July 11, 2007 @ 11:12 am
Advertisers Pull from BET's "Hot Ghetto Mess"
Just days after BET's "July Jump-Off" summer season of programming began, the channel yet again found itself in trouble from the public for its programming. Certain advertisers - including State Farm and Home Depot, according to the Hollywood Reporter - have pulled their backing from the Charlie Murphy-hosted "Hot Ghetto Mess," saying the show perpetuates racial stereotypes - echoing criticisms first made by bloggers and the Black Women's Roundtable podcast.
"Hot Ghetto Mess" is based on the website of the same name, which shows photos and video of mostly black people in generally unflattering, overblown "ghetto-messy" situations and settings. While the photos are often disparaging, they are posted under the pretext of motivating black communities, all under the tagline "We GOT to do better." An editor's letter by site creator Jam Donaldson, a 24-year-old black lawyer, reads, "Back in the day, everyone lived together, the doctors and teachers and plumbers and lawyers and housewives and whinos all lived in the same community - so you had standard bearers - role models, people for the kids to look up to. But now, with our cities economically segregated, there are areas of concentrated poverty where kids have no idea what opportunity is - not because there are none, because there is no one to show them what it is. The black middle class has moved to the suburbs and too often don’t have time to tutor or mentor an underprivileged child because by the time they get off work and brave traffic back to their McMansion, where has the day gone. Now we all bear part of the blame, the middle class has moved up and out never looking back to help our less fortunate brothers and sisters, and some of our less fortunate brothers and sisters conduct their lives like idiots." The BET show, which debuts July 25, combines similar clips with social commentary and "tough love" meant to "inspire its viewers to improve themselves and their communities," according to a release from the channel.
According to a statement from State Farm, "We have reviewed the content of this program, which we just heard about, and we will not be airing any State Farm advertising during this program on BET."
The advertisers were, in part, responding to a boycott called by What About Our Daughters?, a blog dedicated to "organized action to combat the destructive portrayals of African American women in popular culture." Under a post titled "Hot Ghetto Mess = BET's Hottentot Venus 2007", she writes, "Don’t let them divide us by saying that because most of their subjects will be poor or uneducated African Americans, those Black folks DESERVE to be laughed at. I don’t have a problem with criticism. I throw my own share of jabs on this blog, but you can’t run around throwing images on international television and saying to hell with the consequences."
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Reginald Hudlin, BET President, retorted, "Is my goal to discuss these issues in a format and context that makes people who don't watch the channel comfortable or do it in a way that engages the 18- to 34-year-old viewer and makes them really think about these things?"
Article tags: Advertisers, BET, Charlie Murphy, Hot Ghetto Mess, Protest
del.icio.us
digg
Furl
Reddit
YahooMyWeb
Page printed from:
http://www.vibe.com/news/news_headlines/2007/07/bet_hot_ghetto_mess/
Celeb of the Day
Will Smith
Government Name: Willard Christopher Smith Jr.
Hometown: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
More Celebrities
|
|
|
|
Comments
1.
Chuck says:
I don't know what the problem is. No one told anyone to act a certain way, they just caught MY people being MY people. What you see is what filters down to the schools to make a whole new generation of ghetto messes. We need to see it, acknowledge it, and change it. Not showing the show just makes people comfortable, out of sight out of mind, but it's still there and we still have to deal with OUR people everyday. They need to see themselves and be ashamed every now and then and know that WE CAN DO BETTER!
November 4, 2007 at 8:57 am
2.
david l devaughn says:
we need to help other black people that is trying to do something with their life if you have made it why don,t you help me make it in the music business i called myself DLDMUSIC PRODUCTIONS AND I AM A SONGWRITER AND A POET AND HAVE BEEN FOR 34 YEARS SO WHY DON,T SOME OF MY PEOPLE SEE WHAT I GOT BECAUSE I HAVE GOT SOME HIT SONG,S AND POEM,S IF THE RIGHT ONE GET THEM AND PUT THEM OUT IN THIS WORLD TODAY AGAIN WHY DON,T YOU HELP POOR PEOPLE MAKE SOME BIG MONEY AND YOU WILL MAKE MORE MONEY I JUST WANT TO SAY TO ALL MY PEOPLE THAT GOD HAVE BLESS IN THE MUSIC BUSINESS KEEP ON DOING WHAT YOU ARE DOING BECAUSE YOU ALL JUST DO IT SO WELL FROM DLD MUSIC PRODUCTION,S AND MAY GOD KEEP ON BLESSING YOU AND YOUR,S
October 13, 2007 at 4:48 pm
3.
Beverly says:
The website Hot Ghetto Mess.com and the program on BET is to me somewhat necessary for the awakening of the eyes of a large portion of our people. As a black woman who resides inthe midwest, Chicago to be exact, I see this behavior everyday and it is time someone brings a "mirror" to reflect to the behavior of some of us. Thank you Charlie Murphy and BET. This program and website will make some of us go "hummm" and take a second look before going out in public, this includes the sagging pants and the thongs of which I am so getting tired of seeing everyday! Enough already!
Keep up the informative work!
A Diva in Chicago
August 26, 2007 at 7:18 am
4.
sathish says:
good
August 9, 2007 at 1:31 am
5.
sherawn says:
I think the website is funny and basically for entertainment purposes only. I am a black female and I am not offended by this at all. I know this doen not represent who I am, so it doesn't bother me.
July 23, 2007 at 3:15 pm
6.
Fred says:
Hey Reginald do a show on Hot Jews Mess, Hot Italian Mob mess, Hot rich white girls that give up there babies mess, hey Reg do a show about your mama and how she was like a door knob everyone had a turn, come on show her old ass getting broke off. How does that feel..
July 17, 2007 at 8:31 pm
7.
Clarence says:
I think America is taking this policitcal correctness a little too far. I know people like Al Sharpton are somewhere nearby when a subject like this is on focus. But what is the world coming to when even BET, Black Entertainment Television can't even run shows about ghetto behavior of some Black people, when think they are completly entitled to do so.
July 16, 2007 at 1:28 pm
8.
Kaycie says:
Greats like Dave Chapelle and Chris Rock give us tough love all of the time. Why is it different now? We most definitely "have" to do better.
July 15, 2007 at 7:53 pm
9.
Daphine says:
Thank God!
I seen a clip of what was to be aired on this show and was so upset. I can't even put it into words, BET should be ashamed of themselves. That's why I stop watching them in the first place, I will continue not to watch them and give TV One my tv time.
July 14, 2007 at 1:44 am
10.
Marvis Davis says:
I think the majority of those new shows perpetuate the stereotypes that our youth are now comfortable with. our children dont know their history so showing the foolishness will surely eradicate whatever they think they know.
July 13, 2007 at 5:01 pm
11.
FRONTIN08 says:
IM GLAD THEY PULLED THE SHOW FROM THE AIR. I THINK ITS GONNA BE ANOTHER SHOW THAT HAS NO MEANING TO IT DEGRADES OUR PEOPLE AND ON TOP OF THAT ITS NOT GONNA BE FUNNY. JUST LIKE WHATS HIS NAME... OH DAVE CHAPELLE!!!!
July 13, 2007 at 3:43 pm
12.
BARBARA says:
THAT FLAVOR OR WHATEVER HIS NAME IS SHOW AND NEW YORK ARE OFFENSIVE AND DEGRADING YET MANY, MANY BLACK FOLKS WATCH THAT AND DONT COMPLAIN! WHY!!!
July 13, 2007 at 1:07 pm
13.
Cecelia Beasley says:
I must say that I am torn, as much as I hate to admit that. I totally the concur with the young attorney that back in the day our people were living together in the same neighborhood. While it was not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, so much blatant racism, it turns my stomach to think of it, to mention the rage I still feel - it was a very sense of a "village", if you will. I honestly feel that the creators of this show have good intentions and I can only hope that they dug down deep in their consciousness when this "baby" was born and thought of the ramifications it can cause. I've said my peace, so there! I love my people so much even with all the flaws.
July 12, 2007 at 6:22 pm
14.
Gina says:
The only thing we have asked is that corporations who want me to utilize their goods and services refrain from taking the money I give to them and using it to subsidize something that I find offensive.
If you want to watch Hot Ghetto Mess, knock yourself out. If BET is so concerned about "the community" then let them run the show without commercial interruption as a public service, or they can put it on one of their pay per view channels.
Watch what you want, but I don't have to subsidize it.
July 12, 2007 at 5:36 pm
15.
rmontgomery says:
the African American community is the only tribe that airs there laundry out on national TV & radio for all. Un-like other groups that confront issues within their respective communities themselves.
We need to get a better handle on dealing with matters of concern to family and learn to create mechnanism capable of building bridges suitable for change within our homes and community at large.
It call thinking outside the box!
July 12, 2007 at 9:30 am
16.
J. Matthew Cobb says:
I am so glad to know this show has been pulled. The stereotypes of our people are everywhere...in our music, in media and even in our social climate within our own communities...but it's time someone stands up to make some noise concerning such craziness. We can do better...and the best thing to do is come up with programming and shows with content. And if the ratings are not where it needs to be...so be it. Trash needs to stay where it is. What happened to the word "intergrity"?
July 12, 2007 at 1:55 am
17.
Demetrius Laster says:
I'm truly disappointed in BET for airing this program. I understand that these types of shows portray the reality in urban areas, and essentially that's what people enjoy watching. But my concern is are these types of shows pushing our African American legacy in the wrong direction. We've come too far to turn back now. This site, although it tries at a positive effect, doesn't quite get the point across. Hotghettomess.com aims to, through shock value, correct some of the behavior Blacks exhibit in their daily lives, and to a certain extent that's great. But more so what the site is doing is embarrassing African Americans by publically showcasing our faults and naive behavior in a comedic way. I think there are better ways of helping out our community than by trivializing the problems we face.
July 11, 2007 at 8:18 pm
18.
ramonte means says:
ok ok this is enough,as a young black man with 2 kids i am tired of having poeple play hood watch over the things i choose to watch on tv or listen to on the radio. NOW yes it is wrong to call all black women women for that matter b**ches and hoe's .With that being said if we go out side a just takea trip through my city which is l.a you will see and hear plenty of those kind of women, some of which happen to be black.Yes it's wrong to sterotype black men as lazy no good bad credit wed smoke'n wana be rappers and pimps but while im writing this i just saw the lamest dude to walk the earth looking like a fake T.I.Hey uppity black poeple we have poeple in our social group that are b**ches hoes and lazy,triffle'n muthaf**kas ,that is not gonna change. what needs to change is the way we push and promote the positive role models and vessels now im not going to get into whats what casue we grown and dont need to be spoon fed.Its funny to me that when a "positive " show or song gets made you love it for a second but if it doesnt do the numbers you boot it .So either give them shows money to buy themselves a spot or get a better team to write push projects cause this is too much.
July 11, 2007 at 7:17 pm