Mr. Hudlin didn’t comment to me, though I have described the efforts I have made to contact BET’s legal and public relations departments. [For that matter it seems that Mr. Sumner Redstone and Mr. Phillippe Dauman are without comment on the matter as well.] Rather he was besieged at the Television Critics Association Press Tour on Sunday.
I think most in the blogosphere are familiar at this point with the ongoing commentary on the proposed program Hot Ghetto Mess. To sum up for those less familiar, BET has a new show that features
“…shaking booties, thug life, baby-mama drama and pimped-out high schoolers…”
They also use a logo which features a blackface character. The public, and the blogosphere has reacted with outrage, and already State Farms and Home Depot have backed away from advertising on this program. Yet, the response to date from those at BET and Viacom (the company that owns BET) has either been no comment or surprise. Mr. Hudlin states,
“It's unfortunate that people are making an erroneous presumption based on absolutely zero information.”
Nice corporate response, except it’s not exactly true. While there is a presumption being made (as BET has not aired the show yet, nor have they allowed anyone outside the company – and many within the company – to review the program yet) it is based on information they have provided. The question not asked, or not answered to my knowledge, is how a video clip showing a Black woman shaking her bootie – hopefully at a club – would help anyone improve their lives? How would doing a segment featuring a “pimped-out high schooler[s]’ will do anything to prevent more of that, in an age of YouTube arranged fighting (not by YouTube, but the youth having fights just to present them on YouTube to gain attention).
Mr. Hudlin furthers his seemingly fallacious logic with this comment,
“The intent of the show is no different than what Bill Cosby is doing as he's going across the country and lecturing as he talks about the problems of the (black) community that we need to address.”
I must take this to task. Mr. Cosby hold a Masters in Education, at least 5 Honorary Doctorates, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, served in the Navy and has been constant over decades in his efforts to promote the best for African American children and the community. Mr. Cosby has not suddenly started to highlight his belief that the Black culture needs to be improved, he has just recently changed the manner and attention he receives on it.
Continued in Part 2...
5 comments:
Great post! It should be noted, however, that Bill Cosby has also has a doctorate in education.
First let me thank you for your comment.
I had thought he had a doctorate, but I could not find if it was honorary or an actual degree. Which college did that come from?
Thank you for correcting my oversite.
Great post. We are watching closely. Maybe we can drive Viacom stock down and force it to sell BET to somebody like Bill Cosby.
Thank you Mr. Griffin.
I hope that efforts to force Viacom to behave responsibly and listen to the African American community on this issue will come to fruition.
I noticed that several have picked up on the fact that the comments from Mr. Hudlin, besides being vacuous, make it glaringly obvious that BET is afraid to present the show to critics or anyone else. It seems to verify our fears of what this show will present.
Hopefully this will wake up the advertisers and let them know they don't want to be a part of this program.
I wish that Mr. Cosby, PhD., could run BET. The programming would seriously improve and BET would gain a lot of publicity. Viacom should consider it.
I noted that Hudlin and Donaldson were doing some damage control over the past weekend. Yet, they insist on rolling on into what will become a train wreck.
Keep the pressure up.
peace, Villager
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