The Magical Negro, or magical black friend, is a supporting stock character in American cinema, who, by use of special insight or powers, helps the white protagonist.

African-American filmmaker Spike Lee popularized the term, deriding the archetype of the "super-duper magical Negro" in 2001 while discussing films with students at Washington State University and at Yale University. The word "Negro", now considered by many as archaic and sometimes offensive, is used intentionally to suggest that the archetype is a racial throwback, an update of the "Sambo" and "Noble savage" stereotypes.

The Magical Negro is typically but not always "in some way outwardly or inwardly disabled, either by discrimination, disability or social constraint," often a janitor or prisoner. He has no past; he simply appears one day to help the white protagonist. He usually has some sort of magical power, "rather vaguely defined but not the sort of thing one typically encounters." He is patient and wise, often dispensing various words of wisdom, and is "closer to the earth."

Paul Shanklin (born 1962 in Memphis, Tennessee) is an American conservative political satirist, impressionist, comedian, and conservative speaker. Shanklin writes and voices the characters for, the songs and satirical comedy segments used by conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh.

Shanklin first came to media attention after doing his vocal impersonation of then-President of the United States Bill Clinton for Memphis radio show host "The Big Kahuna", Bill Young. Shanklin was brought to the attention of Limbaugh by announcer Johnny Donovan, and was first featured on Limbaugh's show in May 1993.

One of Shanklin's most controversial works was his 2007 parody "Barack the Magic Negro", in which he impersonates Al Sharpton lamenting that white voters will perceive Barack Obama as a "magic negro" and therefore favor Obama for president over him. This was based on a column titled "Obama The Magic Negro" by black columnist David Ehrenstein in the LA Times. The inclusion of this song on a CD by Republican National Committee chairman candidate Chip Saltsman in 2008 caused consternation among some, that resulted in him withdrawing his candidacy.

Barack Hussein Obama II (ⁱ/bəˈrɑːk huːˈseɪn oʊˈbɑːmə/; born August 4, 1961) is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. In January 2005, Obama was sworn in as a U.S. Senator in the state of Illinois. He would hold this office until November 2008, when he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.

Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was the president of the Harvard Law Review. He was a community organizer in Chicago before earning his law degree. He worked as a civil rights attorney in Chicago and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. He served three terms representing the 13th District in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004.

Following an unsuccessful bid against the Democratic incumbent for a seat in the United States House of Representatives in 2000, Obama ran for the United States Senate in 2004. Several events brought him to national attention during the campaign, including his victory in the March 2004 Illinois Democratic primary for the Senate election and his keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in July 2004. He won election to the U.S. Senate in Illinois in November 2004. His presidential campaign began in February 2007, and after a close campaign in the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries against Hillary Rodham Clinton, he won his party's nomination. In the 2008 presidential election, he defeated Republican nominee John McCain, and was inaugurated as president on January 20, 2009. Nine months later, Obama was named the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. In April 2011, he announced that he would be running for re-election in 2012.

Tariq Nasheed (b.1974) (sometimes nicknamed Tariq Elite, King Flex, K-Flex, ) is a controversial author, documentary film producer, media personality, Internet radio host, relationship expert, and social commentator, focusing on the psychology of dating and African-American social history.

Nasheed's books on dating and finding women include The Mack Within, The Elite Way, and The Art of Mackin, which has been called "something of a classic." Nasheed also wrote an advice book for female readers, Play or Be Played: What Every Female Should Know About Men, Dating, and Relationships.

His television appearances include The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,Late Night with Conan O'Brien, MTV's Made, and the Current TV series Joe Gets.

He has been quoted on a wide array of issues, including race relations,intimate relationships and infidelity, and U.S. politics and campaign finance. Nasheed has also been a regular speaker on college campuses on the topics of sex and relationships.

Nasheed produced the 2011 documentary film Hidden Colors, on the history of African and aboriginal peoples. The film had a limited theatrical release around the United States before being made available on DVD.

Rush Hudson Limbaugh III ( /ˈlɪmbɔː/; born January 12, 1951) is an American radio talk show host and political commentator. Since he was 16 Limbaugh has worked a series of disc jockey jobs. His talk show began in 1984 at Sacramento radio station KFBK, featuring his ongoing format of political commentary and listener calls. In 1988 Limbaugh began broadcasting his show nationally from radio station WABC in New York, New York. He currently lives in West Palm Beach, Florida, from where he broadcasts the The Rush Limbaugh Show, the highest-rated talk-radio program in the United States.

In the 1990s Limbaugh's books The Way Things Ought to Be (1992) and See, I Told You So (1993) made The New York Times Best Seller list. Limbaugh frequently criticizes, in his books and on his show, what he regards as liberal policies and politicians, as well as what he perceives as a pervasive liberal bias in major U.S. media.

Rush Hudson Limbaugh III was born in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, the son of Mildred Carolyn "Millie" (née Armstrong) and Rush Hudson Limbaugh, Jr. His father was a lawyer and a U.S. fighter pilot who served in the China Burma India Theater of World War II. His mother was a native of Searcy, Arkansas. The name "Rush" was originally chosen for his grandfather to honor the maiden name of family member Edna Rush.