By Stacy Brown NNPA Senior National Correspondent Bill Cosby said his widely criticized admonition that young Black men should “pull their pants up” was less about fashion...

The systemic bias that has historically failed Black people in the USA is no less evident in Canada. That reality is laid bare in the...

Claude Cummings has been unanimously nominated by the NNPA Executive Committee to receive the NNPA 2025 National Leadership Award for outstanding leadership and achievement...

People in the News

Sunday, September 14, 2025

People in the News

Sunday, September 14, 2025

January 27 Birthday: BANG BANG BANG!!! It’s John Witherspoon birthday

John Witherspoon (January 27, 1942) is an American comedian and actor who has had roles in several films and television shows including the Friday's movie franchise. Photo :facebook/BootsyCollins
John Witherspoon (January 27, 1942) is an American comedian and actor who has had roles in several films and television shows including the Friday’s movie franchise.
Photo :facebook/BootsyCollins

John Witherspoon was born on January 27, 1942 in Detroit, Michigan, as John Weatherspoon.  Widely known for the Friday movie series, he is the only actor, other than Ice Cube, to appear in all three “Friday movies.  Some of John’s other credited films includes Hollywood Shuffle (1987) and Boomerang (1992).  He has also made appearances on television shows such as The Wayans Bros. (1995–99), The Tracy Morgan Show (2003), Barnaby Jones(1973), The Boondocks (2005), and “Black Jesus” (2014).   John wrote and starred in the film From the Old School where he takes the role as an elderly working man who tries to prevent a neighborhood convenience store from being developed into a strip club.

Before becoming an actor John was a fashion model in Detroit.  His brother of William Weatherspoon, a songwriter and producer for Motown Records (“What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted”).  He is also  the cousin of famous singer songwriter/music producer Lamont Dozie and producer/engineer Reggie Dozier.  He has been married to Angela Robinson-Witherspoon since 1988. They have two children.