This week on trending topics: African-American gymnast Simone Biles makes history, Rihanna signs a massive Samsung deal, and a violent video of a high school student being arrested goes viral.
Simone Biles makes history at World Championship
Simone Biles competed last week at the World Gymnastics Championship in Glasgow, Scotland and won big.
Biles, 18, made history by being the first woman to win three world all-around titles in a row.
Biles expressed her gratitude to reporters after her big win:
“Everyone wanted the three-peat and I wanted it, so tonight I felt the pressure and it wasn’t my best meet,” said Biles. “What surprises me is that it was a bad meet for me and to still come out on top with the largest margin of victory was really crazy because I could have done so much better.”
Olympic gold medalist, Gabby Douglas, followed closely behind her teammate coming in second place nabbing the silver medal.
In the 2012 Olympics, Douglas made history by becoming the first African-American to receive the all-around title.
Black girls rock!
Rihanna signs $25 million Samsung deal
It looks like Rihanna will be releasing her new album, “Anti”, in a non-traditional way.
The New York Post revealed that the singer signed a $25 million sponsorship deal with Samsung sponsoring her upcoming album and tour.
According to the New York Post, Samsung will use Rihanna to help promote its line of Galaxy phones, and in return, release her new album and exclusive content to all Samsung users via its Milk Music radio app.
Although a release date has yet to be revealed, it is speculated that Rihanna will be releasing “Anti” within the next few weeks.
A violent arrest at a South Carolina high school causes controversy
Last week, a video of a police officer violently yanking a female student from her desk and arresting her hit the net and quickly went viral.
The incident took place at Spring Valley High School in Columbia, S.C. In the video, Officer Ben Fields, the high school resource officer, is seen yanking the student from her seat, causing the girl and the desk to flip over, and dragging her several feet across the room and arresting her.
According to school officials, Fields was called into the classroom after the student refused to leave after being caught on her cellphone. When she refused to get up after being told to do so by the officer, he proceeded to throw her out of her desk and arrest her.
The video sparked national outrage making headlines on major new outlets. Many people were upset at how the officer handled the situation. The video gained millions of views on Facebook and the hashtag, #AssaultAtSpringValleyHigh, trended at number one on Twitter for two days in a row.
Some of the tweets included:
“Stop excusing brutality with “she deserved it.” She didn’t. Nobody does. She deserves respect, not violence. #AssaultAtSpringValleyHigh”
“And again our young black girls are literally tossed around like rag dolls. #AssaultAtSpringValleyHigh”
“Just saw the #AssaultAtSpringValleyHigh. Deplorable & disturbing on many levels. A firing and an apology is not enough here.”
As a result of the incident, Fields was placed on administrative leave on last Monday and fired on Wednesday.
