yahoo

The Clipse Have Surprising Reaction To Justin Bieber Seemingly Shading Their New Album

Justin Bieber shook up the internet when he posted an Instagram story dissing Clipse after both acts released their new albums on the same day. The Virginia duo recently reacted to the supposed shade. 'I don't know if you clicking something, don't know if you reading it or not,' Malice said during their appearance on Big Boy's Neighborhood. 'I mean, people can be very specific if they want to be, but what does it mean to me? Nothing. We doing what we doing out here. The fans love it, you bringing the music back. Real hip-hop.' The 52-year-old resolved that he would give Bieber the 'benefit of the doubt.' Pusha T added that the Canadian singer likely didn't fully look at the post and was more focused on it being 'favorable' toward his album. 'We've all done it,' he said. Ultimately, the Let God Sort Em Out rappers were more focused on people's approval of their latest LP in comparison to a blockbuster release from the pop superstar. 'This is street hip-hop,' he stated. 'Look how far streethip-hop has [come]. Like look at what it's being measured up against.' Watch below. The 31-year-old surprised the world when he announced his new album SWAG would come out two weeks ago (Friday, July 11). Many people theorized that Def Jam was looking to overshadow their former artists' highly anticipated reunion album, and the assumed tension grew in fans' eyes when the 'Daisies' singer shared a particular Instagram story. Kerwin Frost tagged him in a post praising his new effort, writing, 'Justice is served @lilbieber emptied the clip. THIS IS THE ONLY ALBUM THAT MATTERS RIGHT NOW. This album is way better then the @clipse. @clipse is for bitter grown men who collect kaws dolls and shop at kith and union.' Biebs reposted the story, and many people did not recognize that it was a repost, causing more discourse on the internet. Nonetheless, Clipse are riding a wave of positivity as Let God Sort Em Out debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 and sold 118,000 album-equivalent units in its first week. Bieber's SWAG debuted at No. 2 and sold 163,000 units. Listen to both albums below. More from What Are Clipse's First-Week Sales Projections For Their New LP 'Let God Sort Em Out'? Clipse Release "Culturally Inappropriate" Video For "Chains & Whips" Feat. Kendrick Lamar Did Justin Bieber Diss Clipse's New Album On Instagram? Solve the daily Crossword

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store