Summary: Marissa Alexander Is Released From Jail, Will Serve The Rest Of Her Sentence On House Arrest Marissa Alexander, the Black woman who many feel was unfairly jailed per Florida’s seemingly disparate application of its “Stand Your Ground” laws, was released from prison Tuesday afternoon, according to local Jacksonville station 4JAX. Alexander will come home, but will spend the next two years under electronic monitoring. FOX’s ‘Empire’ Addresses LGBT Issues In The Black Community During Primetime TV Fox's new television series "Empire," starring Terrance Howard and Taraji P. Henson, depicts a family struggling to control a rap record label. The show highlights the struggles for power between music executives, sex and the use of drugs within the culture surrounding the Hip Hop music industry. "Empire," created by Daniels, also deals with homophobia in the Black community. On Wednesday, Roland Martin, host of "NewsOne Now," Cleo Manago, Kelly Carter, entertainment reporter for BuzzFeed and Auba "Tommy" Bennett discussed how Fox's new hit show addresses LGBT issues and some of the images that the show is promoting. Manago told Martin he does not think the show "gives enough context regarding what's happening in the Black community" as it relates to homosexuality. He added, African Americans are the last demographic in this country to talk about same-sex relationships in "direct ways." Manago also expressed concern over the representation of Black people in the show. He explained "All of the people that do the help are dark-skinned and all of the people that are luxurious are light-skinned" and the "underdeveloped homosexual story in terms of attitudes in the Black community towards the LGBT community" is not contextual enough to be helpful. There is a message there that bothers me," said Manago. Bennett said,"I think this is one of the best shows in a long time" to address homosexuality. "I think it's time to bring gay to the television screen, to the light and say exactly what it is." Carter, Senior Editor and entertainment reporter for BuzzFeed told Martin, "Empire" is Fox's most successful new show in years." She later stated, "I think largely it's (Empire) is growing because we're finally having a conversation on primetime television that we've never seen before and that is homophobia and LGBT issues in the Black community." "It's not going to be all things to all people, but it is a vey significant conversation that is being had right now amongst people, driven largely by social media." ‘Oh Jah Jah:’ Eddie Murphy Talks New Music, Return To ‘SNL’ For 40th Anniversary (VIDEO) Comedian/actor and singer Eddie Murphy joined Roland Martin Wednesday on "NewsOne Now" to talk about his new reggae single, "Oh Jah Jah." Murphy's latest song comes 20 years after "Party All The Time" from his debut musical album, "How Could It Be." He told Martin, "I never ever stopped making music, I stopped putting music out in the '80s. In the '80s for some reason more than in any decade, there was a bunch of actors that was trying to sing and put records out and it looked crazy." Murphy said before he started doing stand up comedy that he had a band. "I've always done music. I've played guitar, piano and I write and produce and I was coming at music that way because I didn't want to get thrown in a barrel with everybody else." For the last 25 years Murphy has been recording music for himself. He said, "I never ever left it alone, I just stopped letting y'all hear it." The long-time comic also shared his views on the success of Kevin Hart and Chris Rock saying, "I love Chris Rock, I love Kevin Hart. I love them both. There's a lot of funny dudes around, there's a lot of people around that's funny, those two dudes are special." Murphy, who has not been back to "Saturday Night Live" since 1984 said his return to the show has not happened because the timing never worked out.
