Names and faces
■ Rihanna, Jay-Z, Charlize Theron and other celebrities are calling on the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the death of 20-yearold Danroy “DJ” Henry Jr., a Black football player at Pace University killed by a white police officer in New York nearly a decade ago. In a letter sent last week to Attorney General William Barr, the entertainers say Henry, who was from Easton, Mass., “lost his life for no good reason and with absolutely no good explanation.” The case remains an “unhealed wound” for Henry’s family and the people of New York, they wrote. “The [Justice Department] must truthfully determine whether a pattern and/or practice of discrimination played a role in the case of DJ Henry — and if it did — deliver the justice that restores this young man’s name and reputation, while giving hope to other young black men who are just like him and desperate for change,” they wrote. Others who signed the letter are Pharrell Williams, Taraji P. Henson, Odell Beckham Jr., Michael K. Williams, Kerry Washington, Mary J. Blige and Gabrielle Union. An email seeking comment was sent Friday to the Department of Justice. Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York announced in 2015 that they would not file civil-rights charges, saying a thorough review of evidence did not show that Pleasantville officer Aaron Hess acted with deliberate and specific intent to break the law.
■ A prominent rabbi who met with Nick Cannon says the television host and producer is “genuinely concerned about the hurt” he caused by making anti-Semitic remarks, and they intend to work together to reject hate. Cannon apologized to the Jewish community last week for his “hurtful and divisive” words, a day after ViacomCBS cut ties with him for the comments made on a podcast where he discussed racial bias, and after a phone conversation with Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s associate dean. Cooper asked him to post the apology on social media, and then met with him Thursday for a three-hour conversation at Cannon’s business headquarters in Burbank, Calif. “He appears to be someone who’s genuine in his desire to make sure people understand his apology,” Cooper told The Associated Press. “But also … not to move forward saying, ‘OK, I have to go back to my regular things, thank you for helping to give me a lifeline after this terrible error.’ That wasn’t it. The thrust was: ‘OK. Now, what do we do? How do we roll up our sleeves? What can we do together?’”