BET and it's new program line-up Part 2 - 7.4.2007.2

Continued from BET and it's new program line-up Part 1...

*Note: Ghetto – usually meaning low class, bottom of the barrel. Equivalent to White trash. EXCEPT when used as ‘ghettofabulous’. When used as an oxymoron it is implied to be something desirable.

If you think ANYTHING is ghettofabulous and mean it as a positive, why are you still reading my blog? You obviously will not agree with what I have to say.*

As I was saying, the title is supposed to be enticing or of interest. I find it insulting. But that is just icing, the cake is what the program will be about.

“Utilizing comedy, man-on-the-street interviews, video clips, pictures and music, “Hot Ghetto Mess” aims to shine a spotlight on prevalent images in pop culture and examine what role they play in American lifestyle. “Hot Ghetto Mess” goes where most shows fear to tread.

As host Charlie Murphy guides viewers through shaking booties, thug life, baby-mama drama and pimped-out high schoolers, “Hot Ghetto Mess” will explore what these images really mean to all of us.

Cutting edge, original, relevant and irreverent, “Hot Ghetto Mess” is like the traffic accident you can’t look away from. Viewers will laugh. They'll cry. They'll think. They'll learn, and hopefully they'll recognize they've GOT to do better."

I honestly thought more of Mr. Charlie Murphy.

Now you may think, what’s wrong with this. It’s Candid Camera for Black people. No I think not. The title states its intention. This is Punk’d meets Candid Camera without the class of either.

Shaking booties? Beyond the fact that this seems to be a staple that Viacom insists that African Americans must desire to see, what does that have to do with Black culture in America? How does seeing a booty, which will likely be more exposed than not, promote an intelligent debate about getting young Black men to stay in school?

Thug life? You mean the same lifestyle that got Tupac Shakur and Biggie shot dead. A lifestyle that has killed so many African Americans that every Black person in America today knows at least one person who has died from it, regardless of their age or location.

I won’t even bother trying to delve into the minds of the people who thought that baby-mama drama and pimped-out high schoolers could be irreverent or funny. The fact that they tout this program as an accident is both accurate and tragic.

Continued in Part 3...