The NAACP Image Awards aired Friday and stayed true to its purpose of not only awarding recent contributions to black culture, but also honoring those who have made a lasting impact. While the presenting of the Vanguard Award to George Lucas (presumably for his work on Red Tails) was somewhat surprising, the tribute to Whitney Houston was the highlight of the evening. Unsurprisingly, Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer picked up awards for their roles in The Help, which also won Best Motion Picture.

Speculation has begun that Janet Jackson will be a new host on “The X Factor” after she dodged a question about the show on Anderson Cooper’s daytime talk show. Hopefully this rumor is true. The show is in need of a judge who is actually a talented performer.

Whitney Houston was laid to rest on Saturday in her home state of New Jersey. At the private funeral service at New Hope Baptist Church, a number of singers, actors and political leaders were present to pay their respects. The televised service featured touching reflections from Kevin Costner, Tyler Perry and Clive Davis, as well as selections from Stevie Wonder, R. Kelly and Alicia Keys. Houston’s ex-husband, Bobby Brown, left the service early after he and his entourage were asked to change seats multiple times and he was prevented from speaking to his daughter, Bobbi Kristina.

It seems like Chris Brown and Rihanna are determined to keep rumors swirling about their relationship. They collaborated on a remix of Rihanna’s extremely sexual song “Birthday Cake” and Chris Brown’s “Turn Up the Music.” Brown even went so far as to tweet “Happy Birthday” to Rihanna. I understand forgiveness and second chances, but this sounds like a reboot of their abusive and volatile relationship, not to mention it sends the wrong message to young girls.

–Iman Childs