BET and it's new program line-up Part 3 - 7.4.2007.3

Continued from BET and it's new program line-up Part 2...

There are 2 types of humor, they type that makes fun of situations and generalities and the type that attacks people. Of all the comedians I am aware of only Mr. Don Rickles comes to mind as someone who could repeatedly attack individuals and make crowds laugh, including the people attacked. If Mr. Charlie Murphy has half the talent of his famous brother I still do not believe he could pull that off consistently, and there is questions as to whether he is half as good.

As I said before I have to wonder if there is a single Black executive that is involved with BET over at Viacom. I cannot imagine the individual that would find the proposed garbage this show portends to be, laughing because of the humor. I can imagine many executives laughing because of what they have gotten away with, and how much money it generates for them.

A great example of this is the logo for the show. I will give Mr. Murphy the benefit of doubt that he had no idea what image would be used for this program. How ANYONE could find the image of a ‘Mammie blackface’ as a positive, regardless of other imagery used with it, is hard to imagine. Given the context that BET has stated the show will have, the image is even more disturbing.

For those that are unfamiliar with the image, it goes back to early film cartoons, like the original Mickey Mouse clips, that portray African Americans and the performance of Mr. Al Jolson. To give Mr. Jolson his credit, at that time (the early 20th century) blackface was not considered an insult. Then again neither was calling an African American the N-word. (And there is no positive context in that meaning)

The blackface image today only evokes the anger of the hardships and insults, and lynching that routinely occurred to African Americans for horrifying acts such as looking at a white person, walking on the wrong side of the street, living in the wrong part of town, or taking pride in themselves. There are reported cases where Black Americans were killed just because they were successful, or were there – which was the cause of the destruction of Rosewood. I find no humor in blackface, I wonder who could?

But there is no other option I suppose for African Americans to watch a channel that focuses on the culture and interests specific to the community. Unless you count TV ONE.

But BET is the one plastering the airwaves and getting the attention in the media. They are out there sponsoring town hall meetings to address the language and message of gangsta rap. And they should know what it is since they have roughly 20% of their line-up focused on presenting that daily. Because this is what African Americans want. Or so their executives, in collaboration with the executives that run music entertainment companies and movie studios say we want.

I know McDonald’s agrees. You can tell a McD’s commercial targeting minorities, especially Blacks in the first 3 seconds. The music, clothing, words and backgrounds are so different that a blind man could tell the difference. Maybe they will be one of the sponsors of HOT GHETTO MESS.

Continued in Part 4...