A Nigerian woman’s brutally (and I mean brutally) honest review of a brand of tomato paste landed her in handcuffs and as the named defendant of a lawsuit accused of committing an egregious cybercrime.

For the record, the evergreen debate over jollof rice in West Africa is similar to African American debates over how to make the best potato salad or any other staple dish. One of the main ingredients for jollof rice is tomato paste, so it’s safe to say making sure you use the right brand can be a make-or-break decision.

A report from CNN said 39-year-old entrepreneur Chioma Okoli took to Facebook in September to share her thoughts on a new tomato puree: Nagiko Tomato Mix by local company Erisco Foods Limited. To her audience of 18,000 followers, she slammed the product for tasting too sweet, per the company’s Facebook post.

“I went to but Tin tomatoes yesterday that I will use to make stew, but didn’t see my favourites, so I decided to buy this one. When I opened it, I decided to taste it omo! Sugar is just too much! Haa biko let me know if you hav used this tin tomato before because this is an ikegwuru situation!” read Okoli’s post.

Over 3,000 comments later, one counter-critic replied to her review, demanding she stop “spoiling her brother’s product.”

In response, Okoli snapped back saying, “Help me advise your brother to stop ki***ing people with his product, yesterday was my first time of using and it’s pure sugar.”

A week later, plainclothes cops popped up on her church in Lagos and detained her, per CNN.

Read what happened next from CNN:

In legal filings seen by CNN, the Nigeria Police Force alleged that Okoli used her Facebook account “with the intention of instigating people against Erisco Foods,” adding in a statement on March 7 that it had “unearthed compelling evidence” against her from its preliminary investigations.

According to the police, Okoli was charged with “instigating Erisco Foods Limited, knowing the said information to be false under Section 24 (1) (B) of Nigeria’s Cyber Crime Prohibition Act.”

Okoli was separately charged with conspiring with two other individuals “with the intention of instigating people against Erisco Foods Limited,” which the charge sheet noted was punishable under Section 27(1)(B) of the same act.

She risks a seven-year sentence if convicted of this charge.

Luckily, Okoli was able to bond out of jail but under the condition she issue a public apology to the company, which she still has not given. In addition to the criminal charges, she also faces a civil suit filed by the company on allegations that her comments caused several suppliers to sever ties with them, the report says.

Since September, the police attempted to arrest Okoli again and she’s filed a countersuit against the food company and the police claiming her arrest was a violation of her constitutional right to freedom of expression and personal liberty, the report says.

Former adult film actress Emily Willis, actual name Litzy Lara Banulos, is still in a vegetative coma at a California hospital after suffering cardiac arrest in February, according to her stepfather Michael Willis, who talked with TMZ on Friday (March 29).

The 25-year-old has made some progress, displaying symptoms of consciousness like tracking objects with her eyes and responding emotionally during discussions.

Despite these promising achievements, medical doctors do not predict further improvement in Willis’ condition. The actual cause of her cardiac arrest has yet to be confirmed, although initial toxicology testing shows no narcotics in her system.

Willis was at a celebrity rehab center for eight days before being found unresponsive on February 5th. She was promptly transferred to a hospital in Thousand Oaks, California, and placed on a ventilator.

Initially stabilized, Willis’ family had been bracing for the worst, according to her father, Michael, who provided updates on a GoFundMe page established to assist with the financial burden of her hospitalization earlier this month.

The GoFundMe campaign, which was started to help Willis with his medical expenses, has raised more than $66,063 as of Friday (March 29). Willis’ sickness became known while fellow adult film actress Sophia Leone died, following the deaths of previous adult film stars Kagney Linn Carter, 36, and Jesse Jane, 43, in February and January, respectively.

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PARIS (AP) — More than a sporting competition, the Olympics are also a powerful political stage widely used in the past by totalitarian regimes as a propaganda tool but also by athletes as a driver of change in the fight against racial inequalities.

Before this summer’s Paris Olympics, an exhibit in the French capital shows how the games have been a “mirror of society” since the beginning of the 20th century.

Historian Paul Dietschy, one of the curators, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that “this exhibit tries to show … this relationship between ideology, power and the Olympic Games.”

The exhibit at the Shoah Memorial, in central Paris, features photos, documents and Olympic items as well as film archives from the past century. It opens to the public on Friday and is scheduled to last until mid-November, organizers said.

It notably highlights the 1936 Berlin Olympics, which was used by Nazi Germany for propaganda purposes; the 1968 Mexico Olympics, where Black sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their fists to protest racial injustice in the U.S. and the 1972 Munich Olympics, which was the scene of a brutal attack on 11 Israeli team members who were killed by Palestinian militants.

Dietschy said the exhibit sought to show the historic and political significance of the Olympics “through the life of big stars or champions like Alfred Nakashe, who was a Jew from Algeria competing in swimming and who was deported to Auschwitz” concentration camp during World War II. Nakashe competed with the French team in Berlin in 1936 and in the first postwar Summer Olympics in London in 1948 after surviving the Holocaust.

The exhibit also tells the stories of athletes who embody Olympic values like Jesse Owens, the U.S. Black athlete who won four Olympic gold medals in Berlin.

Historian Caroline François, one of the curators, stressed that “the 1936 Games are emblematic with Jesse Owens’ story, because he is both an immense champion who left his mark on the history of sport … but also because of his personality, his career, his close ties to German champion Luz Long.”

“Owens embodies this struggle to confront Hitler and the Nazi ideology … But he himself was a victim of racism and segregation in the United States,” she said.

The exhibit also addresses the issue of how Olympic stadiums were turned into internment camps during World War II. Following the Nazi invasion of France in 1940, the country was ruled by a government commonly known as Vichy France, which collaborated with Nazi Germany.

The displays feature photos of the Vel d’Hiv stadium outside Paris, where French police herded about 13,000 people on July 16-17, 1942 before they were deported to Auschwitz. The stadium had been used for boxing, wrestling and weightlifting during the 1924 Paris Olympics.

International politics, again, are expected to be on the agenda of the Paris Olympics this year.

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The International Olympic Committee said earlier this month that Russian and Belarusian athletes won’t be allowed to take part in the traditional parade at the opening ceremony in the French capital.

Russia and Belarus are barred from team sports at the Olympics because of Moscow’s war in Ukraine, and the IOC has laid out a two-step vetting procedure for individual athletes from those countries to be granted neutral status. Those athletes must first be approved by the governing body of their individual sport and then by an an IOC-appointed review panel.

Amid the Israel-Hamas war, IOC President Thomas Bach recently said that Israel faces no threat to its Olympic status and added: “Since the heinous attack on the Israeli team (during the 1972 Munich Olympics), there were always special measures being taken with Israeli athletes.”

In recent times, totalitarian and democratic powers have been competing, including through sports, Dietschy said.

“So the Olympic Games of Paris are a huge moment, because we will see if the peace values will be respected,” he said. “We’ll see if sports can be also a way of spreading universal democratic values.”

“The context (now) is more tense as a war is spreading in the world. Maybe the (Paris) Games will be a moment of peace,” Dietschy said hopefully.

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NEW YORK (AP) — Tyla grew up in Johannesburg, South Africa, practicing acceptance speeches in the mirror, envisioning herself on the grandest award stages. But as she found out, a dream is one thing — reality is another.

“I was not prepared at all,” laughed Tyla, who won the inaugural African Music Performance Grammy last month, beating out established superstar nominees. “On the way to the Grammys, I was like, ‘Hey, I did not write nothing. Let me think of things in case I win.’ But I don’t know, I was just moving. I was going with the flow that day. And I feel like God was just giving me peace and letting me know that, ‘Girl, you got it! Like, relax.’ So, that was kind of the energy of the day.”

Throughout the past year, tons of good energy have been coming toward Tyla, who released her self-titled debut album last week. It’s a culmination of lifelong aspirations for the 22-year-old whose ambitions were always bigger than her continent, as massive as it is.

Powered by the Cape Town-recorded “Water,” a lighting-in-a bottle smash that took the world by storm and earned her the Grammy before her album was released, she’s quickly become one of the leading faces popularizing music originating from Africa. As Afrobeats has gained massive attention the past few years, Tyla is introducing much of the world to amapiano, which translates to “the pianos” in the Zulu language, a fusion of Kwaito house music and jazz, often driven by log drums.

While new artists’ debuts are often cushioned between the safety of a heavy dose of established features, Tyla always holds her own, despite appearances from Becky G on “On My Body” and Gunna and Skillibeng on the party-starter “Jump,” a bop she describes as “flexing on people” and not “really deep.” She turns up the amapiano heat with songs like “Safer” and “Truth or Dare,” as well as “No. 1,” a stunning collaboration with acclaimed Nigerian singer-songwriter Tems who Tyla credits with opening the door for this latest generation of African singers to crossover to America. But it’s songs like “Breath Me” which prove the depth of Tyla’s talent.

“The song that mostly feels like Tyla, I would say probably ‘Breathe Me’ because it obviously incorporates all the African sounds,” she said. “I’m really singing on that song, like I’m literally giving people vocals and emotion and all of that.”

On “Priorities” which skews more pop-heavy and shares a similar theme to “No. 1,” Tyla laments, “My first mistake/Thinkin’ that I could be everything/Look how spreadin’ myself thin/Became my priority again.”

“’Priorities’ is something that I needed to tell myself… I feel like a lot of people could relate to that song, just always putting people above yourself and feeling like you need to please and (overcompensate),” said the singer who counts Michael Jackson, Rihanna and Britney Spears as influences. “The fear of disappointing people… I struggle with a lot. I’m a bit better now.”

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Tyla hopes fans gravitate to other songs like they did to “Water” — the album includes a remixed version with Travis Scott – but admits she felt a bit of pressure. The song reached No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and trended on TikTok with her viral #WaterChallenge dance. While she doesn’t know the specifics about a potential ban on the app in the U.S., she says it’s slightly concerning.

“TikTok really does help artists and helps us reach places that we can’t really reach. Like, me being in South Africa, I was using TikTok and social media — I was using it heavy just to be seen,” said Tyla, who was discovered singing covers on the social media app and released her first single, “Getting Late,” in 2019. “TikTok has built a lot of careers, and it would be scary, I’m sure, for a lot of people to lose it.”

Presently, Tyla is living in the moment, saying she’s happy with the response to the album and hopes to begin an international tour that was postponed due to an injury. She wants to act and would like to play a Disney princess.

In the meantime, she’s laying the groundwork for music royalty, Soso says.

“There’s something about her that she has that everyone takes to… she came in and kind of took the world by storm with her energy, her kindness,’’ he said, also pointing to “her love for music and how she’s just authentic with her sound from back home.”

No goal seems to out of reach for Tyla, as her dreams are coming true.

“Ever since I was small, I was that girl telling everyone, ‘Hey, I am going to become the biggest pop star’… I feel like if you want something, just say it,” she advised. “You work harder when you put it out there, and it comes to you — it really does.”

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Peacock has released its latest coup for the forthcoming season 6 of LOVE ISLAND USA: Ariana Madix, the beloved Vanderpump Rules star and self-proclaimed Love Island fan, will host. The announcement that the show will premiere exclusively on Peacock this summer has sent ripples of excitement throughout the entertainment industry.

Ariana Madix, best known for her role on Bravo’s hit reality show Vanderpump Rules, brings a plethora of expertise and charisma to her new position. Madix, who is from Melbourne, Florida, has been not just on television but also in feature films such as “Working It Out,” “Attack of the 50 Foot Cheerleader,” and “Dead End.” Her talents have also been shown in sitcoms such as “Dads” and “Anger Management.” As if that weren’t enough, Madix is a New York Times bestselling author whose book “Single AF: Drinks for Bad Bitches” has received global recognition.

Madix’s celebrity extends beyond Hollywood, as she demonstrated her dancing prowess on the Emmy® Award-nominated series “Dancing with the Stars” and won the coveted 2024 People’s Choice Award for “Competition Contestant of the Year.” She recently made her Broadway debut, stunning audiences with her depiction of Roxie Hart in “Chicago.”

LOVE ISLAND USA season 6 aims to be a standout in Peacock’s Love Island content roster, joining the ranks of the hit cultural phenomenon’s prior seasons. From heart-racing challenges to unexpected twists, the show will follow a group of gorgeous people seeking love in a picturesque villa. With new arrivals upsetting things up, Islanders will be forced to choose between remaining loyal and making new ties.

LOVE ISLAND USA, produced by ITV Entertainment, an ITV America subsidiary, is part of a global series that continues to attract viewers across the world. Executive producers David George, Adam Sher, and Simon Thomas, among others, ensure that the series’ undeniable appeal and attraction remain intact.

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We emerged from Crunchyroll’s Spring preview event, and let me tell you, their lineup is like a treasure chest overflowing with gems! This season promises something for everyone, guaranteed to ignite your anime spark with a vibrant selection that will leave you grinning from ear to ear. Consider this your insider look at some can’t-miss titles bubbling up next month!

For the Hopeless Romantics:

• A Condition Called Love (Premieres April 4th): This show is like a warm hug wrapped in a love letter. Meet Hotaru, a high school freshman whose love life is stuck on “loading.” Enter Hananoi, a charming classmate sporting a past heartbreak that clings to him like a poorly-fitting scarf. Hotaru’s kind gesture leads to a hilariously awkward confession that will have you rooting for them from the first scene. Expect relatable characters, classic coming-of-age fluff, and enough butterflies to fill a butterfly sanctuary.  This one feels like a classic shoujo manga come to life, and I can’t wait to see how their relationship blossoms!

Watch the official trailer here:

Hysterical Out-of-This-World Rom-Com with an Unexpected Twist 

• Astro Note (Premieres April 5th): Astro Note throws a side-splitting curveball at the rom-com genre, and it’s a home run! Our protagonist, Takumi, a talented chef with a killer palate, falls head over heels for the beautiful Mira, his new apartment’s landlady. But winning her heart proves tricky when your neighbors are a riotous crew of weirdos and unexplained phenomena become your new normal. Oh, and did we mention Mira’s a secret alien? This show promises laugh-out-loud situations and a refreshingly bizarre twist on the classic rom-com formula. The dynamic between Takumi and Mira is pure entertainment, and you’ll be desperately waiting to see where their wacky situations take them next.  Personally, this one had me laughing most of the time – the aliens and the oddball neighbors are hilarious! This hilariously original take on the Rom-Com genre and character interactions will make you smile.

Watch the official trailer here:

Black Butler Fans Rejoice!

• Black Butler: Public School Arc (Premieres April 13th): It wouldn’t be a Crunchyroll season without our favorite demon butler, and Black Butler: Public School Arc is no exception! This dark and thrilling installment is everything you’ve expected from the series. Ciel Phantomhive and his unflappable demon butler, Sebastian, are tackling a high-society whodunit this time around. They’re undercover at the prestigious Weston College, where students, including a royal relative, are vanishing without a trace. Brace yourselves for a captivating blend of Victorian mystery, political intrigue, and of course, Sebastian’s impeccably served side-eye. The first episode is packed with interesting new characters, alongside some fan favorites returning, making for a truly captivating premiere.  This one is classic Black Butler – dark, mysterious, and Sebastian is as sharp as ever. Can’t wait to see what secrets they uncover!

Watch the official trailer here:

Calling All Kaiju Enthusiasts!

• Kaiju No. 8 (Premieres April 13th): Buckle up for a monster-sized adventure with Kaiju No. 8! This action-packed series is a must-watch for anyone who craves giant monster mayhem. In a world overrun by colossal creatures, Kafka Hibino dreams of joining the Defense Force to protect humanity. Witness his journey as he reignites his passion for protecting others and fights alongside unlikely allies against these colossal threats. The first episode packs a satisfying punch, leaving you wanting more monster-bashing action.  If you crave colossal creature carnage, Kaiju No. 8 delivers in a big way! The fight scenes are truly epic, showcasing the immense power of the kaiju and the thrilling battles against them. Witnessing Kafka’s growth as a fighter promises to be an exciting journey!

Watch the official trailer here:

A Hidden Gem for the Soul

• Bartender: Glass of God (Premieres April 3rd): This show is like a warm sake after a long day – a hidden gem that will leave you wanting more. Nestled in the bustling streets of Tokyo lies Eden Hall, a quiet bar catering to weary souls seeking solace. The enigmatic bartender, Ryu, possesses a unique gift – the ability to create the perfect drink that heals the customer’s spirit. Each episode promises a heartfelt encounter, leaving you with a sense of calm and a touch of wonder. I wasn’t sure if Bartender: Glass of God would be my cup of tea, but after the first episode, I’m hooked! The warm atmosphere and touching stories are a welcome change of pace. This one surprised me! It’s a slow burn, but the stories are so heartwarming that I’m completely invested.

Watch the official trailer here:

There you have it, anime fans! Whether you’re a die-hard romance fanatic, a sci-fi buff with a funny bone, a thrill-seeker craving epic showdowns, or simply an anime enthusiast looking for a heartwarming story, Crunchyroll’s Spring lineup has something to quench your thirst for entertainment. This is just a taste of what they have in store, and if these shows are anything to go by, we’re in for an incredible anime season! The best part? All the shows I watched left me wanting more, so you can bet I’ll be glued to my screen each week. Trust me, there’s an anime for everyone this season, so dive in and discover your next favorite show!

Don’t miss out – Crunchyroll’s Spring season is over with potential gems waiting to be unearthed! See Crunchyrolls full Spring season lineup here.

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