BRANDY SAYS SHE PLACES 'A LOT OF BLAME' ON OTHERS FOR WHITNEY'S DEATH: According to Page Six, Brandy opened up about Whitney Houston's death, saying that she has placed a lot of blame on others. She explained in the foreword of journalist Gerrick Kennedy’s new book, “Didn’t We Almost Have It All: In Defense of Whitney Houston, “It’s natural for people to want to place blame. I placed a lot of blame on a lot of people too, when it came to Whitney.” She added, “We loved her so much and needed something or someone to attach blame to because it was so hard to accept that she was gone.” Brandy continued, “We don’t really have the right to speak on anything that she had to go through in her life. No one knows what she was running from. No one knows what she was trying to overcome. No one knows the costs that came with being Whitney Houston. That level of fame, that level of expectation, that level of pressure.” Whitney died at age 48 on February 11th 2012 –which was Brandy's 33rd birthday.
JHENE AIKO TAPPED TO SING 'AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL' AT THE SUPERBOWL: Jhene Aiko has been tapped to perform “America the Beautiful” before the Los Angeles Rams take on the Cincinnati Bengals during Super Bowl LVI on February 13th. Additionally, Mickey Guyton will sing the National Anthem and Mary Mary will perform “Lift Every Voice and Sing” along with the Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles during the pre-game festivities. Zedd will serve as the pre-game DJ during player warmups. Super Bowl LVI will be held Sunday, Feb. 13th at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif. and will air on NBC.
R. KELLY CONTRACTS COVID-19 IN JAIL: According to Rolling Stone, R. Kelly has contracted COVID-19 while detained in a Brooklyn federal jail. U.S. District Judge Ann M. Donnelly ruled the R&B singer now has until February 17th to formally begin fighting his September conviction on charges he had sex with underage girls and bribed a state employee to create a phony ID card so he could marry the 15-year-old singer Aaliyah. In a filing ahead of the judge’s decision, Kelly’s lawyer Jennifer Bonjean wrote that the singer’s Covid diagnosis “interfered with his ability to speak with counsel by telephone” to review his post-trial paperwork.