Names and faces
The singer Common dropped a verse from his song “The
Day Women Took
Over” in her honor. Quincy
Jones called her “my beloved baby sister from another mister.” And actress Halle Berry said her pioneering success made her proud to be a black woman. Cheryl Boone Isaacs, the former film academy president who spearheaded the organization’s radical inclusivity efforts after #OscarsSoWhite, was celebrated Tuesday at Icon Mann’s sixth annual pre-Oscar dinner. The organization founded to honor and support black men presented its inaugural Legacy Award to a woman, lauding Boone Isaacs’ decades of leadership and history of opening doors for people of color. While BooneIsaacs was term-limited out as academy president last year, “Her impact on this business will be felt for many years to come,” Jones said. Also, Icon Mann founder Tamara Houston announced the establishment of two University of Southern California scholarships in honor of Boone Isaacs and her brother and fellow marketing executive, Ashley Boone. As Boone Isaacs accepted her award, she implored guests to recognize and employ the power of community. “We have power, and our power is in our connectedness, our community,” she said. “We all must work together and combine our talents and show all of Hollywood and show America and the world that we have arrived.”
A woman has told police she had a child with casino mogul Steve Wynn after he raped her, while another reported that she was forced to resign from a Las Vegas job after she refused to have sex with him. Police in Las Vegas said they had taken the statements from the two women after a news report in January revealed sexual misconduct allegations against the billionaire. Wynn resigned as chairman and CEO of Wynn Resorts on Feb. 6, less than two weeks after the Wall Street Journal reported that a number of women said he harassed or assaulted them and that one case led to a $7.5 million settlement. Wynn has vehemently denied the accusations, attributing them to a campaign led by his exwife. In one of the new reports, a woman said Wynn raped her at least three times around 1973 and 1974 at her Chicago apartment. She reported she got pregnant and gave birth to a girl in a gas station restroom. The second police report involves a woman who told police that she had consensual sex with Wynn “several times” in 1976 while she worked as a dealer at the downtown Las Vegas casino-hotel Golden Nugget, but “felt coerced to perform the acts.” She reported she was forced to resign when she turned him down. The Las Vegas case will not be investigated because the statute of limitations in Nevada is 20 years. Ralph Frammolino, spokesman for Wynn, declined to comment on the latest allegations.