Welcome to The Peoples News. When we started in 2008, we took a satirical look at the lives of Black folks. Since then we’ve evolved. Now, the world is our oyster—and our target. We’ll mostly talk politics, but nothing is too small or ridiculous to point out. Look for our lists every Thursday.
The blog derives its name from the incorrect way many Blacks refer to People magazine, as in “Peoples Magazine” or “The Peoples Magazine.” Once, after hearing that mispronunciation, we corrected the speaker.
“It’s People,” we said
“What?” she responded.
“You said Peoples. It’s just People. There’s no ‘s’ at the end.”
Her response was astounding: “But they make more than one, don’t they?”
Speechless.
The Peoples News staff can be reached by email at thepeoplesnewsblog [at] yahoo.com.
Our Contributors:
Bill Matthews (co-founder and Editor in Chief): Bill, a Detroit native, is a freelance humor writer now living in Brooklyn. His work has appeared in numerous publications, including Salon, Emerge, Atlanta Magazine and Latino Voices Today. He was a staff writer with Saturday Night Rewritten and makes regular appearances at the People’s Improv Theater in Manhattan.
Shawna Collier (co-founder, Creative Director and webmaster): A Buffalo native, Shawna’s life ambition is to prove that woman are funny. An advertising account manager by day, she hones her comedic edge on improv stages almost every night. She’s written for The Forward, Vibe, The Source, The Onion, and Psychology Today.
Bob Meadows (creator): Comedy has long been an important part of this Detroit native’s life, from the time his third-grade teacher let him have 15 minutes after lunch to entertain his classmates. He’s written comedy screenplays and novels and wears as a badge of pride that none of them have been published. The Brooklyn resident wants everyone to know that, unlike those of his so-called colleagues on this page, his bio is real.
Xavier Muhammad (writer): Brother X, as he calls himself, wants to make one thing clear: He is not a member of the Nation of Islam. He expresses his love of the Lord through his comedic writing and volunteering with Big Brother/Big Sister. He lives in Bed-Stuy, where he’s working on a screenplay about an infidel who likes to draw pictures of the Prophet Muhammad in between writing hilarious (he hopes) spoofs of the lives of black folk.
Craig Bates (essayist): Half black, half Jewish, Craig feels he was destined to be funny. Voted Class Clown at Encino High School, he first tried his luck in Hollywood before switching to the East Coast. A one-time performer with the improv troupe The Groundlings, Craig now regularly performs at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater and Mike’s House of Laughs.
The Peoples News staff can be reached by email at thepeoplesnewsblog [at] yahoo.com.
Discussion
40 thoughts on “Who We Are”
Leave a comment
thepeoplesnews.wordpress.com 
These are several of the most funniest pieces of work I have come across in a long long time! In college at PSU in 89 a satirical piece was published and distributed anonymously called ‘The Negro Weekly’ ~ calling folks out and doing stories in the same manner. I’m sending this to the two folks I suspect wrote it so they can appreciate your work.
Love it!
Court
Posted by Courtney | March 12, 2008, 2:34 pmI find it so funny to read the responses to the “stories” posted on the website. It’s no wonder our society is so jacked up.. nobody takes the time to read and/or investigate what’s put out there. So many people read this and unknowingly just take it as fact and run with it!
Personally, I love the website and the satirical nature of the stories is hilarious… especially at how much truth is hidden in the words! Keep up the good work, I look forward to reading more.
Posted by Tee | March 13, 2008, 12:04 pmYou call yourself “Black America’s Finest News Source” yet where is the investigative piece on the cosmetics industry’s targeted marketing of richly hued black women who are forced to color their hair blond, red, purple or blue? I can only hope you are as outraged as I am that black males under 30 are only being allowed to drive busted Crown Victorias. The Peoples News needs to take a REAL stand! You media outlets spout all this inflammatory “news” about Kwame Kilpatrick and Michael Vick, yet Eddie Griffin, Cuba Gooding and Vivica Fox are still allowed to make movies? You’re so concerned about national health care, but have you questioned Obama about why beauty supply stores in black neighborhoods still sell Right On Curl Activator?
I’d like to see you people get serious about the state of affairs in Black America, “know what I’m saying”!
Posted by Tracye | March 14, 2008, 8:35 pmLOL! You should write for TPN.
Posted by imara hyman | September 6, 2010, 10:41 amPlease explain to our people that your articles are satirical and should be viewed as such. It is embarrassing sitting in a barbershop listening to a brother read an article (computer printout) aloud from The Peoples News and misinterpret it.
“Donyell” was reading the article about poor black mothers and the names they give their children.
his name sounds a lot like “don’t yell.
Posted by Chuck | March 17, 2008, 11:59 amI agree with the others. Please clarify that this is satire. I just had a girlfriend email me the article about the names. I read it and immediately knew that it wasn’t real. She was really upset….to the point where she thought Sen. Obama should get involved. I love my people but some of us don’t take the time to investigate the source of any of the information floating around on the internet. I, personally, don’t forward anything until I have verified that it’s true.
Posted by Michelle | March 18, 2008, 2:29 pmTell people to read the About Us tab. We do have a tendency to jump the reaction without investigating the source. Wish we could use that tendency to change our condition.
Posted by imara hyman | September 6, 2010, 10:43 amI received an email today with the article “Federal Judge: Enough with the Stupid Names” pasted to it and I couldn’t believe it I had to find out if it was true, so I did my research and found this site. The articles would make good episodes for Aaron McGruder’s Boondocks. I really like this site. I will definitely be back and I am going to tell my husband and his friends, they would love this site.
Posted by Keirre | March 18, 2008, 3:52 pmThis lady showed me the article “Federal Judge: Enough with the Stupid Names”. She swore it was true. I had to do my research but before I researched I did leave a comment. The more I thought about it the more I thought this can’t be real especially when Condeleeza so called got involved and started a petition. I said oh no that would never happen, but her name is busted so that article about her petition had me fooled for a hot second.
Posted by Joani | March 19, 2008, 11:02 amI have to agree with Courtney. It is a shame that people do not investigate emails b/f they send them on. A family member sent the email about blks naming their children unusal names.She had no idea the email was a hoax…I simply went online and in less than 5minutes I found your site….
Posted by Keisha | March 19, 2008, 12:40 pmThis is one of the funniest sites I’ve run across in awhile. Please let it be known that this site is pure satire. LOL. I’ve run across a lot of comments that believes these are actual stories.
I read the “Black mothers banned from naming their children” and thought it was real. The fact that Condi got involved should have tipped me off to the satire, LOL, but I didn’t see it till I got to the end of article.
Posted by kiki4phd | March 21, 2008, 12:31 amThis site is a hoot. Please tell me you are not a group of caucasions poking fun at us.
Posted by Pat Fields | March 23, 2008, 6:26 pmEven if that were so…i’d still have to laugh.
Posted by imara hyman | September 6, 2010, 10:44 amMore! Faster!
Posted by Heather | March 23, 2008, 8:02 pmThis is one of the funniest sites I have ever seen! I too received the article about Black mothers banned from naming their children and after I read it I followed the link to the website. This is great satire. Keep up the great work!
Posted by Brian | March 24, 2008, 8:54 amI am a family counselor. The past week had been a long one. I realized there is no therapy for stupid. Come on Peoples. Let’s me real. This site gave me the biggest laugh I have had in a long time. It says everything that needs to be said without being politicially correct.
What’s is the axiom: If you don’t want Blacks to know anything, put in words. I am not too sure. All one has to do is read all of the satire and you’ll realize it was all in humor and fun. How caould one think it was real?
Please keep up the good work. And also, how is it we can state that the people who need to read these posts don’t have access to a computer, yet they have Myspace, Yourspace, TinishaSpace and every other space.
Posted by Gary | March 24, 2008, 8:27 pmGary’s comment is great- no cure for stupid. If there was, then hospitals nation-wide would work on an out-patient basis from 8 to 5.
It’s hillarious that people are imploring you to make it “more clear” that your work is entirely satirical in nature. As every article ends with just such an annotation, it’s kinda hard for a person to get confused. But then again, people still wrote letters to the Coast Guard imploring them to rescue Gilligan and company, so……
One would have hoped that a truth-ish article about a fictional TV family, the Huxtables, would have clued in the readers that everything here is made up, a la, “The Onion”, “The Daily Show”, and the “New York Times.” But, for some people, being mad about nothing is more fun than be smart about something. More fun for the rest of us, I guess.
Posted by Quincy Ryan | March 25, 2008, 3:21 pmAre the stories fact based? I enjoy reading them but need to know if there is any truth to them.
Thanks!
Posted by Regina Price | March 25, 2008, 3:30 pmOh my Dear Lord! Not 9 minutes after… “are they fact based?”
Yes, Virginia, the stories here are “fact based.”
In America, there are black people and white people (and a whole bunch of other people of different genetic heritage, whose behaviour-stereotypical or not- is, as yet, unworthy of SATIRICAL comment here) that “The People’s News” make fun of.
Some people give their kids “interesting” names.
Some people can act hateful towards some folks should they become academically and/or “mainstrean” successful in America without athletic dominance.
Some people behave as if the belt (an article of clothing intended to keep one’s pants in place, not to be confused with suspenders) as if they cause disease.
Some people use grammar and syntax that by most standards of the English language, lies somewhere between “rough hewn” and “illiterate”.
There was a TV show called “The Cosby Show” (should have been a big clue as to the “truthiness” of this site) that featured two actors whose DNA likely had little in common with the two actors playing the parents.
As far as any real truth, well, only as much as you’re willing to invent for yourself.
Okay. Have a laugh. A Coke and a smile, as they say. Enjoy the satire. Smile. And be thankful that your mom didn’t name you Shi’Thead.
Posted by Quincy Ryan | March 26, 2008, 1:42 amOkay – so we have someone from Michigan, someone from The Onion, someone who loves the Lord, and a Jewish man all writing together… this is funny! I am a white woman from the Detroit area who is living in the southwest desert now. Each article gives me giggles but hope and clarity too. Write on.
Posted by Renee | March 26, 2008, 10:30 amAre you all also responsible for “Stuff White People Like” blog?
This is also a funny must-see. And what’s even funnier is the responses they recieve as well!
I also appreciated coming upon a “sisterhood” blogsite of supposedly intelligent sistas who were “sofisterated” enuff to investigate the issue before having an indept discussion about the judicial system- in addition to the majority of these sistas like “monique” and “quineesha” agreeing with the ficticious ruling. Like Wtf?
Talk about overnight fame, you all are about to experience it! From black conscious sites to white flower power blogs– you got em ALL talkin. While the rest of us are ALL laughing!!
Keep’em talkin!
Keep us Laughin!
Posted by La'N'R'G-cia | March 28, 2008, 1:16 pmIt hurts when I laugh but please don’t stop! Keep ‘im coming.
Posted by Barbara | March 29, 2008, 2:37 pmI am really happy to say I love and appreciate your website every day. I laugh, I cry. I laugh until I cry.
It wasn’t until my grandfather emailed me the article regarding Judge Cabrerra and grandfather wrote his own little diatribe about “how excited he was that these negroes were finally put in check about these dag on dumb names!”
I was so happy my grandfather was excited about something (other than PBS & Antiques Road Show), I just couldn’t take his little joy away and tell him it was all satire… Not my papa.
Posted by Milan From CA | March 29, 2008, 7:46 pmI am trying to get this out to as many people as I can. This site is a mess AND the best thing going. It is the written face of HotGhettoMess.com which is a composite of the worst pictures of black people in the world, ha! (For those who don’t know about it, visit the site and save it in your favorites right beside The Peoples News.) She-the creator-is trying to educate our folks in the same manner with the methods being just as hilarious!
Hmmm, unfortunately the only drawback to this site is that I can’t read it at work because I start guffawing so loudly that it becomes quite apparent that I’m not taking phone orders for an industrial supply company which my job descriptions says I must do from 8 to 5. *sigh* Oh well, I’ll wait ’til I get home…
P.S. The first article that I saw was the one about the names. Of course it came as a forward but like the other wise readers of your site, I read it, blinked, shook my head, laughed the I-can’t-believe-that-they-would-really-do-this laugh, read the fine print, went to the site itself, reread it, then laughed REAL HARD. I promptly responded to all in the email and told them to go get their laugh on and get it together.
Meanwhile…I’m getting my laugh on, too!
Thanks!
Nickey
Posted by Nickey Nak | March 31, 2008, 10:39 amHi-larious! Same as everyone above: I got this today and my friend was like, “Is this serious?” I love The Onion and could tell this name article was a fantastic spoof. Well done and I so love that we have an Onion for Us! 🙂
Peppur
Posted by Peppur | April 2, 2008, 4:04 pmROFLMAO!!!
OMiGod, funny… and I mean the comments on the “articles.”
Keep up the good work!
Posted by blayde | April 6, 2008, 3:32 amNow that I see that this is satire I “get” it.
But the issues that you are dealing with – as in the US Census adding Niggaz to their rolls – is actually no laughing matter.
The reason is it is sad to see how little we know of our history or our rights as a people.
I’ve been on BlackPlanet.com for six months trying to enlighten so called “educated” Negroes about this travesty. Maybe you are less conditioned to go along with whatever is and has been fed to us.
I hope to get a response from you, in the hopes that we can break the bondage that has kept our people under another’s rule, and free ourselves for the first time in 400 years.
The Peoples News responds: Keep doing your thing, Christopher, we’ll keep doing ours, and hopefully one day, those bonds will be fully smashed.
Posted by Christopher Kincey | April 9, 2008, 5:55 pmDo you guys actually post some of the comments too? I can’t believe people actually believe the stuff is real. Its hilarious, don’t get me wrong, but I too had someone forward me the now infamous Names article thinking it was real. People are gullible. Keep it up guys. I’m starting to like this site more than The Onion.
Posted by MixedTapeTerry | April 11, 2008, 10:15 amI laughed my ass off!!! I’m signing up! Whoever read this and thought it was not satire should be slapped. Whoever didn’t read the ‘disclaimer’ at the end of the articles should get some eyewear, and that sista who commented about the curl activator should freelance for you guys!
I can’t wait to read next month’s edition!
Posted by Ann | April 14, 2008, 7:09 pmTo the Writers and the creative forces that be:
I just discovered the ‘newsletter”. My inaugural read was “Enough with the Stupid Names”. FANTASTIC!! I am still laughing. Just dropping a note to say, “Keep it up”. I love humor and creativity. My hope is that you take this as high as you want to go.
Best wishes.
Posted by Sione | April 17, 2008, 6:40 pmI am sure by now you have seen some of my comments. A friend of mine e-mailed me the post “Federal judge, enough with stupid names” and I have been hooked ever since. I know this girl that named all her children after alcoholic beverages…its so sad but true. So you guys are hilarious and through provoking. Keep doing what you are doing… I will keep reading and laughing uncontrollably while working 🙂
Posted by Naemah | May 19, 2008, 2:49 pmI think this is one of the funniest sites I have ever been on. What makes it funnier are the amount of people who DO NOT realise this is satire!! Keep it going, thanks for the giggle and sometimes reality check!
Posted by SASENGU | June 14, 2008, 11:34 amYour stories are great. I want more. Give us more.
After all, “our ability to survive depends on our ability to laugh at ourselves.”
Just a poor white boy.
Zip
Posted by zip | June 21, 2008, 11:01 amHey there,
Great site, this is come truly great satirical news!
Posted by Walter Craig | October 28, 2008, 1:11 amWOW!…EVERY time I read one of these articles, I pass it on with the subject line : JUST jokes (for those who don’t know the definition of satire). People telling The People’s News what they “Should” take a stand on is JUST as comical as the stories found on this site…LMAO.
Reading really, really IS fundamental (if you know WHAT you’re reading…LMAO)!!!!!
Posted by MsMeque | December 22, 2008, 1:31 pmHire me, please!
Many years ago, my friends and I were coming out of the 225th Street station in the Bronx, and there was a gentleman selling Muhammad Speaks. Because I was the only African-American among my associates (Italian, Greek, Hispanic, and Italian/Polish, or a Greasy Idiot, as we called him), the news seller came up to me and spoke jive. Because my Ma forced PBS and British films into me at an early age, I did not understand the man and asked him to repeat it, which he did. My friends looked at me for an explanation and I asked the guy if he spoke English. Needless to say, he was very upset. I told the crew we needed subtitles.
Years later, my friends and I went to see Airplane! and they began screaming at the screen that the Zucker Brothers stole my idea.
Posted by Bertram Gibbs | January 14, 2009, 3:39 pmI just featured The Peoples News on my blog, Beyond Satire. You rock!
Posted by Ellen Spertus | April 5, 2009, 10:38 pmI have to add my voice to all the others that saw the “Names” piece. Fell out of the chair laughing! But… the ‘Ryan Cabrera’ should have let folks in on the joke. Has anyone ever heard of a judge named Ryan Cabrera? Sounds like some kind of ballplayer to me! There is a ball player named Ryan Cabrera, right? Well I had to subscribe right away when I got to this site. Keep the laughs coming!
Posted by Jeffrey Williams | April 17, 2009, 10:22 amYour website just got added to my “favorites” list. I admit your article on black folk’s names was funny, but the responses were freaking hilarious! I bet you wish you wrote them yourselves.
Posted by Bill | October 16, 2010, 1:28 amthis worthless satire sight is dead. glad they woke up to how stupid this was.. there’s satire.. and then there’s this place.. either stealing other peoples satirical news or making up really illogical unintelligent drivel
Posted by chris | July 11, 2015, 11:50 am