My friend sent me an article/blog posting about BET’s new show, “Hot Ghetto Mess” and the backlash it is receiving.  The debate is whether or not this show promotes negative racial stereotypes.  According to the article, two advertisers have already pulled out from the July 25th premiere due to boycotting threats.  Good job Home Depot and State Farm Insurance!  What were they thinking in the first place?  Anyways…

Well let’s take one step back.  We are talking about a show appearing on BET.  That’s issue number one.  BET has been making a negative nose dive for years, have we forgotten “Uncut”, “College Hill”, “Cita’s World”, etc.?  The programming on BET is horrible and in no ways promotes or shows black culture in a positive light, in my opinion.  So, sadly, I am not shocked that people are outraged by one of their new programming selections.

Next, I took a look at the site that this show is based upon (www.hotghettomess.com).  Was I appalled by some of the images, yup, but sadly not surprised.  I have to admit that I chuckled at the sight of some.  Not really laughing at these folks, rather laughing at trying to figure out their thought process that led them to a particular look.  I can see both sides of the debate.  The creator of the site, Jam Donaldson claims to not use this site as a way of poking fun at people or promoting negative stereotypes, rather she is trying to draw our attention to our community and to make us question the our standards—good job.  I can totally see where she is going.  Sometimes it takes something this shocking to create and foster dialogue.  So negative or positive, people are talking about these stereotypes rather than simply ignoring them.  I will that I am at issue with the statement made by BET in the article.  They view the show as entertaining and I guess no one would put a show on the air if it didn’t have some sort of entertainment quality.  But as I said before, I have a problem with BET anyways.

Thoughts?