Photos: Wireimage/Getty

Earlier I wrote about the existence of two A-lists in Hollywood – a mythical urban A-list and the one that truly counts. I told you that Sean Combs is no longer on the one that counts. Gossip purveyor Myra Panache backs me up on that.

She lists the true black A-listers in Hollywood on her site. But she left off Whitney Houston, and I disagree that Mariah Carey is A-list.

In my opinion, a true A-lister is not one who shows up at the top of everyone’s party list. Party planners tend to invite A, B, and C-listers to their events. A true A-lister is a celebrity whose photos sell for much more than the norm.

For example, if I were to snap a photo of Denzel Washington and Gabrielle Union leaving the Intercontinental hotel at 3 in the morning, I could probably command a few thou or more for that shot. But if I snapped a similar pic of Gabrielle Union and Ludacris, I would be lucky to get a few hundred for that shot. That’s because Ludacris is not an A-lister but Denzel is.

I hope I’ve cleared that up for you. Check out what Myra Panache had to say on the subject after the break.

    Blogger Sandra Rose recently did an article on black A-list stars (urban & mainstream), we would like to elaborate on this. There are only six A-list “mainstream” black celebrities, pictured above: Halle Berry, Denzel Washington, Beyonce and her husband, Jay-Z, Mariah Carey and Will Smith.

    Tabloids pay big bucks for any information on these six, only! P.Diddy is not considered A-list anymore, that’s why white publications didn’t offer big money for photos of his newborn twins, compared to the bundle Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony received for their twin photos.

    Years ago, when actor Robert DeNiro was at the top of his game, living with black model-Tookie Smith, she gave birth to twins, white media ignored the event and no money offers were made.

    Rapper 50 Cent, Janet Jackson and P. Diddy may be superstars in the black community but they are now on the B-list in mainstream Hollywood. Evidence that 50’s stock dwindled was when a tape of him allegedly snorting cocaine surfaced on the internet. This is considered the ultimate “money shot” among paparazzi and journalists but there was no interest generated and no photo agency was called in to license the tape. If this would have been a white superstar, the person who took that video would have been financially set for life, receiving residual income of $10,000-$20,000 monthly, over time, it would have dwindled down to $5,000-$7,000 a month for life.

    Janet Jackson has never recovered from the Super Bowl scandal, her last three albums were flops. Her current album has yet to reach platinum.

    The media and fans are sick of P. Diddy hosting parties all over the world (at almost 40 years old) or getting into scuffles at events and being banned (when he isn’t making babies with different women). Diddy had a good A-list run, considering he can’t rap or act and rumors of Diddy using ghostwriters-still persist. (Source)