Selema Mabena Masekela (born August 28, 1971) is an American television host, sports commentator, actor and singer.

Life and career

Masekela was born in Los Angeles, the son of a

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

an mother and South African jazz musician

Hugh Masekela Hugh Ramapolo Masekela (4 April 1939 – 23 January 2018) was a South African trumpeter, flugelhornist, cornetist, singer and composer who was described as "the father of South African jazz". Masekela was known for his jazz compositions and f ...

. Masekela is also the older half-brother of '' Survivor: Cook Islands'' contestant Nathan Gonzalez. He was raised in

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is the southernmost of the boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County and situated at the southernmost point of New York (state), New York. The borough is separated from the ad ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

in the same class with rapper

Method Man Clifford Smith, Jr. (born March 2, 1971), known professionally as Method Man, is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. He is a member of the East Coast hip hop collective Wu-Tang Clan, and is half of the hip hop duo Method Man & R ...

and

Carlsbad, California Carlsbad is a beach city in the North County area of San Diego County, California, United States. The city is north of downtown San Diego and south of downtown Los Angeles. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of ...

, where he attended Carlsbad High School. Masekela is the co-founder of Berkela Motion Pictures with Jason Bergh. When he was a teenager, Masekela's upbringing brought him to Southern California, where he was first exposed to surfing, snowboarding and skateboarding. His career began as an intern at Transworld Publications in 1992, home of ''TW Snow'', ''TW Skateboarding'', and ''TW Surf'' magazines. He served as an NBA sideline reporter for

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

during the 2003–2004 season. Masekela was co-host of ''The Daily 10'', a countdown of the day's "top 10" entertainment stories, on the E! network until it was cancelled on Sept 27, 2010 (last show Oct 1, 2010). He was also host of both the

X Games The X Games are a series of action sports events founded by ESPN Inc. and aired on ESPN networks and ABC. In late 2022, ESPN sold the long-running property to MSP Sports Capital, a private equity firm co-founded by Jahm Najafi and Jeff Mo ...

and Winter X Games on

for 13 years but left in 2012 to work for NBC and NBC Sports Network through a contract with Red Bull Media House. He appears in the "Green" episode of ''Yo Gabba Gabba'' singing the song "Hello World" which aired on Nick Jr. on April 22, 2009. In 2010, he was hired by ESPN to help as a correspondent in its coverage of the

2010 FIFA World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

in South Africa. While working as a correspondent, Masekela was featured, with his father, Hugh, in a series of videos on ESPN. The series, called "Umlando - Through my Father's Eyes", aired in 10 parts during ESPN's coverage of the FIFA World Cup in South Africa. The series focused on Hugh and Selema's travels through South Africa. Hugh brought his son to the places where he grew up. It was Selema's first trip to his father's homeland. A native of New York, Masekela travelled the world in his youth with his father, South African jazz musician

. Masekela's own band, Alekesam, shares the name of his first film which chronicles his relationship with his father and their connection through music, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2012. Alekesam's music has been featured on ''

Entourage An entourage () is an informal group or band of people who are closely associated with a (usually) famous, notorious, or otherwise notable individual. The word can also refer to: Arts and entertainment * L'entourage, French hip hop / rap collecti ...

'' and ''

House of Lies ''House of Lies'' is an American comedy drama television series created by Matthew Carnahan. The show, which premiered on Showtime on January 8, 2012, is based on the 2005 book of the same name by Martin Kihn. It follows a group of manageme ...

'', with their newest single, "All Is Forgiven", featured on the season four premiere of the

Showtime Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...

hit. Masekela has hosted live events, including YouTube's Brandcast in New York and Paris, YouTube Live on Stage from the Kennedy Center and Google's Zeitgeist. As part of NBC's coverage of the

2014 Winter Olympics The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXII Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Sochi 2014 (), were an international winter multi-sport event that was held from 7 to 23 February 2014 in Sochi, Russia. Opening ro ...

in Sochi, Masekela was a features reporter for NBC's nationally syndicated ''Olympic Zone''. He joined the Emmy Award-winning investigative series VICE on HBO as a correspondent and executive producer in 2015. That year, he also appeared in the remake of the cult classic Point Break. From April 2016, Masekela appeared as the host and executive producer of

VICELAND Viceland (stylized in all caps; also known as Vice TV in the United States) is a brand used for television channels owned and programmed by Vice Media. The brand launched on February 29, 2016, with two cable channels in North America. The Vice ...

’s docu-series, ''VICE World of Sports''. The series took viewers all over the world to explore each location's people, politics and culture through sports. The series premiere at the

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Enterprises. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. The festival ...

on April 22. Masekela is also involved in the production company UX Entertainment. Based in Los Angeles, UXE specializes in film, commercials, music videos, and animation work. In December 2022, Masekela announced his relationship with

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

winner

Lupita Nyong'o Lupita Amondi Nyong'o ( , , ; born 1 March 1983) is an actress who has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Daytime Emmy Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award, as well as nominations for two British Academy Film Awards, a ...

. They broke up in October 2023.

Social initiatives

Masekela is involved in several social initiatives, and is the co-founder of Stoked Mentoring, an organization dedicated to mentoring at risk youth through action sports. He also serves on the advisory boards of

The Lunchbox Fund The Lunchbox Fund is a non-profit organization providing a daily meal for orphaned and vulnerable school children in township and rural areas of South Africa. The organization was founded by South African model Topaz Page-Green. The Board of Dir ...

, a non-profit organization which provides a daily meal to students of

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

schools in

Soweto Soweto () is a Township (South Africa), township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for ''South Western T ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, and

The Skatepark Project The Skatepark Project, formerly the Tony Hawk Foundation, is a nonprofit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (p ...

, an organization dedicated to financing and building high-quality, legal skateboarding parks for kids. Masekela is also a strong public supporter of the

Surfrider Foundation The Surfrider Foundation is a U.S. 501(c)(3) non-profit environmental organization that works to protect and preserve the world's oceans, waves and beaches. It focuses on plastic reduction, water quality, beach access, beach and surf spot preser ...

and Life Rolls On.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Masekela, Selema Living people American game show hosts American infotainers American television sports anchors American television reporters and correspondents African-American television personalities American people of Haitian descent NBA broadcasters American people of South African descent 1971 births Place of birth missing (living people) People from Carlsbad, California 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people