Washington

Jussie Smollett Debuts New Feature, Denzel Washington Hints at Break From Acting at American Black Film Festival

Published

2 years ago

June 18, 2024

Jussie Smollett Debuts New Feature, Denzel Washington Hints at Break From Acting at American Black Film Festival

Jussie Smollett declared he was weary of trying to explain away his past troubles while Denzel Washington foreshadowed an impending break from being in front of the camera during the just-wrapped American Black Film Festival, which also brought out stars including Issa Rae, Kenya Barris and Kerry Washington.

The festival, held in Miami Beach’s South Beach, served as a launching pad for ABFF’s Queer Lens Brunch with GLAAD, featuring Smollett on a panel promoting his second feature, The Lost Holliday, an official festival selection that he co-wrote, produced and directed. It stars Smollett as a man whose husband is killed just as the couple was adopting their daughter; he must also contend with the mother-in-law he never met, played by Vivica A. Fox.

“It means a great deal to have the love and support of my queer Black community and equally to have the love and support of the Black community as a whole,” Smollett, joined by his The Lost Holliday co-star Jabari Redd (The Chi), told The Hollywood Reporter after the brunch.

The former Empire star, who is still appealing a jail sentence after being convicted of five felonies for staging a racist, homophobic attack on himself, found a reprieve from his ongoing legal battles at the event. Instead, producer and director Sidra Smith, who moderated the panel, referenced his “perseverance” and mental health, to which he responded, in part: “Sometimes you just gotta bite the bullet and let everybody think that you’re crazy, that you’re shady, that you’re a fraud, whatever they’re going to think. And then they’ll figure it out. They’ll figure it out because I can’t sit here forever trying to explain.”

He was not silent on Black queer representation, however. “There are so many other things on the opposite side that are intentionally trying to devalue us so we must be intentional with our Blackness; we must be intentional with our queerness; we must be intentional with our Black queerness,” he said, explaining his fervent activism.

On the festival’s closing day, Washington was the subject of a retrospective, culminating with a conversation between the double Oscar winner and Chaz Ebert.

Washington stars in Gladiator 2 with Paul Mescal, set for release in November, and is also producing The Piano Lesson, which will feature John David Washington in front of the camera and his other son, Malcolm Washington, behind it as director. Daughter Katia is a producer on the film, which also features a cameo from daughter Olivia. Samuel L. Jackson, Corey Hawkins and Danielle Deadwyler also star.

Washington, who placed a pre-Father’s Day FaceTime call to wife Pauletta during the talk, briefly got emotional when he talked about working with his children.

“As a parent, as a father, you want to jump in,” he confessed. “It’s hard letting them go.”

Washington also shared that he doesn’t watch other movies besides his own, and even those he watches just once to familiarize himself for interviews. However, the audience let out the biggest gasp when he suggested people could be seeing him less onscreen in the near future.

“The things that are going on for me professionally behind the camera are as important to me now as in front of the camera. I think there’s less and less time I’ll be spending in front of the camera,” he said.

Meanwhile, Rae, who served as the creative director of this year’s festival, kicked off this edition of the event, which spanned June 12-16. In her remarks, she emphasized the importance of community at ABFF and testified to how it had helped her in her own career early on and why, in the face of attacks on diversity, it’s more important than ever.

“I met so many of my creative partnerships here. This is the space to do it, especially now that our spaces are being taken away from us,” she added, referencing the recent DEI rollbacks in the industry and the nation at large.

Also during the event, Rae led a talk with Barris, while Kerry Washington showcased the upcoming season of her Hulu show Unprisioned. Meagan Good and Cory Hardrict shared a first-look and discussed their starring roles in Tyler Perry’s Divorce in the Black for Amazon Prime.

Films from the festival are screening on streaming platform ABFF Play until Monday.

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Washington

Deputies shoot armed suspect in Leesburg Walmart parking lot

Published

2 hours ago

January 6, 2026

Press Room

Deputies shoot armed suspect in Leesburg Walmart parking lot

Deputies shot an armed suspect in the parking lot of a Walmart store in Leesburg, Virginia, late Tuesday morning, authorities say.

Detectives, deputies and special agents from the FBI had tracked the suspect down after he tried to rob the Bank of America at Dulles Crossing on Monday, the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office said. The suspect, who still hasn’t been named, didn’t get any money before taking off from the bank.

Authorities found the suspect was parked at the back of the Walmart parking lot just before noon Tuesday.

Deputies pulled up behind the suspect’s blue sedan at the back of the Walmart parking lot about 11:40 a.m. Tuesday. As they approached, the suspect got out with a gun, Sheriff Mike Chapman said.

Deputies then fired their guns at the suspect, hitting him. Chapman did not say how many times the suspect was shot or give specific information about his injuries.

Medics took the suspect to a hospital.

No deputies were injured, the sheriff’s office said.

Chapman said it was too early in the investigation to say if the suspect fired his gun or how many officers were involved in the shooting.

Stay with News4 for updates to this developing story.

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Washington

The American story projected on the Washington Monument came from North Texas

Published

14 hours ago

January 6, 2026

Press Room

The American story projected on the Washington Monument came from North Texas

Steve Deitz walks with the energy of a coach; however, he does not hide that he and his team are digital nerds and storytellers who specialize in large-scale visual content and software development. More specifically, the 48-year-old makes a living creating the wow factor at his agency, “900lbs.”

“We started the company working for the Dallas Mavericks, telling large-scale visual content on the Jumbotron, and next thing you know, Activision, Blizzard calls,” he said. “We get to work in the Perot Museum on the biggest exhibit in the museum, and then fast-forward another 12 years, and here we are now.”

His current project is wrapping up in the nation’s capital — sorta. Since Dec.31, projections of America’s story have been given to his agency.

“We’re telling the story of the 250-year birthday of America in the biggest way possible on the facade of the Washington Monument on all four sides,” Deitz said.

He said they started testing out the results a couple of nights before New Year’s Eve. Scenes from Thomas Edison’s light bulb, the Empire State Building, the Model T Ford, and the Industrial Revolution, to name a few, are projected onto the Washington Monument.

Deitz gives his team a ton of credit from the moment he received the call about the project. He also thinks back to the times when he was an athlete who loved to draw in Merkel, Texas. The kid who dared to dream beyond the city limits and outside of the box. The CEO is giving advice to that child who may need a little inspiration.

“Hard work, perseverance, dedication, surround yourself with a team of brilliant people that are way smarter than you, and do the best you possibly can,” he said.

Deitz said there is a likelihood his team’s creations will return to the nation’s capital this year.

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Washington

Tracking crime in the DMV: Some areas see drop in violent crime, homicide

Published

2 days ago

January 5, 2026

Press Room

Tracking crime in the DMV: Some areas see drop in violent crime, homicide

It is not the way any homicide squad wants to start an already busy new year.

Prince George’s County police Sunday were trying to figure out who was found dead in a car behind a strip center overnight and why. Police, who responded after a call about gun shots, told News4 they’re still searching for the most basic details.

It comes just a day after three people were shot and killed at a Temple Hills banquet hall early Saturday morning. Police told News4 that investigation is active and showing signs of promise.

But the busy start somewhat hides the bigger picture about crime in the area.

Despite the tough start to 2026, homicide in Prince George’s County was down 40% in 2025 percent compared to 2024, and violent crime on a whole was down 19%, both through mid-December according to Prince George’s County police.

In D.C. is a similar story.

“Now we have no crime in Washington, DC. We have no killing,” said President Donald Trump Saturday during a news conference about action in Venezuela.

While the crime rate is not nearly as good as Trump has repeatedly said, the District recorded five homicides in December and 126 in all of 2025. That’s down 32% over 2024. Violent crime is down 29%, according to D.C .police crime statistics.

In Fairfax, homicide is down 14% — but the county only had 12 total — and violent crime dropped 4%, according to the county’s online reporting.

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