Categories
News News Blog

U of M Professor Wins National Poetry Fellowship

A University of Memphis professor recently won a 2021 Creative Writing Fellowship that includes an award of $25,000.

Poet Marcus Wicker is an associate professor at the U of M. Wicker is one of 35 writers out of over 1,600 to earn this award through the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). 

Wicker teaches English in the Master’s of Fine Arts program at the U of M. In addition to his work there, Wicker is poetry editor for the Southern Indiana Review

“Poetry helps me discover, articulate, and clarify ideas I feel instinctively but can’t make sense of otherwise,” Wicker says. “A good deal of my poems use humor and music as a lens to explore the self and issues of social import, especially those pertaining to the African-American community.”

“I love reading work that moves me to catharsis during trying times, and before anything else, I’m just aiming to write the kind of poems I’d like to see floating around in the world.”

Courtesy Marcus Wicker

Wicker

Since 1967, the Arts Endowment has awarded more than 3,600 Creative Writing Fellowships totaling over $56 million. The fellowships for 2021 are in poetry and give award recipients the opportunity to set aside time for writing, research, travel, and general career advancement. 

“The National Endowment for the Arts is proud to support these 35 talented poets through Creative Writing Fellowships,” says Amy Stolls, director of literary arts at the Arts Endowment. “These fellowships often provide writers with crucial support and encouragement, and in return, our nation is enriched by their artistic contributions in the years to come.” 

Wicker is the author of Silencer and Maybe the Saddest Thing. He has garnered a slew of accomplishments in the writing community, including winning a Tennessee Arts Fellowship. His poems have appeared in The Nation, The New Republic, The Atlantic, Poetry, American Poetry Review, and many other publications.  

“Writing can be a pretty solitary pursuit,” Wicker said. Recognition from the NEA is a humbling vote of confidence that affirms my life’s work.”

Categories
News News Blog

MLGW Extends Payment Plan Option for Customers

Memphis Light, Gas and Water (MLGW) has made it easier for customers to catch up on late payments. MLGW Extended Payment Plans (EPPs) are available until

March 31, 2021. Eligible customers can take advantage of this a one-time payment plan and repay past due balances over the course of one year.

Participants in EPPs must first pay at least 25 percent of their total debt then the remaining balance will be set up on a payment plan for up to 12 months. 

This payment plan was originally created last summer to help customers affected by COVID-19. Nonetheless, MLGW will continue to honor their no-shut-off promise for bills that have yet to be paid.

“We understand the extreme circumstances facing our customers and want to do our part to ease the burden,” said MLGW President and CEO J.T. Young. “We are also asking customers to call our 24-hour Emergency number, 528-4465, if they see water coming out of the ground or out of homes or businesses.”    

On the heels of the winter storm last week, MLGW’s Precautionary Boil Water Advisory remains in effect until further notice. Water is safe for showering/handwashing but should be boiled for cooking or drinking.

For now, MLGW is also urging customers to report burst water pipes or burst water heaters. These are considered emergency situations. If there are leaks inside buildings they could pose a danger of flooding. 

To report an emergency, customers can call MLGW’s 24-hour Emergency Hotline at 528-4465. MLGW employees are available 24-hours a day to respond to such emergencies. 

Categories
Memphis Gaydar News

Man Running Across Mississippi for LGBTQ+ Rights

Mikah Meyers


Mikah Meyers is a running man and he’s running across the width of Mississippi in the month of February to raise awareness for LGBTQ+ rights. Meyers, who attended the University of Memphis, started a program called Outside Safe Spaces (OSS) to help create more welcoming outdoor spaces for LGBTQ+ people.

Outside Safe Space Pin

After visiting every U.S. national park in 2018, Meyers noticed that outdoor and rural spaces were not as welcoming to LGBTQ+ people, which prompted him to create OSS. A symbol that looks like a rainbow-colored tree serves as a non-verbal way to signify that people in those spaces welcome LGBTQ+ people. 

This running adventure started in September 2020 when Meyers decided to run across the state of Minnesota to bring awareness to the OSS program.

After the Minnesota trip, Meyers wanted to expand his reach. He did a poll on his Instagram asking followers which state they felt was the most homophobic in America. Mississippi was the unfortunate winner of that survey. So, Meyers put on his running shoes and headed to Mississippi. 

“Someone shared that they are a crisis counselor for the Trevor Project Lifeline (LGBTQ suicide hotline) and the majority of their calls come from Florida and Mississippi,” said Meyers.

“I mapped it out and at 170 miles and my six-mile Minnesota daily average, I could cross the state in 28 days,” he said. “Perfect timing for February’s 28-day month and escaping the cold up North.”

So, that part didn’t go quite as planned. Nevertheless, he has persisted even in below-freezing conditions over the past several days. So far, he’s visited the birthplace of Elvis Presley in Tupelo while wearing an Elvis costume on his run. 

At the end of his Mississippi running journey, he plans to have a socially distant finale at Horseshoe Casino in Tunica on February 28th to celebrate his finish. Participants can meet him there at 4 p.m. at the finish line.

Categories
News News Blog

Memphis on New Social Media App Clubhouse

Christen Hill

Clubhouse app on cell phone

Clubhouse is a new social media audio platform where listening is key. There are no pretty photos to post (other than your profile picture), or videos. Users can’t post long monologues in writing. This audio-only social media has endless chat rooms where users can hear from others on any topic they choose. One can only join if they are invited by a current user, however, each user only gets two invites to start.  

Influencers from around the globe have joined. People like Oprah, Drake, Elon Musk, and more. Discussions can last hours. Typically, moderators schedule discussions where they host experts or influencers to join. 

You can peruse at random or focus your attention to clubs that engage in specific conversations. In Memphis, the number of clubs are growing. 

Bluffing on Beale is a roast club for what the youngster might call “roasting” or “checking” people. The club warns to not take offense at any of the things said in the room. It’s just for kicks and giggles. 

There is a club called Memphis that is simply for natives to network and share ideas. 

The club Memphis Black Arts and Culture hosts a weekly discussion on music, culture, and art by Memphians who are local or living abroad. You can find some talented artists here who have loads of influence and appeal. 

This is Memphis club focuses on the future of the city. The club wants to draw attention to the best and brightest in the arts, economics, technology, wellness, and more. The club’s description says they want to focus on building a legacy. 

The Real Nerds of Memphis (which is a play on the Real Housewives series) is a club for gaming, anime, and manga. 

For now, Clubhouse is one of a kind. It is rumored that Facebook and Twitter are working to add audio features to their platforms.

Categories
Cover Feature News

Ben Cory Jones’ Trip from Memphis to Hit-Making Hollywood Writer

“The great thing about what I do … I write Black stories,” says Ben Cory Jones, who started his professional life on Wall Street but found his true love in Hollywood. “Wall Street made me a smarter person, and it’s because I have a sophisticated worldview. I want to bring that to us.”

Jones, an original producer and writer for the HBO hit series Insecure, got his start telling stories in high school at The Commercial Appeal‘s teen newspaper, The Teen Appeal. “I am a product of Memphis journalism. I continue to read the Memphis Flyer in L.A.,” he says.

Jones began his journey at Memphis’ Central High school. It was there that he was convinced to pursue a career in writing. He knew he had a knack for it but it was his guidance counselor who pushed him to pursue writing as a career.

Christen Hill

Writer Ben Cory Jones wrote his way from the local The Teen Appeal to Underground and HBO’s Insecure — with a stop on Wall Street.

When Jones set out to find a college in 2001, his decision came down to either the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, or Morehouse College in Atlanta. Coming from a middle-class family in Whitehaven, UTK made more sense, financially. And Jones had already gotten accepted and knew he could afford it. But the guidance counselor who was impressed with Jones’ writing ability urged him to major in English at Morehouse. Fortuitously, he earned a full-ride scholarship to Morehouse and never looked back.

As an editor of the Morehouse College newspaper, The Maroon Tiger, Jones could never have imagined that he would one day be striking Hollywood deals and working backstage with film and television legends. But he wanted to go to work on Wall Street after college.

From Wall Street to Rodeo Drive

Jones was an English major and finance minor, and thought it would be best to go into a career where he knew he’d be financially stable. He began working as an investment banker in 2005, just after graduation. Engaging with the finances of some of America’s wealthiest families, he was privy to a life only a small portion of the nation gets to witness.

Then the 2008 recession hit, and the bank where he worked closed. Jones no longer wanted to stay in finance, so he went back to writing — this time as a blogger. It was after he started a movie review blog that he got the idea to become a professional writer for television.

He studied the television writing industry like a Wall Street commodity, calculating his next move.

“My job at the bank was ending because of the market crash of 2008, and I’m a calculated risk-taker.” Jones says. “I saw that there were all these different writing programs in L.A. that you could apply to.”

He was able to land several opportunities to participate in writing programs, including the ABC Production Associates Program. “As long as you can get your foot in somebody’s door …” he says. “Now you gotta learn how to work it. Now I gotta learn how to use my Southern-ness from Memphis, my Morehouse-ness, my gay-ness, my Black man-ness, my Wall Street-ness. I’m cobbling together everything about who I am in order to make an impact and be memorable to people.”

The opportunity to work on the hit HBO comedy-drama Insecure came from someone in his writing community, who happened to be an “awkward Black girl” — namely Insecure co-creator and star, Issa Rae.

“Issa has admitly said that I was one of the first calls she made [for the show] because we have known each other, socially, in the industry, trying to come up,” says Jones. “I think there was something about me being a Black dude from the South, who’s gay, who was also funny and interesting, weird and fly. Like, we just took to each other.”

The View from the Writer’s Room

Jones comes from a class of peers that includes Rae and Lena Waithe, known for shows such as The Chi and Master of None, as well as the movie Queen & Slim.

He and Waithe were in the car on the way to the 2018 GLAAD Awards when the idea of producing a BET spin-off of the ’90s movie Boomerang, which starred Eddie Murphy and Halle Berry, came up. Ironically, Berry was presenting Waithe with her award. Jones recalls: “She’s like, ‘Ben, I’m going to ask Halle if you and I do Boomerang, if she would executive produce it.’ After Halle presents her with her award, Lena goes back to the greenroom and says, ‘Hey, me and my friend Ben are going to do a reboot of Boomerang. Would you like to be an EP [executive producer]?’

“She said, ‘Yes.'”

Jones has produced movies such as Step Sisters, and was a writer for Underground, a thriller about the underground railroad in Antebellum Georgia starring Jurnee Smollett. It just so happened that Memphis was the show’s highest-viewing audience in the country.

Underground changed my life as a writer,” says Jones. “I thought I was gonna be known as the Insecure type of writer. Then I do Underground, they’re like, ‘Oh you can write that shit? You can write an epic thriller, drama, an adventure?’ I wanted that, because a lot of times in this industry, just as in life, people try to view you as one thing. I don’t want to just get pegged as a comedy writer.”

Jones has crafted his career after writers like David E. Kelley, whose writer credits stretch back to the late ’80s, his most recent being the critically acclaimed Big Little Lies. (Just Google him.) Jones touts his own ability to produce a variety of genres. His goal is to create high-octane shows, much like Westworld.

“You have to ingratiate yourself to people in order to learn this business; Hollywood is an apprenticeship business,” says Jones. “All the greats in Hollywood, they can point to the person that they were [an] apprentice to.”

Now, having directed, produced, and been showrunner to a multitude of shows, Jones knows it all goes back to his foundation of writing. “I don’t get my rocks off by being in front of the camera — the writers’ room is heaven to me,” he says. “It is my favorite place on Earth because it’s so fun.”

The distinct voice of Insecure beckons back to the authenticity of Black sitcoms in the ’90s. Yet now, it’s doused with a fresh perspective that transcends race. “When we got Insecure, we said, ‘This show is for us! Y’all can watch it, but this show is for us,'” Jones says. “The greatest compliment that we get about Insecure is that ‘this show sounds like conversations my friends and I have.’ And that’s all we ever wanted.”

There’s a Millennial voice that has impacted Hollywood in some beautiful ways. That may be attributed to the fact that the creators of the show derived from social media.

Hutchinsphoto | Dreamstime.com

Issa Rae

“The great thing about Insecure is that Issa Rae had those numbers on YouTube to show them that a show about Black women’s lives is important,” says Jones. The show’s cult following might contend this series delves into the journey of two exes, Lawrence and Issa, however, Jones describes Insecure as a love story between Issa and her best friend, Molly.

The show is a raw, funny, and endearing peek into Black life that isn’t driven by continual trauma or violence. It’s simply a show about Black people, living their Black-ass lives.

The Future After Insecure

“People are always like, ‘We need Black stories, we need Black movies,’ but the only way we get them is by having Black storytellers who are trained to do it,” Jones says. “They’re not trying to make us better; we have to make ourselves better.”

Jones noticed that there were fewer writing programs for young Black writers, so he built his own: @Benthewritersroom, a virtual writers’ room for new Black voices.

“Giving back, creating this program, has been one of the highlights of my life and career,” Jones says. “I’m the product of a lot of writers’ programs. I realized that these programs are fading in the industry, and I wanted to create a program that’s specifically for Black writers, specifically for underrepresented writers.”

Writers meet weekly for four months to develop their ideas. It’s his version of a boot camp for people who haven’t had the privileges he’s had. “I want to teach Black writers how to write. I want our skill level to be a level of excellence,” says Jones. “When you leave my program, you leave with a finished script. I’m going to teach you to have a product that is ironclad and sufficient to get your career started.”

Jones says he has a unique and valuable worldview that he is eager to unleash on the next crop of television writers: “One of the biggest lessons that I’ve learned in Hollywood is you don’t personalize things that happened to you, because if you do, then you will literally leave and pack your bags after a month. I don’t know a lot for sure, but I do know for sure that I have a God-given talent to write. And I have to protect it at all costs. I almost have to have an impenetrable barrier around me. My main concern is making sure that my writer brain stays intact no matter what experiences I have.

“The people who green-light shows in Hollywood are not Black,” Jones says, “so our job as storytellers is to make it appealing and give a view of why this would be important.”

Jones says he is a Memphian at his core. He bleeds Memphis and he wants nothing more than to make his home city better. He’s writing a show set in Memphis called Candy, built around a Black female mayor. “I want to bring the industry here to Memphis,” he says. “I can create a TV show that employs hundreds of people.

“Life is going to beat you up. This business is going to beat you up. But the thing that saves me is when I write. At the end of the day, no one can tell me anything when I’m writing.”

Categories
News News Blog

Local Leaders on Vote to Remove Bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest

Nathan Bedford Forrest Boyhood Home/Facebook

 

The vote by the Tennessee Historical Commission on whether or not to remove the bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest from the Tennessee State Capitol has been rescheduled from February 17th to March 9th.


The State Capitol Commission voted in favor of removing the bust from the Capitol in July, and petitioned the Historical Commission to move the bust from the Capitol to the Tennessee State Museum. Forrest was a Confederate general, slave trader, and Ku Klux Klan leader. The sculpture of his likeness has been front and center in the Tennessee State Capitol Building since the late 1970s. The Flyer spoke to three local leaders about the issue.

Michalyn Easter-Thomas of the Memphis City Council

“We should pay close attention to what we choose to memorialize and render as proud history, said Memphis City Council member Michalyn Easter-Thomas. “My hope is that our state legislators vote to remove the bust that symbolizes murder, oppression, and tyranny in this city, region, state, and nation. However, no matter the outcome, it can be assured that the fight for justice will continue no matter whose bust is on the pedestal.” 

“I obviously don’t agree with the statue being in the Capitol and I’ve expressed that. I did a live video talking about that. I continue to disagree with that symbol governing over the most powerful building in the state of Tennessee,” said Tennessee State Representative Antonio Parkinson.

Tennessee State Representative Antonio Parkinson

“This statue sits in the most prominent place when you get off the elevator. I vehemently oppose it. However, it is nowhere near my highest priority in regards to what I think is important for people at this time. We are coming out probably the worst period in most Americans lives, financially, mentally and even educationally. My priorities are the health of our community and the education of our children and how we put money on the table of the people we represent. That statue doesn’t address any of those. The governor’s office and the General Assembly know exactly where I stand on that, they know exactly what to do.”       

Tennessee State Representative London Lamar


“There is no question that the history of Nathan Bedford Forrest is a symbol of hate,” said State Representative London Lamar. “The Confederacy itself symbolized the legalization of slavery where Nathan Bedford became rich from selling slaves on an auction block in Memphis, Tennessee, and served as the first Grand Wizard of the KKK. There is no positive Tennessee history behind Nathan Bedford Forrest, so there is no reason that Tennessee should be honoring him with a bust in our State Capitol. The people that we should be honoring are those who make a positive impact on our State’s history.


“The bust should be moved to the Tennessee State Museum because removing this bust does absolutely nothing to remove Tennessee’s history, it simply removes the fact that Tennessee seems to praise the man who obviously symbolizes white supremacy through his determination to keep slavery legal in this state and led mass murder on African Americans. I hope the commission votes to remove the bust to the museum where the story of Nathan Bedford Forrest can be told in the appropriate context.“ 

Categories
News News Blog

State Bill Would Crack Down on Cockfighting

Source: Animal Wellness Action

Animal Wellness Action says Tennessee’s weak cockfighting laws allow brazen participants to speak publicly about their illegal involvement in it, even appearing on trade magazine covers.

A Tennessee legislator has pledged to crack down on cockfighting in the state, and animal rights activists are behind him.

Tennessee state Sen. Jon Lundberg (R-Bristol) and leaders at Animal Wellness Action (AWA) and Animal Wellness Foundation (AWF) are working to end cockfighting in Tennessee. Sen. Lundberg announced that he will bring anti-cockfighting legislation to Nashville this year.

Tennessee is one of only eight states without felony-level penalties for cockfighting. Animal rights activists at AWA and AWF claim that this weak law is the reason why cockfighting rings have run rampant in the state for years. Although owning and shipping birds for cockfighting has been banned under federal law since 2002, these cockfighting rings continue to ship and distribute birds for fighting internationally.

According to AWA and AWF, Tennessee cockfighters shipped the sixth-largest number of birds, with Oklahoma having the distinction of being the top shipper. Tennessee cockfighting rings have been linked to Guam, Mexico, and the Philippines, and federal agencies have been asked to investigate the culprits.

In July 2020, AWA and AWF asked U.S. Attorneys Douglas Overbey and Donald Cochran to investigate allegations that nine Tennesseans appeared to be deeply involved in illegal trafficking of fighting animals. The allegations are that Tennesseeans are sending birds around the globe to fight, violating federal U.S. law.

“We have solid evidence that Tennessee-based individuals are openly raising birds where their neighbors and passing drivers can see and get a clear look at their cockfighting complexes; they are appearing on cockfighting magazine covers and in cockfighting videos; they are touting their fighting records on social media, and they are fraudulently signing shipping records that say they are chicken breeders only,” said Wayne Pacelle, president of AWA. “They are doing this because they think Tennessee’s anti-cockfighting law is so weak that they can get away with this lawlessness. A felony-level penalty under state law may change their attitude.”

According to AWA and AWF, three Tennessee-based operators signed shipping records for the transport of fighting animals to Guam. The shippers who sold to Guam typically used the U.S. Postal Service to transport the birds. They allegedly packed live animals into boxes and sent them 8,000 miles from Tennessee to Guam without food or water.

AWA and AWF obtained information on even more Tennessee cockfighters. One individual, based in Springfield, who appears in a video broadcast by the Philippines-based network BNTV, boasted of shipping fighting birds to foreign destinations, including Mexico and the Philippines. One other cockfighting enthusiast, based in Murfreesboro, also appears in a BNTV interview stating, “I’ll say over 25 years I won over 250 derbies,” on the network.

A third individual, Larry Whitehead, appeared on the cover of “Cockfights” magazine. Other Tennessee-based cockfighters tout his shipments to Mexico and the Philippines, the groups said.

“Staged animal fighting is intertwined with other crimes and when we stamp out animal fighting, we make our communities safer,” said Marty Irby, executive director at AWA.

Categories
News News Blog

Alliance Health Services Wins $4M Grant to Expand Clinic Services

Alliance Health Services

Alliance Health Services has been awarded a $4 million federal grant to increase access at its clinics and improve behavioral health services.

Alliance Health Services will use the grant money to become a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC). The grant comes from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The purpose of this CCBHC grant program is to increase access to and improve

the quality of mental and substance use disorder treatment services.

“We are excited to receive this grant as it will help us increase access to these

critical services,” said CEO of Alliance Healthcare Services Laurie Powell.

“Covid-19 has stressed the behavioral health system which was already

underfunded to begin with, so this is a big win for us.”

Laurie Powell of Alliance Health Services

Through the grant funding, the CCBHC will expand and provide individual-and family- centered integrated services and provide around the clock crisis intervention services for things such as opioid use disorders.

The clinics will also offer services for children and adolescents with serious emotional disturbance (SED), and individuals with co-occurring mental and substance disorders (COD).

“We hope to make a positive impact on these numbers in our community and continue to support our mission to Promote Wellness In Our Community,” said Powell. 

Alliance Healthcare Services is the largest comprehensive behavioral health provider in Shelby County serving over 22,000 residents.

Categories
Memphis Gaydar News

OUTMemphis New Hire Talks Black History Month

This month, Kab Browley is the latest addition to the OUTMemphis team as  communications coordinator.

Browley says it is important for him to see Black LGBTQ+ people during Black History Month. He is one of several Black employees that work at the OUTMemphis headquarters in Midtown. Shared experiences with people in the LGBTQ+ community here is what has led him to take this job.

Browley, 22, started in January 2021 at OUTMemphis, which is an LGBTQ+ community center. The nonprofit agency provides wellness, hygiene, and overall personal care for Memphians who identify as LGBTQ+.

Browley’s role as communications coordinator will be to assist communications manager Shira Grant with all things communications: fundraising, events, website development, e-newsletters, and social media. During a pandemic, and with a small crew, he hopes to boost awareness and resources for their patrons.

A Memphis native, Browley graduated from the University of Memphis in fall 2020 with a degree in music. While studying, he started volunteering at OUTMemphis in 2018 and won the volunteer of the year award in 2019. Now, as a paid employee, he is looking forward to bringing greater support to the LGBTQ+ community here.

“Seeing African Americans throughout history can help with navigating and understanding yourself,” says Browley.

This month, OUTMemphis celebrates black history pioneers in the LGBTQ+ community. People like James Baldwin, Marsha P. Johnson, Angela Davis, and Alvin Ailey are among the LGBTQ legends they have highlighted on their site. There are short descriptions under each honoree, that can help readers understand the major contributions Black LGBTQ+ people have made to American history.

“Seeing people that look like you is often a great thing and I think that’s with any representation,” says Browley. “For me, I am someone who dabbles in music. I don’t sing. I don’t perform. But I do the business side of it. So seeing people who look like you who are in this part of the community really helps.”

Categories
News News Blog

UTHSC Sued in First Amendment Case on “Sexual” Social Posts

Kimberly Diei UTHSC Student Courtesy of FIRE

A University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) pharmacy student sued the university in federal court this week, alleging it violated her First Amendment rights for “crude” and “sexual” social media posts. 

Kimberly Diei filed a First Amendment lawsuit against the school Wednesday with help from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE). The move came after the student was reprimanded by the school for some of her social posts, including comments on a trending discussion on Twitter about the song “WAP” by Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion.

In September 2019, a month after enrolling at UTHSC, the school received an anonymous complaint about Diei’s Instagram and Twitter accounts — and that she was now under investigation for that content, according to FIRE.

Diei went before the college’s Professional Conduct Committee (PCC). Although her accounts are operated under an alias, the committee said that she violated university policies because her posts were “crude” and “sexual.” The Professional Conduct Committee never told Diei exactly which school policies she violated nor which posts were in question, according to FIRE.

Kimberly Diei UTHSC Student Courtesy of FIRE

“It’s just a matter of time before they come back for another investigation into my expression on social media,” said Diei, who is seeking her doctorate in pharmacy with an emphasis on nuclear pharmacy. 

Diei is backed by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE).  Diei’s suit argues that colleges cannot arbitrarily police a student’s personal expression outside of school and by doing so, violates her First Amendment rights.

“UT spied on my social media activity — activity that has no bearing on my success as a pharmacist or my education. I can be a successful and professional pharmacist as well as a strong woman that embraces her sexuality. The two are not mutually exclusive,” says Diei. 

Diei was required to write a letter reflecting on her behavior. She agreed, although she had reservations about the policy violating her First Amendment rights.

“It’s so important to me to just have my voice, because people that look like me are often told ‘be quiet, stay in the back,’ and that just does not suit my personality,” Diei said. “I’m not asking for approval. I’m asking for respect.”

August 2020, less than a year later, the committee investigated Diei again. They presented screenshots from her social media accounts. In one tweet, Diei contributed to a trending discussion on Twitter about the song “WAP” by Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion, suggesting lyrics for a possible remix. In another, Diei referenced a popular Beyoncé song.

“The First Amendment protects the right of students to suggest lyrics for a Cardi B remix on Twitter and Instagram. Period,” said FIRE attorney Greg H. Greubel. “Kim is an authentic and successful woman, and FIRE believes that it is important to show the public that students like Kim are capable of being successful professionals while also being free to personally express themselves on social media. Kim is standing up for every American who hopes to have a personal life in addition to their professional life.”

A UTHSC official said Friday the school does not comment on pending litigation.