REPORT REQUESTS "NEW BLACK FRIEND"

Portland based artist DAMALI AYO, author of How to Rent a Negro and its website rent-a-negro.com, has STEPHEN COLBERT of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report in her gun sight. On the news satire show, Colbert recently put in a request for a "new black friend" and suggested to start "blackfriendster.com." Ayo feels he's biting her ideas. "Let's make Colbert aware!," she writes in her weekly newsletter alert. "The best way to do this is to inundate Comedy Central with emails about the book. You can see Colbert's "Black Friend" schtick here. Amazingly, Julian Bond appears on the show and does a fantastic job, especially towards the end when they get to the photos. I think he is far and away more brilliant in this sketch than Colbert himself, who I admit, is pretty entertaining. Proof of my qualifications to be a "professional black friend" can be seen on YouTube."

KATRINA VICTIM GETS COVER SHOT

Native New Orleans poet/arts advocate SARAN BYNUM, who was displaced by Hurricane Katrina, has started a new life in NYC that was kicked off by her being chosen as the subject of TLC's Cover Shot. Her episode airs October 13 @ 10 p.m., with rebroadcasts throughout the weekend.....