We Speak Entertainment
DMX Faces The Music: Judge Sentenced Him To A Year In Prison
A judge heard a DMX rap song before adding his own lyrics to a court proceeding on Wednesday, ordering the rapper imprisoned for a year in a tax fraud case.
U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff took requests, accommodating DMX’s desire to hear his autobiographical hit “Slippin’” before DMX faced the music over his admission of guilt. The judge called DMX’s fraud a “brazen and blatant” crime that could not go unpunished.
The 47-year-old rapper, known to law enforcement and the courts as Earl Simmons, has been incarcerated since his bail was revoked in January. He sobbed during the proceeding as his lawyer Murray Richman recalled his nightmarish childhood.
“I never went to the level of tax evasion where I’d sit down and plot … like a criminal in a comic book,” DMX said when given an opportunity to address the court.
He said, at times getting choked up, that he “wasn’t following the rules.”
DMX, whose albums include “It’s Dark And Hell Is Hot” and “Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood,” recalled that the judge ordered him imprisoned in January for failing to obey bail restrictions that had allowed him to continue performing concerts while he received treatment for drug addictions.
“It woke me up,” he said.
Before that, he said: “I was in a cloud. I wasn’t thinking straight.”
Richman said DMX, who has appeared in movies such as “Last Hour” and “Romeo Must Die,” has been a model prisoner. Still, prosecutors sought five years in prison for him, citing a lengthy rap sheet and drugs.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Cooper said DMX engaged in tax fraud for six years after having paid taxes previously.
“He essentially went off the grid at a certain time,” the prosecutor said.
Richman said he wanted his client free to support his 15 children and pay back nearly $2.3 million in taxes that are part of a restitution order.
Another defense lawyer, Stacey Richman, called DMX “the American dream,” saying he raised himself out of the ghetto with music that was so inspirational that a former Troy homeless woman called the lawyers to say that hearing one of his songs stopped her from killing herself. The woman now is married and raising a child, Stacey Richman said.
As “Slippin’” played in the packed courtroom, DMX nodded his head slightly to the beat while some of his supporters nodded more enthusiastically.
“I’ve never seen a more horrific background in my life,” he said, describing physical and psychological abuse that left DMX’s teeth knocked out and led him to repeated encounters with the law at an early age.
The judge said that in the court’s view DMX “is a good man.”
“In many ways,” the judge said, “he’s his own worst enemy.”
We Speak Celebrity News
Author Burt Kearns (“Shemp: The Biography of the Three Stooges’ Shemp Howard: The Face of Film Comedy”) Guests On Harvey Brownstone Interviews
Harvey Brownstone conducts an in-depth Interview with Burt Kearns, Author, “SHEMP! The Biography of the Three Stooges’ Shemp Howard”.
Burt Kearns is an award-winning producer, director, writer, journalist and author who is renowned for his work in nonfiction television and film, in TV shows like “Breaking the Ice”, “Legsville Oral History”, “Guinness World Records Unleashed”, “Joe Rogan Questions Everything”, “The Secret History of Rock ‘n’ Roll” with Gene Simmons, “All The Presidents’ Movies”, and many more. He produced the excellent 2001 documentary, “Death of A Beatle”, about the death of John Lennon, and he co-wrote and produced the 2006 movie, “Cloud 9”, starring Burt Reynolds. He’s an Emmy Award winning newswriter, and he served as managing editor and producer of the highly popular TV shows, “A Current Affair” and “Hard Copy”.
But beyond all of that, Burt Kearns is also a highly acclaimed author. He wrote, “Tabloid Baby”, which traces the evolution of the tabloid television genre. He then co-wrote “The Show Won’t Go On: The Most Shocking, Bizarre, and Historic Deaths of Performers Onstage”, followed by “Lawrence Tierney: Hollywood’s Real-Life Tough Guy”.
Last year, he appeared on Harvey Brownstone Interviews to discuss his brilliant bestselling book entitled, “Marlon Brando: Hollywood Rebel”.
And now, he’s back to talk about his brand new book entitled, “Shemp: The Biography of the Three Stooges’ Shemp Howard: The Face of Film Comedy.” The Three Stooges are widely considered to be the greatest, most successful and most influential slapstick comedy group in modern history, and if you’re a fan of The Three Stooges – and who isn’t? – this extremely well-researched book is an absolute must-read, because the author enlightens us on the incredibly impressive – but until now, largely unexplored – life and body of work of the most misunderstood and the most underrated member of The Three Stooges, Shemp Howard, who was actually a highly accomplished, influential and respected comic actor in his own right.
Along with his brother Moe and vaudeville comedian Larry Fine, Shemp was an original member of the Three Stooges, but in 1932 he quit the group to pursue a solo acting career. He appeared in over a hundred movies alongside the biggest Hollywood stars, including W.C. Fields, John Wayne, James Stewart, Marlene Dietrich, William Powell, Lon Chaney Jr., Myrna Loy, and the team of Abbott & Costello. But in 1946, when Curly became too ill to continue working, Shemp gave up a successful film career to help his brothers out by returning to The Three Stooges.
What’s really fascinating and compelling about this book, is that, because of his meticulous research, Burt Kearns challenges and debunks the “official” version of Three Stooges history, largely promoted by Moe, that’s been repeated for decades. The book shatters many myths and uncovers the surprising and often troubling facts behind the scenes surrounding Shemp’s departure from and return to The Three Stooges, and the circumstances surrounding his untimely death. But more than anything, the book confirms Shemp Howard’s well-deserved place in cinematic history.
Harvey Brownstone is a retired judge of the Ontario Court of Justice and was the first openly gay judge in Canada. He is also the bestselling author of “Tug of War: A Judge’s Verdict on Separation, Custody Battles and the Bitter Realities of Family Court” and hosted “Family Matters with Justice Harvey Brownstone,” a television talk show on matters involving the family justice system.
After a distinguished legal career, Harvey was appointed a judge at the age of 38 in 1995. He has presided in family and criminal courts. He has been a trailblazer in several ways. He was the first openly gay judge in Canada. He was the first sitting judge in the world to write a national best seller and to host a TV talk show.
Harvey has been a role model and icon in the LGBTQ community. When same-sex marriage was legalized in Canada in 2003, he was the only judge to make himself publicly available to officiate at weddings for lesbian and gay couples travelling to Toronto from all over the world to get married. In 2007, he officiated at the wedding of Edith Windsor and Thea Spyer, the American couple whose marriage triggered the 2013 United States Supreme Court decision overturning the definition of “spouse” in the federal Defense of Marriage Act.
In February 2021, Harvey launched his online talk show “Harvey Brownstone Interviews” on his own YouTube channel. He saw this as an interesting hobby. Within several months, the show attracted hundreds of thousands – and then eventually, millions – of viewers. Because of the overwhelming success of the show, Harvey decided to retire from the judiciary on December 31, 2021 after having presided as a full-time judge for 26 1/2 years. Free from the constraints imposed upon judges regarding the expression of opinions and the endorsement of private enterprise, Harvey now happily devotes his full-time attention to hosting “Harvey Brownstone Interviews” as a regular member of the public – albeit one with a rather illustrious and unique career history.
Watch Burt Kearns on Harvey Brownstone Interviews on Youtube here:
The official website for Harvey Brownstone Interviews may be found at https://www.harveybrownstoneinterviews.com
Get “The Talk Show Blend” – Coffee For The Modern Day Trailblazer! By Harvey Brownstone from Breakfast At Dominique’s available at https://www.HollywoodBlends.com
For more information about Harvey Brownstone, here’s his Wikipedia page:
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