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Porsha Williams says she underwent an emergency partial hysterectomy in May 2026 after doctors found 21 uterine fibroids, including one the size of a cantaloupe.
In an exclusive CBS Mornings interview with Gayle King, the Real Housewives of Atlanta star described the speed of the diagnosis, the shock of waking up after surgery, and why she is speaking publicly now.
Porsha Williams Says She Underwent Emergency Partial Hysterectomy Due To Uterine Fibroids
“It all happened so fast. It really didn’t hit me until I woke up in the hospital bed,” Williams said.
The conversation, posted by CBS Mornings on September 18, 2026, is part of a broader day of candor: Williams also published a first-person essay in Glamour about the years of treatments she tried in order to keep her fertility, and the grief of losing that choice at 45.
A condition she first learned about while pregnant
Williams has lived with fibroids since her late 20s. She said she had barely heard of them until she was trying to have a child. A doctor found a fibroid during pregnancy-related exams. By four months, she said, the growth had outgrown the baby. She miscarried.
She later had a myomectomy, then welcomed her daughter, Pilar, in 2019 — a pregnancy she has long called her rainbow baby. Fibroids returned during that pregnancy as well. In her final month she was on bed rest while fibroids degenerated. She later underwent uterine fibroid embolization, a procedure meant to shrink fibroids while leaving the uterus in place, and believed the problem had been solved.
It had not.
Symptoms she blamed on perimenopause
At 45, after a divorce and while raising her daughter, Williams assumed she was finished having children. When heavy bleeding, long cycles, migraines, and fatigue returned, she attributed them to perimenopause.
The turning point was almost accidental. She accompanied a friend to a fertility appointment about egg freezing and asked the doctor to examine her, too.
“She started looking into, you know, doing the exam, and she went silent. And I looked at the screen, and all I could see was, like, black, and then I started seeing some circular lines. And I’m like, ‘Not again. Not again.’ They had come back,” Williams told King.
A fertility specialist was “in shock” at what a vaginal exam showed and sent her immediately for an MRI. Imaging found more than 15 large fibroids, plus endometriosis and a problem with the uterine lining. Surgery followed about two weeks later, in May 2026. In the operating room, doctors found 21 fibroids. The largest was compared to a cantaloupe. The procedure was a partial hysterectomy: her uterus was removed; her ovaries were left in place.
Williams has said she did not have a real choice. In Glamour, she wrote that the surgery saved her life and that her quality of life has improved “100 percent” — migraines, iron problems, bladder pressure, and other symptoms eased. She also wrote that she woke up thinking a part of her was gone, and that she had to grieve the possibility of more biological children.
Why she is talking now
Williams framed the interview as a warning against self-diagnosis.
“We have to stop diagnosing ourselves. There are so many different things when it comes to a woman that you need to get checked, and we need to learn to advocate for ourselves,” she said. “If I saw somebody like me sitting here with you talking about fibroids, it would have clicked to ask for it. I had to ask my doctor to check for fibroids after something was wrong.”
That message lands on well-documented disparities. Uterine fibroids are extremely common. By age 50, more than 80 percent of Black women have ultrasound evidence of fibroids, compared with nearly 70 percent of white women. Black women tend to develop them earlier, with more numerous and larger growths and more severe symptoms. Hysterectomy has long been a frequent treatment, though patterns of who receives uterus-sparing procedures versus removal have shifted over time depending on the study and insurance population.
Williams has been public about miscarriage, infertility, and fibroids before. What she had kept private until this year was how far the disease progressed after she thought she was done treating it — and how quickly “maybe this is just perimenopause” became emergency surgery.
She is still working. Credits mentioned around the interview include The Traitors and Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip. The health story she is telling now is less about a franchise than about a condition many women, especially Black women, live with for years before anyone names it on a screen.
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A magnitude 2.1 earthquake struck the south metro Atlanta area on Thursday morning, September 17, 2026, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The event occurred at 10:05 a.m. local time and was centered in Clayton County near Forest Park and Riverdale, about 10 miles south of downtown Atlanta and roughly 2 kilometers (1.5 miles) south of Forest Park.
Minor 2.1 Earthquake Hits near Forest Park and Riverdale
Official reports place the epicenter close to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Local accounts put it even more precisely near the intersection of Ash Street and Patricia Drive in Forest Park. The quake was very shallow, at a depth of about 0.9 kilometers (0.6 miles).
Earthquakes of this size are typically felt only near the epicenter, if at all. They can produce a brief rumble similar to a heavy truck passing or a short vibration. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. USGS data indicated this was the only earthquake recorded in Georgia in the preceding three weeks.
Georgia sits far from major plate boundaries, so significant quakes are rare. Small events do occur along minor faults, and some recorded tremors in the metro area have later been reclassified as quarry blasts. A local meteorologist noted that this epicenter also sat near a quarry and that similar past events have turned out to be explosions rather than natural earthquakes. Official classification remained an earthquake in initial USGS listings.
Residents who felt shaking can submit reports through the USGS “Did You Feel It?” system, which helps refine maps of how widely such small events are noticed. For most of metro Atlanta, the morning tremor passed unnoticed.
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Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Penix Jr. addressed the media Wednesday and pushed back on comparisons to Patrick Mahomes’ quicker return from an ACL tear, saying the two recoveries are not the same.
“Not all injuries are the same,” Penix said. “He didn’t get the same procedure as me. … I got more done to my knee than he got.”
Falcons’ Michael Penix Jr. Speaks Out About Injury
The comments came as Penix continues working his way back from the ACL reconstruction he underwent last November after a Week 11 injury against the Carolina Panthers. It was the third ACL surgery of his career after two reconstructions on the other knee in college. Because both of his patellar tendons had already been used as grafts, surgeons used a quadriceps tendon graft for the latest repair and also performed a lateral extra-articular tenodesis (LET) procedure for added stability.
Mahomes returned for Kansas City’s season opener roughly nine months after his own ACL tear. Penix, now about 10 months removed from surgery, has practiced but has not yet taken the field in a game. He was inactive for Atlanta’s 20-13 Week 1 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Penix made clear he wants to play. He described himself as “dying to be out there” and said the remaining steps are physical, not mental.
“Mentally, I want to go play, but I am not going to go out there if I’m not where I need to be physically,” he said. “It’s not really a mental thing. … Physically I need to hit a couple more goals. And I’m really close.”
He added that he has the final say on readiness because only he knows how his body feels. He did not rule out playing Sunday in the Falcons’ home opener against the Panthers, saying a Week 2 return was still realistic and that he felt good in Wednesday’s practice, where he split first-team reps with Cooper Rush.
“There’s no number on it. No Week 3, Week 4. Whenever my knee feels good, I’m going to be out there,” Penix said.
The Falcons’ quarterback picture remains unsettled. Tua Tagovailoa missed Wednesday’s practice with an oblique issue, and Rush has been dealing with back spasms after a rough Week 1 start. Head coach Kevin Stefanski has not named a starter for Sunday.
Penix’s explanation underscored a point often lost in timeline comparisons: not every ACL reconstruction is identical. After two previous surgeries, he no longer had the same graft options available, and the additional lateral work made the latest procedure more extensive than a first-time reconstruction. He noted that after his first ACL surgery in 2018 he returned in six months — a reminder that this recovery is different by design.
For now, Penix says he is close. Whether “close” means Sunday against Carolina will be decided by how his knee responds over the next few days.
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SOUTH FULTON, Ga. — The ATL Airport District and the City of South Fulton are marking National Hispanic Heritage Month with the return of the Azúcar Music Festival, a free family event that organizers say is meant to honor Hispanic and Latino communities through music, food and culture.
The festival is scheduled for Saturday, September 26, at Wolf Creek Amphitheater, 3025 Merk Road SW. Doors open at 3 p.m., and the program begins at 4:30 p.m. Admission is free.
Organizers describe Azúcar as more than a concert series. The event is framed as a celebration of rhythm, culture and unity, inspired by the legacies of salsa icon Celia Cruz, known as “The Queen of Salsa,” and Tito Puente, “The Mambo King.” Live performances will pay tribute to that Afro-Caribbean tradition, with salsa, mambo and related styles expected to fill the amphitheater.
Hispanic-owned businesses and vendors will line the grounds with authentic dishes and cultural goods for sale, giving attendees a chance to eat, shop and linger before and during the show. Officials are encouraging families to come early, take in the vendor area and stay for the performances.
Wolf Creek Amphitheater, South Fulton’s outdoor venue on a wooded site near the airport corridor, has hosted previous editions of the festival as the city’s signature Hispanic Heritage Month gathering. This year’s date aligns with the national observance, which runs from September 15 to October 15.
Residents and visitors are invited to bring the whole family for live music, food and a community celebration. No tickets are required.
There are so many Atlanta events popping off every week it’s hard to keep up with it all. That’s why I suggest you subscribe to AtlantaFi.com to get all the freshest gatherings, Atlanta happenings, parties and more delivered to your inbox.
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Months after his marriage to Kandi Burruss was officially dissolved, Todd Tucker is no longer pretending the split has been easy.
Appearing on V103’s Big Tigger Morning Show, the producer and former Real Housewives of Atlanta fixture dropped the polished public-facing version of post-divorce life and admitted he is still struggling. “I’m f*ed up,” he said. “You mask it with hanging out, drinking, and all of the st, you know. But I’m working through it.”
Todd Tucker Speaks Out on Divorce From Kandi Burruss
He added that the outward image does not match the private reality. “It looks good,” Tucker said of how the split can appear from the outside. “You gotta save face.” Then he spelled out what changed: “I went from being at home with my family every day. The dog, the kids, the nanny, the wife, and now I’m by myself, pretty much.”
“I don’t think people understand divorce,” he continued. “I lost my person. I still lost my person, and I lost my family as I knew it.” Seeing Ace and Blaze on an every-other-week schedule after years of a full house, he said, has been one of the hardest adjustments.
Tucker and Burruss met while filming Season 4 of RHOA in 2011, got engaged in 2013, and married in April 2014. They share son Ace and daughter Blaze. Burruss is also mom to Riley from a previous relationship; Tucker has daughter Kaela from a previous relationship. Burruss filed for divorce in November 2025 after 11 years of marriage, saying a specific incident that July convinced her she could not continue. The case included a contested custody fight before the pair reached a settlement in March 2026. They now share joint legal and physical custody. Burruss paid Tucker a lump-sum property equalization of roughly $426,000; neither side receives ongoing child or spousal support.
Asked why the marriage ended, Tucker declined to assign a single cause. “I think there was a lot that happened. We could say, ‘Well, this is why,’ but it was a journey,” he said. “It’s not really about, you know, her part of it is her business.” He described his upcoming project ’Til Divorce Do Us Part as a way to process the emotions rather than a tell-all.
The most striking moment in the interview involved Riley. Tucker said they spoke at a party Kaela hosted at his New Jersey home. Riley told him, “Go get my mom back.” “It was one of those moments where you can’t even get the words out,” he recalled.
Riley has separately described the year as one of adaptation. “A divorce happens between two people, but it affects more than just those two people,” she has said. “It’s tough at times, it’s easy at times, it’s confusing. I’m still learning.” She has also said Tucker still supports her, even as the family dynamic is “not the same.”
Burruss has been consistent that reconciliation is not on the table. Promoting her one-woman show I Do. I Did. I’m Done., she previously shut down jokes that she might not be finished and said she is keeping the Burruss-Tucker hyphenate for the children. The former couple have still shown up together for the kids, including a Bahamas vacation months after the divorce was finalized.
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Tucker’s comments land in a familiar place for public divorces: two people who once built a life together, now navigating separate houses, shared children, and very different public narratives about what the marriage was and why it ended. He is not claiming the story is simple. He is saying the loss is real, the nights are quieter than they used to be, and the work of getting through it is still underway.
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Tyler Perry is moving to Puerto Rico in early 2027. The announcement, comes from an exclusive interview he gave TODAY special correspondent Justin Sylvester on September 14, 2026.
In the clip, Perry confirms the relocation after being asked whether he ever plans to “chill out.” “Yes, I am officially — you’re the first to hear this — I am officially moving to Puerto Rico,” he said. “No, this is real. Yep, moving to Puerto Rico at the top of the year, and I’m pulling back a whole lot.”
The timing is personal. Perry turned 57 on September 13. He framed the decision around age, fatherhood, and a desire to step back from the relentless pace that built his entertainment empire.
Why Tyler Perry’s Moving To Puerto Rico
“Getting older,” Perry said when asked what prompted the change. “It’s time to slow down a little bit, enjoy more time with my son, and just take it all in.”
His son, Aman, is 11. Perry shares him with former partner Gelila Bekele, with whom he was in a relationship from 2009 to 2020. He has spoken previously about keeping Aman out of the spotlight so the boy can have a more normal childhood. In the interview, Perry described fatherhood as healing after his own difficult upbringing: “Having this opportunity and this moment to be a father and give him all the love that I never had has been really, really healing.”36
That theme also appears in the 2023 documentary Maxine’s Baby: The Tyler Perry Story, co-directed by Bekele. In one scene, a younger Aman asks why his father works so hard. Perry answers that he wants them to have a good life, travel, and help other people.
Perry also used the interview to close the door on marriage. Reflecting on the Why Did I Get Married? films (the third installment, Why Did I Get Married Again?, dropped on Netflix days earlier), he said that at this stage of life, “that’s not a good idea for me. So no, won’t be any marriage for me.”
Atlanta Built the Empire
Perry has been synonymous with Atlanta for years. He owns Tyler Perry Studios on a 330-acre former military base and has additional large holdings in Georgia. The city is where he went from living in his car while staging plays to becoming one of the most commercially successful Black filmmakers and studio owners in the industry. A move does not mean those operations disappear overnight; “pulling back a whole lot” suggests a reduced personal workload rather than shutting everything down.
Puerto Rico offers a different setting: Caribbean climate, U.S. territory status, and a growing film and creative-industries presence of its own.qP1i7 UfaWg
The Tax Conversation Happening in the Replies
Perry did not mention taxes. Some people on X immediately did. One reply to the original clip noted Puerto Rico’s low tax rates. The island’s Act 60 incentives have long drawn high earners and export-service businesses (including film and production work) with a 4% corporate rate on qualifying income and favorable treatment of certain investment income for bona fide residents. Rules have been tightening, and new individual-investor applications filed in 2027 face a 4% rate instead of the previous 0% exemption on certain passive income.39
Whether those incentives factor into Perry’s planning is unknown. He presented the move as a lifestyle and family decision after decades of high output.
How People Are Reacting
The news spread quickly, drawing a mix of responses. Some people welcomed a successful Black creator choosing to prioritize time with his child. Others treated the destination as the real story and speculated about taxes or Perry’s personal life.
Perry has stayed productive even while talking about slowing down. He continues to produce a high volume of films and series, many for Netflix and other streamers, and he remains active in philanthropy. The Puerto Rico chapter, if it proceeds as announced, will test how much of that machine can run with its founder spending more time off the mainland and with his son.
The move is slated for the start of 2027. Until then, the Atlanta studios and the projects already in motion are expected to keep rolling.
Perry has earned some rest for his hard work.
Are you interested in becoming an actorin Atlanta? You’re in the right place!
With more than 900 movie and TV projects just in the last few years, the film industry has generated more than $9 billion for the state of Georgia.
There are so many movies filmed in Atlanta these days that it’s hard to keep up with it all. That’s why I suggest you subscribe to AtlantaFi.com to get all the freshest movie casting calls, celeb sightings and Atlanta happenings delivered to your inbox.
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Atlanta Public Schools issued a public statement Monday after reports that members of the Maynard Jackson High School marching band were subjected to racist language following a football game at Jefferson High School.
The district said it is “deeply concerned” by the accounts. No students were physically harmed, according to APS, but officials said they take the allegations seriously and are working with Jefferson High School administrators to investigate. Additional counseling is being offered at Maynard Jackson beginning Monday, September 14, and students can also use the district’s Talk It Out platform.
The statement followed a Friday night, September 11, 2026, non-region game in Jefferson, Georgia. Jefferson’s Dragons defeated the visiting Jaguars 30-0. Maynard Jackson students, including the football team and marching band, had traveled roughly 60 miles northeast of Atlanta for the contest.
Allegations of racial slurs, Confederate flags being displayed
APS has confirmed receiving reports that racist language was directed at band members as they left the stadium and loaded buses. Jefferson City Schools said it is aware of concerns circulating on social media, is reviewing them, and has contacted Maynard Jackson officials. Neither district has announced disciplinary action.
Social media posts and emails to local media have alleged a wider pattern of incidents during the game: racial slurs, Confederate flags being displayed or waved, football players being spit on after tackles, and food being spit on band members near the concession stand. Some accounts claimed Maynard Jackson coaches advised students not to use restrooms or walk the stadium alone. FOX 5 Atlanta, which reported the story, said it has not independently confirmed those additional claims.
A Tale of 2 Schools
Maynard H. Jackson High School is an Atlanta Public Schools campus in the Grant Park area of southeast Atlanta. It is named for Maynard Holbrook Jackson Jr., Atlanta’s first Black mayor, who served from 1974 to 1982 and again from 1990 to 1994. The school enrolls about 1,550 students.
Recent demographic data show a student body that is roughly 70 percent Black, 18 percent White, and 8–9 percent Hispanic, with about half of students classified as economically disadvantaged.
Jefferson High School is the sole high school in the Jefferson City School District in Jackson County. The town of Jefferson sits in a more rural and suburban setting. The school enrolls roughly 1,300 students and is about 75 percent White, 10 percent Black, and 9–11 percent Hispanic, with a lower share of students classified as economically disadvantaged than Maynard Jackson.
Jefferson has a strong football tradition and has made deep playoff runs in recent years. The two programs have met before, including in the 2023 Class 5A playoffs, when Jefferson won 48-14.
The pairing is typical of Georgia high school football: a large urban district traveling to a smaller city for a non-conference game. Friday night football remains a major social event in many Georgia communities, drawing large crowds of students, families, and local residents.
Troubling Developments Feed into Southern Tropes
Incidents involving racial slurs, taunting, or symbols at high school sporting events surface periodically in Georgia and across the South. They often involve visiting teams from majority-Black urban schools and host crowds from majority-White smaller towns or suburbs. Schools and athletic associations generally treat such behavior as a violation of sportsmanship codes, but investigations can be complicated when the conduct occurs among spectators rather than players or when evidence is limited to social media videos and secondhand reports.
In this case both districts have said they are gathering information. APS emphasized support for affected students and families. Jefferson City Schools described the reports as concerns it takes seriously. As of Monday evening, the story remained in the early investigation stage, with no public identification of specific individuals or a completed set of findings.
High school athletics and marching band programs are among the most visible extracurricular activities in Georgia. When they become the setting for racial hostility, the impact extends beyond a single game: students who traveled as representatives of their school return home describing an experience that felt unsafe or degrading. Districts now face the dual task of determining what occurred and deciding what, if any, consequences or policy changes follow.
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Tyler Perry has given fans a clearer look at why Janet Jackson did not return as Dr. Patricia Agnew in Why Did I Get Married Again?
Perry recently spoke at a promotional event for the Netflix film, which began streaming days ago. He addresses the question many viewers asked after the movie arrived: why the psychologist who anchored the first two films is missing from the third. The clip quickly gained traction, drawing more than a million views.
Why Janet Jackson Wasn’t in ‘Why Did I Get Married Again’
Tyler Perry wrote, directed, and starred in the original Why Did I Get Married? (2007) and its sequel Why Did I Get Married Too? (2010). Both films follow a group of college friends who gather for annual retreats to examine their marriages. Janet Jackson played Dr. Patricia Agnew, a composed psychologist whose professional poise contrasted with the private pain she carried after the death of her young son. Her husband Gavin, played by Malik Yoba, died in a car accident at the end of the second film, leaving her story on an unresolved note.
When Perry posted the script cover for the third film in 2025 and tagged the original ensemble—including Jackson—fans expected a full reunion. The finished movie, which premiered on Netflix on September 9, 2026, instead brought back most of the core cast (Tasha Smith, Michael Jai White, Jill Scott, Sharon Leal, Richard T. Jones, Lamman Rucker, and Perry himself) plus Taraji P. Henson in a new role. Jackson and Yoba were absent.
Perry’s Explanation
Perry has been consistent in interviews: the reason was scheduling, not conflict. “Janet, at the time, she was doing a residency in Vegas, so we couldn’t work out the time,” he told Culture Creators. “But who knows what will happen in the future.” Jackson’s Las Vegas residency ran from December 2024 through September 2025, overlapping with production.
The viral clip circulating on X appears to be Perry repeating and slightly expanding on that point at a premiere or press event, standing in front of the film’s poster. He frames the absence as a practical mismatch rather than a creative or personal falling-out and leaves the door open for a later installment.
Inside the movie itself, the characters offer a story-world explanation. Angela and Marcus tell the group that Patricia is on a lecture tour and therefore cannot attend their daughter’s wedding in Italy. They also note that she may still be grieving Gavin. No new actress replaces her; the film simply proceeds without the character on screen.
Patricia’s Place in the Franchise
Fans had speculated for months after the official cast list dropped without Jackson’s name. Some assumed drama; others pointed to her touring schedule. Perry’s on-camera comments cut through the rumors by treating the situation as ordinary industry logistics. Michael Jai White had earlier said Patricia is “not gone gone” and that a fourth film could bring her back if schedules lined up. Perry’s remarks align with that possibility.
The timing of the clip—posted just days after the Netflix release—also helped it spread. Viewers who finished the movie and immediately wondered about Patricia found a concise, firsthand answer from the filmmaker himself.
The third film continues the series’ focus on long-term relationships, now viewed through the lens of adult children getting married and the parents confronting the examples they have set.
Whether Patricia reappears in a potential fourth chapter remains unconfirmed, but Perry has made it clear the character was not written out permanently. For now, the explanation that circulated most widely is the one captured in that short video: Janet Jackson was in Vegas, the calendar did not work, and the story moved forward without her.
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Louisiana rapper Boosie Badazz (Torence Hatch Jr.) says he paid $600,000 to two far-right lobbyists who promised to help secure a presidential pardon from Donald Trump. The pardon never arrived. He is now fighting to recover half the money and has discussed the episode with Lesley Stahl for a 60 Minutes segment.
Boosie is from Baton Rouge, Louisiana—but now lives in Georgia— says that 60 Minutes cut most of his hour-long interview about a $600,000 pardon pitch, a White House meeting with Alice Johnson, and a civil claim that he was scammed by people who used President Trump’s name.
On September 14, 2026, the Baton Rouge rapper posted that he sat for a full hour with 60 Minutes about his lawsuit but “only a few things got put out.” He used the post to fill in what he says the broadcast left out: a meeting with the White House “pardon czar,” a claim that operatives told his team the president had signed a pardon, and his demand for far more than a partial refund.
In 2023 he was arrested in San Diego on federal charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm after police found guns in a vehicle during a video shoot.
Boosie 60 minutes interview: I Was Scammed
He pleaded guilty in August 2025. In January 2026 a judge sentenced him to time served, three years of supervised release, 300 hours of community service, and a fine. Facing that outcome and travel restrictions that limited his work, he sought clemency.
The $600,000 pitch
In September 2025, Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman of JM Burkman & Associates approached his lawyers. They presented themselves as having proximity to Trump and his orbit, claimed prior success obtaining pardons, and offered to craft a petition narrative. Boosie paid $600,000 upfront. A contract reviewed by multiple outlets included a clause that half the fee ($300,000) would be refundable if a full pardon was not secured by a deadline. The document contained typos, including a 2025 date that had already passed when it was signed.
The lobbyists later told Boosie’s attorney around New Year’s that Trump had signed the pardon and the White House just needed to announce it. Boosie has described celebrating in his house. No announcement came. An assistant U.S. attorney found no record of a signed pardon. A White House official told reporters the clemency team had never dealt with Wohl or Burkman and had not seen an application in Boosie’s name. Federal lobbying records did not support the pair’s claim of having secured multiple prior pardons.
The dispute
Boosie has called the arrangement a scam and a “Ponzi scheme,” saying the operatives “preyed on me” while he was under legal pressure. He is pursuing the $300,000 refund through arbitration or related legal action. Wohl and Burkman dispute that any refund provision was agreed to, say they performed substantial work, and have cited financial problems stemming from earlier fines. Both men have prior convictions related to a 2020 robocall scheme.
This is a contract fight between a private client and private lobbyists who marketed access. The White House has denied involvement with the pair. Boosie has still said he would welcome a pardon.
Enter Boosie 60 Minutes
A 60 Minutes segment titled “The Pardon Economy,” reported in part by CBS investigative journalists and featuring correspondent Lesley Stahl, includes an interview with Boosie about the $600,000 arrangement.
Promotional material describes it as a look at lobbyists offering a chance at clemency at a cost and with no guarantees. The episode was slated to air Sunday evening. Stahl’s interview is part of broader reporting on a market that has grown around high-volume presidential clemency.
Boosie has also recounted the episode in other interviews, including with Rickey Smiley, describing the moment he believed the pardon was signed and the subsequent realization that it was not. The case has drawn attention to the informal, high-fee industry that has developed around pardon requests. Outcomes remain uncertain: the refund fight continues, and no pardon has been issued.
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After months off the air, Atlanta radio host Darian “Big Tigger” Morgan is preparing to return to The Big Tigger Morning Show on V-103. The move follows the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office declining to prosecute him on aggravated battery and third-degree cruelty to children charges tied to a May domestic dispute with his estranged wife.
Morgan’s attorney, Gabe Banks, said his client is “excited to get back to work.” The host has been off mornings since June, first after his arrest and then after he voluntarily stepped away in early July to focus on family and legal matters.
Big Tigger Set To Return to V-103 After a Summer of Arrest, Allegations, and Dropped Charges
The decision closes the criminal chapter of a case that began as a private argument, spilled onto social media, produced a mugshot, and then ballooned into competing lawsuits, a protective order, and a second arrest — this time of his wife.
A familiar Atlanta voice
Morgan, 53, is one of Atlanta’s most recognizable media figures. A Bronx native, he became nationally known as host of BET’s Rap City and later built a long local career. He joined V-103 in 2013 as an afternoon host, moved to mornings in 2020, and also works as an in-game host and public-address announcer for the Atlanta Hawks. This spring the station refreshed the morning show, adding Francesca Amiker as co-host and bringing Frank Ski back for weekends and fill-in work.
That new co-host would become central to the fight that followed.
What the warrants say happened on May 9
According to the arrest affidavit and warrant language reported by multiple Atlanta outlets, the incident occurred the night of May 9 at the couple’s Sandy Springs home. Alicia Brown told investigators she and Morgan argued in their bedroom over text messages he had received from a female co-worker.
The argument moved. Brown began recording on her phone and, according to the warrant, received a small bruise to her lower left lip. The two traded insults. Morgan allegedly called her “psycho.” She replied, “I will show you psycho.” A physical struggle followed, including a fight over a computer. Brown said Morgan grabbed her arms after she tried to unplug it and then shoved her toward an exit. The force, she said, sent her stumbling headfirst into an office door.
Police said she suffered a deep laceration above her left eye that required numerous stitches and left visible disfigurement a month later.
A Ring camera in the office partially captured the confrontation. The couple’s 13-year-old son was home and heard the fight; that presence formed the basis of the misdemeanor third-degree cruelty to children charge. Some reports said Morgan took Brown to urgent care afterward.
Brown did not immediately report the incident. When she later spoke to Sandy Springs police on June 9, she said she had been afraid of what Morgan might do and feared that, because he is a well-known celebrity, “nobody would believe me.”
The video that made it public
Before the arrest, Brown posted a video on her verified Instagram account. She appeared crying and showed what looked like stitches above and below her left eyebrow. The caption, later deleted but widely recirculated by accounts such as The Shade Room, read: “Someone ask my husband why my face happened.” She also accused Morgan of an affair with Amiker, who had only recently joined the morning show.
Morgan addressed the rumors on air June 13 after a four-day absence. He called the circulating allegations and accusations false, said he and Amiker had “never been anything more than friends and respected colleagues,” and asked for privacy. Amiker also denied an affair.
Arrest, bond, and a public denial
Sandy Springs police arrested Morgan on the morning of June 20. He was booked into Fulton County Jail on aggravated battery (a felony) and third-degree cruelty to children (a misdemeanor).
He posted a combined $10,000 surety bond the same day — $9,000 on the battery charge and $1,000 on the child-cruelty charge — and was released. The Fulton County Sheriff’s Office later released his booking photo.
Morgan issued a written statement denying every allegation. “For the past 30+ years, I have built my life around relationships and community,” he wrote. Because it was an active legal matter, he said he was limited in what he could say, but added: “I have complete confidence in the facts and in the legal process. I will continue to cooperate fully and trust that the truth will come to light.”
Stepping away from the mic
He remained off the air after the arrest. On July 5 he announced he was stepping away from the morning show. “Through all of this, what hurts the most is being away from my son. Nothing is more important to me than being a great father,” he wrote. “So I’ve decided to step away from the mic for a while to focus on my family and give my legal team the room they need.” Frank Ski filled in.
The personal conflict kept expanding. Amiker filed a federal defamation lawsuit against Brown on June 30, alleging Brown made or directed posts falsely claiming an affair and suggesting that relationship helped Amiker get the V-103 job. Brown obtained a temporary protective order. On July 6, Brown herself was arrested in Hart County after deputies found an active Maryland felony kidnapping warrant tied to a custody case; children traveling with her were recovered.
The warrant was later recalled and she was not prosecuted on that charge. She has since sued Fulton County Sheriff Patrick Labat and the sheriff’s office, alleging the warrant used against her was erroneous and raising questions about communications between Morgan and law enforcement. Those civil claims have not been proven in court.
Prosecutors decline the case
On Sept. 4, Simone N. Hylton, an executive district attorney in Fulton County’s domestic violence division, signed a document stating that the facts and evidence had been reviewed and that the office would not prosecute.
The criminal case is over.
A declination is not the same as a finding of innocence in a trial; it means prosecutors decided they would not take the case forward. Morgan has described the public nature of that decision as unusual and told followers to look up the DA’s reasons. In a later Instagram Live he said he is not ready to date: “My trust level in new people is at an all-time low.”
Civil litigation between the parties may continue. The radio station has not issued a detailed public statement about the exact date of his return, but his attorney’s comment and the original WSB-TV report that the show is going back on air after the arrest point to an imminent comeback.
For a host whose brand has long been built on being a local fixture — mornings, Hawks games, hip-hop culture — the last four months turned that visibility into a liability. The criminal charges are gone.
The questions that circulated on social media, the Ring footage, and the competing narratives from a fractured marriage are not. Morgan has said from the beginning that the allegations are false and that he wanted the process to run its course. Prosecutors have now closed their file. The microphone is waiting.
