Black Hollywood has witnessed the weddings of veteran R&B star Keyshia Cole and veteran comedian Niecy Nash in the past few weeks. And although the two stars have received an arguably decent amount of coverage from media outlets, the buzz and general cheer surrounding their weddings seems to be rather lukewarm. In this time of royal weddings and reality show love tales, are their weddings really important to us?
Perhaps, it’s the notice surrounding the weddings? Admittedly, Cole’s wedding to Cleveland Cavalier’s guard Daniel “Boobie” Gibson on May 22 was a private ceremony that was only announced by the newlyweds after the nuptials via Twitter.
However, Nash’s May 28, Malibu, Calif., wedding to electrical engineer Jay Tucker was announced several months ago with a TLC reality show documenting the wedding. The ceremony itself boasted a cadre of black stars including The View’s Sherri Shepherd, The Game actress Wendy Raquel Robinson, Holly Robinson Peete, and actress Sheryl Lee Ralph, who served as the matron of honor.
Maybe it’s their star power that caused the lukewarm reaction? Cole admitted that in recent years her popularity has waned and her
last album Calling All Hearts failed to even go gold.
Nash, who rose to fame with gigs on Comedy Central’s “Reno 911,” Style Network’s “Clean House” and ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars,” has been noticeably absent from TV screens this year since ending her run on all three shows.
And when compared to the world frenzy surrounding the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, or the high-profile chatter surrounding Kim Kardashian’s engagement (and 20.5 carat engagement ring) to New Jersey Nets star Kris Humphries or even the oft-scrutinized engagement of Cincinnati Bengal Chad Ochocinco to VH1’s “Basketball Wives” star Evelyn Lozado, Nash and Cole’s wedding buzz just doesn’t add up.
Perhaps, in this day and age of Hollywood love, realistic romance simply isn’t as interesting as tabloid love affairs, scandalous reality show romances and, understandably, royal nuptials. Either way, neither Nash’s nor Cole’s wedding seemed to bring to public mind the inspiring fairy tale love story that many seem to cherish. Maybe we’ll be more interested if the two end up embroiled in bitter divorces?
–nicholas robinson
