Last Night Earvin “Magic” Johnson launched a new 24-hour cable network called ASPiRe. The network will target African-American audiences and aims to shine a light on the positive contributions African-Americans have made to American culture. It will be broadly distributed by Comcast across the country.

ASPiRE will be available in approximately seven million homes and in 16 of the top 25 African-American markets including New York City, Atlanta, Chicago and Washington, DC. Joining the network as hosts of its primetime programming blocks are award-winning actor Laurence Fishburne (Boyz ‘n the Hood, The Matrix, School Daze, “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”), who will host “Groundbreaking Movies”; actor and comedian Jonathan Slocumb (Meet the Browns, “The Steve Harvey Show”), host of “Groundbreaking Comedies”; Actor Omari Hardwick (Sparkle, I Will Follow), host of ASPiRE’s first original series, “ABFF Independent”; and Grammy Award®-winning musician Esperanza Spalding, host of “Groundbreaking Music.”

To celebrate with Magic and Comcast we stopped by the private star-studded kickoff party last night at legendary Cipriani Dolci in New York City to ask partygoers what they aspired and aspire to be. See what Magic and folks like Carmelo Anthony, Russell Simmons, Al Roker, Lynn Whitfield and more had to say:

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