What's Trending - February 9th, 2016

The Super Bowl 50 weekend is over, but the conversation about Beyonce is just beginning. The 34-year-old’s stellar halftime performance was apparently paying tribute to black people, saluting the Black Panther Party. Not only was it the 50th anniversary of the Super Bowl, it was also the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Black Panther Party.

Singing her politically-inspired new hit, “Formation”, Beyonce pumped the ladies up saying:
“OK, ladies, let’s get in formation!”. Dressed in a black, bondage-Michael-Jackson-style jumpsuit, Bey’s backup dancers also rocked black outfits and beautiful Afro-hairstyles. During the performance, Beyonce & crew formed an X on the football field, which many are saying is a nod to Malcolm X. 

DeRay Mckesson, Black Lives Matter leader noticed the X, tweeting:
“The #Formation shout-outs to Malcolm X & MJ were excellent,”

After the performance, some of Beyonce’s backup dancers, who were dressed in Black Panther-style berets raised their fists while one woman held a sign that read “Justice 4 Mario Woods.” (SEE BELOW). Mario Woods was a black man who was shot dead 15 times by 5 police officers in San Francisco. Cellphone footage of the incident allegedly shows Woods walking away from police while holding a knife and refusing to let it go. Many say Woods was mentally ill, claiming that police used excessive, deadly force. 

TMZ reports that Mario Woods’ mother, Gwen, is thanking Beyonce for giving her son the recognition he deserves. She reportedly had no idea Beyonce planned to do this. 

Other Beyonce/BlackLivesMatter tweets include:

“Beyoncé just had beautiful black women dressed as black panthers performing halftime at the Super Bowl. Y’all don’t understand,” @cosmorgpolitan

Twitter user @JasFly tweeted saying:

“Beyoncé, backed by 50 black women with afros dressed black panthers, is telling the world that #BlackLivesMatter.”

Hayden Panettiere just set the Lip Sync Battle bar SO high, I’m not sure it can be beat. The 26 year old gave an epic performance of “Lady Marmalade” while dressed exactly like Christina Aguilera. Head-to-head against Eva Longoria, Panettiere brought fans right back to the 2001 music video that had super women like Pink, Mya, and Lil’ Kim. As if it could get any sweeter, the real Christina Aguilera shows up mid-performance! The full episode airs February 11th,

You and your friends will soon be sipping coffee at a Central Perk themed coffee shop, and maybe even listening to a version of “Smelly Cat”. On June 24th, Torontonians can live like Ross, Rachel, Monica, Chandler, Joey & Phoebe and even get prizes if you & your buddies show up dressed up like the cast of Friends

According to the group’s Facebook page:

“You asked for it Toronto and on June 24, 2016 get ready to sip your coffee at the parody Friends inspired Central Perk pop-up shop in downtown Toronto! Our pop-up shop will be meticulously detailed to recreate the experience of one of the most popular shows of all time, Friends. Want to take selfies with the famous orange couch? Or order a coffee from our baristas all named Gunther? We will have pastries, donuts and coffees inspired by your favourite Friend’s characters and their legendary personalities.Do you like live music with your coffee? We are giving you a few months to learn all of the words to Phoebe’s Smelly Cat, so that you can sing-a-long with our guitar wielding Phoebe.Joey fans will not be disappointed. Our panel of female judges from the audience will have the opportunity to judge the ‘How you doin?’ contest to find Toronto’s Ladies Man, Tribbiani. In the spirit of the original, the final round of the contest will have a TV Script audition for our top 3 leading men. Come by and help us pick our $500 winner! Friends scripts, memorabilia, photo ops, great music and Blu-ray give aways, we will be updating this page and future website with more details”.

Sir Elton John was on the latest episode of The Late Late Show’s “Carpool Karaoke” with James Corden and it was epic