Anthony is pictured In the photo with filmmaker/historian Rel Dowdell at The Mountain Film Festival in 2013.
—Courtesy William Stevenson
Florence “Flo” Anthony, whose career as a groundbreaking entertainment columnist inspired generations of journalists, died on Thursday after a battle with cancer.
By Denise Clay-Murray
Florence “Flo” Anthony, the pioneering entertainment journalist who provided the Black community with the inside scoop on celebrities and sports figures while blazing a trail for the next generation, died on Thursday. She was 74.
News of her death was confirmed to the SUN via email.
Anthony became a historical figure in journalism thanks to the barriers she broke as a sports and entertainment columnist. After spending some time as a sports publicist, working with luminaries including Muhammad Ali, Larry Holmes and Matthew Saad Muhammad, Anthony got a job at the New York Post as an agate clerk, becoming the first Black woman to work in newspaper’s sports department.
But once the newspaper saw that Anthony was much better at getting the scoop on celebrities than she was with box scores, she was moved to the entertainment section and became the first Black woman to work on the New York Post’s infamous Page Six gossip column, breaking stories on celebrities, including Mike Tyson and Robin Givens. She later went on to become the first Black woman to write for a supermarket tabloid when her column, “Eye On The Stars” began appearing in the National Examiner.
She was also a frequent presence on such shows as “Inside Edition,” “The Insider” and “Entertainment Tonight,” and was a co-host on E! Entertainment television’s “The Gossip Show.” She also went on to edit Black Noir and Black Elegance magazines, and syndicated radio segments under her company, the Dottie Media Group.
While she mostly worked in New York — her column last appeared in New York’s Amsterdam News — Anthony also had a presence in Philadelphia. Her “Gossip to Go With Flo” segment was a daily occurrence on WDAS FM, and she was also the SUN’s first entertainment columnist with her syndicated column, “Go with the Flo” appearing in the newspaper weekly.
Anthony was also an author, writing murder mysteries — “Deadly Stuff Players” and its sequel, “One Last Deadly Play” — that drew on her knowledge of Hollywood and those who populate it. She also co-authored the book, “Michael “Jinx” Spinks: An Authorized Biography,” which was published in March.
Flo Anthony was born on March 4, 1952 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She was a graduate of Howard University. She is survived by her husband, Michael Spinks, who she married in January.
Information on services is pending.
