Mo'Nique and Ed Gordon Bring Positive Vibe to Black Entertainment Television (BET)

This blog has been very critical of Black Entertainment Television (BET) over the past few years. I rarely watch the cable television network. However, I must admit that BET is making some good moves lately.

First, it is clear that BET made a smart move last year when they gave Mo'Nique her own talk show. Mo'Nique is one of the best-loved female comedians of the new millennium and a role model for plus-sized women everywhere. Her comic talent carried her from the comedy club stage to television, film and beyond. Mo’Nique received surprisingly glowing reviews for her award-worthy work in the drama, “Precious” (2009), a family drama based on the novel by Sapphire. Mo'Nique gave a shout-out to BET during her Oscar acceptance speech.

BET continued to move in a positive direction when they re-hired Award-winning broadcast journalist, Ed Gordon. Gordon, a well seasoned anchor, reporter, interviewer, radio host and Emmy Award-winning broadcaster will join the network for a variety of news programs and specials. Gordon’s return bolsters the news division’s roaster which includes correspondents Jeff Johnson, Andre Showell and April Woodard.

“As BET celebrates its 30th anniversary, it brings me great joy to welcome back one of America’s most prominent news personalities,” said chairman and CEO, Debra Lee. “Ed has always remained part of the BET family and I am sure viewers will share in our excitement to have him back.”

The BET news department recently won two NAACP Images Awards in the categories of Outstanding News / Information Series and Outstanding Variety Series or Special for “The Inauguration of Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States” and “The Michael Jackson Memorial: Celebrating the Life of Michael Jackson.”

I think that more nubians will give BET another chance if they continue to bring on positive talent such as Mo'Nique and Ed Gordan. That's my thought ... what say u?

This Week in Blackness: BET Doesn't Care About Black People

I'm very happy to report that Elon James White is back in the mix with his unique video commentary, This Week in Blackness. In this episode Elon discusses the BET Awards and the connection between BET and Black folks.





I consider myself lucky that I didn't watch the BET Awards Show last week. It appears to have been a waste of time. On the off chance that you missed it as well, here are the 7 best and worst moments from the show.

I also didn't have a clue about the identity of Frankie and Neffie until today. I guess it is clear that I'm no longer in the BETF demographic.

Anyhow, I hope you enjoy the flow from Elon James White. I hope he gets back on a regular weekly schedule with his videos again this season!

Corporate America Tells BET, 'Enough is Enough'

Procter & Gamble (P&G) spends more money on advertising than any other company in the world. General Motors (GM) is one of the best known companies in the world. It must be a bad day if both P&G and GM decide to pull their endorsement from your television network. Black Entertainment Television (BET) had a bad day as both P&G and GM finally said 'enough is enough'. The two large corporations pulled ads from BET’s Rap City and 106 & Park programs.

Rap City features music videos and artist interviews and 106 & Park is a top 10 music video countdown. Both shows attract a large under-18 audience. A recent study completed by the Parent Television Council highlighted high levels of sex, violence and profanity in both programs and reported, among other things, that Rap City featured on average 31.6 instances of sex, 25.3 instances of explicit language and 11.7 instances of violence per hour.

Drumbeats can be heard all over the afrosphere in approval of decision by P&G and GM executives. Enough truly is enough! What say u?

Enough Is Enough Protest of BET Honors Award

Drumbeats from WAOD pointed us to the video clip of the Enough Is Enough protest held outside the BET Honors Award show in Washington DC. We shared information on the protest earlier this month. Take a moment to hear directly from Pastor Delmon Coates on the reason for the protest.

There is power in Coates' words at the end of the video. If the denigrating images about Jews, gays or lesbians were shown on public television it would be called a a hate crime ... however, when denigrating images about Blacks are shown on public television, it is called Entertainment. What's up with that?

Enough Is Enough Campaign Protests BET Honor Awards

Jan 12th Update - The show goes on. Here is an article that summarizes the BET Honors Award show. The protest did take place, however, the show was still taped.

Jan 10th Update - Click here to read about WAOD call for action against the corporate sponsors that fund BET.com and their foolishness that exploits our Black women.

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Since mid-September 2007, the Enough is Enough Campaign has demonstrated each Saturday outside the Washington, DC residence of Debra Lee and the New York City home of Viacom CEO, Philippe Dauman.

Drumbeats from WAOD informed us that hundreds have agreed to protest peacefully yet persuasively outside the Warner Theater where the BET Honors award show is scheduled to be taped on Saturday, January 12, 2008 @ 7:00 p.m. EDT. The protest rally starts at 6:00 p.m. with assemblies on the corners of 13th and E Street and 13th and F Street N.W.

Enough is Enough Campaign supporters regard the BET Honors as a red herring – an attempt to mask the offensive musical content that is being aired on BET Networks by spotlighting the achievements of prominent African Americans. In a December 17, 2007 Washington Post article entitled, "Positively Honored", BET Networks CEO, Debra Lee, said, "People are clamoring all the time for positive images."

In point of fact, what the Enough Is Enough Campaign and others have been clamoring for is for BET to address the negative music video images and messages that degrade women and glorify violence and criminal activity. In a September 12, 2007 letter to Rev. Coates, Ms. Lee stated that BET does not air programming or music videos that endorse or condone illegal drugs, gratuitous violence, or contain graphic or excessive sexual activity.

Despite these written guidelines, BET continues to air music video content that does not conform to these guidelines on video shows geared towards youth and teens. Enough is Enough Campaign Organizer, Rev. Delman L. Coates, said that BET can best honor Black History Month by removing those videos that do not conform to BET’s own programming guidelines.

Citizens, students, Villagers and activists are encouraged to come out and let their voices be heard at the Saturday, January 12th protest outside the Warner Theater. For more information you can reach by Enough Is Enough folks via their website or email.

Villager Joins NPR Blogger Roundtable

La Shawn Barber of La Shawn Barber's Corner (BBR #9), Debra Dickerson of Mother Jones (BBR #4), and I joined Farai Chideya on her NPR News & Notes show on Wednesday, January 9. Our 15-minute discussion focused on the New Hampshire primary results, Cynthia McKinney's presidential bid, and another protest planned against BET.

This was the second time that I've been on this Blogger Roundtable. However, other AfroSpear bloggers are appearing more frequently in the mainstream media.

Click here to listen to the roundtable discussion. Villagers, any thoughts on the three topics we discussed on the NPR show this week?

Congress Joins the Afrosphere in Battle Against Degrading Images

Villagers, have you heard about the strong case that Black bloggers made against BET programming and Gangsta Crap music? The main targets are Black Entertainment Television (BET), who they call ‘Black Exploitation Television’, and gangsta rappers such as 50cent, Snoop Dog, The Game, and Cam’ron. These artists produce music bloggers brand ‘gangsta crap’.

Gangsta rap regularly glorifies sexism, the n-word, profanities, violence, drug use and dealing, sexism, and the dehumanization of Black men and women. Gangsta rap videos and stereotype-filled shows are the programming staples of BET. "BET and hip hop have gone down hill. They were once inspirations. Now they purvey some of the most harmful anti-Black sentiments you will ever see or hear, and this has become a representation of mainstream Black culture," says Bronze Trinity of the Afrosphere Bloggers Association (ABA).

Congress plans to follow the lead of Black bloggers with a subcommittee hearing on the media "stereotypes and degradation" of Black woman. The hearing is entitled: From Imus to Industry: The Business of Stereotypes and Degrading Images.

Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), chairman of the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection, said "I want to engage not just the music industry but the entertainment industry at large to be part of a solution ... I want to talk to executives at these conglomerates who've never taken a public position on what they produce."

The hearing will be broadcast via the Committee website.

Witnesses include Philippe Dauman of Viacom, Doug Morris of Universal Music Group and Edgar Bronfman Jr. of Warner Music Group. Witnesses will discuss the impact of racist and sexist language and images transmitted via interstate commerce and telecommunications modes, the perpetuation of damaging stereotypes, and how best to protect consumers from the increasingly coarse and vulgar language and images that have the effect of undermining important moral values in our society. This hearing will explore these issues in the context of commercial hip hop music and video games, and their impact on popular culture and young people.


Click here for full list of witnesses.
Rush stressed that this is "not an anti-artist hearing, or antimusic or anti-youth hearing." He said he's hoping for voluntary -- not regulatory -- solutions. "I respect the First Amendment, but rights without responsibility is anarchy, and that's much of what we have now. It's time for responsible people to stand up and accept responsibility."

Well, villagers, what are your thoughts on these issues?

Who Sponsors Hot Ghetto Mess?

I watched the pilot show of Hot Ghetto Mess (by any other name) on BET. It was funny to see the new logo and show name. Obviously, it was too late to change the narration from Charlie Murphy as he repeatedly referred to the show as 'Hot Ghetto Mess'.

It also seems obvious that BET struggled to sell advertising time on the show. 80% of the commercial time was filled with promos of other BET shows.

One of the oddest moments during the show was a promo of an upcoming BET interview with Oprah Winfrey. I tend to believe that Oprah won't be happy to see her image and words used as a backdrop for 'Hot Ghetto Mess'.

However, there were three fools who had the audacity to spend their corporate dollars to sponsor the pilot show. My hope is that everyone reading this blog post will take a moment to make a phone call or send an email to these corporate sponsors to let them know your disappointment. Here are the three sponsors that chose to disrespect the African American community by spending our money (as customers of their products) on this mess.

The largest sponsor for the pilot show appeared to be ASCENDANT Pictures. The company is an independent film development, production, finance and foreign distribution company who paid BET to air multiple commercials about their upcoming movie called Who's Your Caddy. ASCENDANT PICTURES is run by Chris Roberts and Christopher Eberts. You can reach them right now by phone (310.288-4600), email (info@ascendantpictures.com), fax (310.288-4601) or mail (9350 Civic Center Drive, Suite 110; Beverly Hills, CA 90210).

A second HGM sponsor was the Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau. I was very disappointed to see one of my favorite cities... Detroit ... advertising on HGM. I have to believe that it will not take much to get them to remove their sponsorship from future shows with our calls or letters. My suggestion is that you place the call right now ... leave a message if it is after-hours when you are reading this message ... to Angela Gillis at (313) 202-1973 or you can email her at agillis@visitdetroit.com. Another unique way to get leverage on the DMCVB is to contact some of their influential members. You can click here to identify some of the business members. Share with them your disappointment in their decision to use membership dues in such a disrespectful manner to the Black community.

The final HGM sponsor is an Ohio-based company --> The Original Mattress Factory located at 4930 State Road; Cleveland OH 44134. The founder and president is Ron Trzcinski. According to Trzcinski: "Profit is a report card, a scorecard, a won-lost record. I don't sit in the mattress factory and say, 'How can we make a profit?' I ask, 'How can we do a better job? How can we make people want to come in? How can we help people see the value?' If you do all those things, you will make a profit." Let's reach out to Ron to let him know that African Americans are not interested in buying a mattress from a company that is so disrespectful to people of African descent. You can click here to email Ron or you can reach him by phone (216.661-8388) or send him a fax (216.661-2337).



Villagers, it is time for us to speak truth to power.
It is time for us to turn our consumer buying potential into action. I urge you to pick up your cell phone and make three phone calls right now ... before you do anything else ... let these fools know that we simply won't accept this nonsense any longer. State Farm and Home Depot did the right thing.

Let's help ASCENDANT Pictures, Detroit Convention Bureau and The Original Mattress Factory do the right thing as well.

Hot Ghetto Mess Trying to Clean Up

BET and the jackal blinked first. All references to 'Hot Ghetto Mess' have been removed from their website.

BET decided to change the name of the show to 'We Got To Do Better'. The details of the backchannel communications are described on the WhatAboutOurDaughters blog.

The name change does the following things:

1. It removes the direct and obvious connection to the pornographic website upon which the show is based.
2. It removes the denigrating reference ('Hot Ghetto Mess') that would be inevitably tied to the African American community.
3. It removes the irritating HGM logo from the network.
4. Most importantly, it demonstrates again the power of Black bloggers if we are strategic and direct in our approach.

In my view, the next step is to see which corporations purchase advertisements on the show. If the show doesn't treat our community with dignity and respect ... then I anticipate that the campaign will move towards those advertisers. It is difficult for me to understand how respectable corporations will have their name associated with a show that degrades our people.

Much love to Gina McCauley for the time and effort that she placed into this protest effort. Gina has never visited our blog ... however, she is now an OV (Original Villager)!

Well villagers, what are your thoughts on this latest development?

Help Hunt Down Hot Ghetto Mess

Villagers, it is time to send the hunters into the jungle to bring down the jackal that has been stealing our dignity. The Electronic Village is joining What About Our Daughters blog, Eddie Griffin and other Black bloggers in the next phase of this quest to take Hot Ghetto Mess off the air.

Check out media release for more details:

Black Bloggers and Civil Rights Groups Unite to Topple BET's "Hot Ghetto Mess"

Austin, TX -July 19, 2007 - If Viacom's Black Entertainment Television goes through with its plans to air "Hot Ghetto Mess" next week, many people will be watching, but not for the reason BET wants. Realizing that mere online advocacy, was not going to be enough to topple "Hot Ghetto Mess" after she'd gotten advertisers to flee the show, Gina McCauley, creator of the blog What About Our Daughters? turned to a coalition of religious and women's groups including the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the National Coalition for Black Civic Participation, National Organization for Women, Rainbow PUSH, and the National Congress of Black Women.

The result is what may very well be the largest intergenerational collaboration between young online activists and their older offline counterparts in United States history. Their focus; to convince advertisers that buying ad time on BET's "Hot Ghetto Mess" just isn't worth it, despite the high ratings that the show is likely to bring if it airs.

On July 25, 2007, "Hot Ghetto Mess" watch parties are being scheduled in Atlanta, Los Angeles, New York, Austin, the District of Columbia and the list of locations keeps growing. Those attending the watch parties will be recording which companies purchase advertisements during the show. The coalition then plans to target those businesses with possible boycotts or demonstrations.

" The message we want to send to advertisers is that "Hot Ghetto Mess" is radioactive. They don't want to come within one mile of it." McCauley said.

Transitioning from being a one-woman blog to working with long-established organizations has not been easy. "There's a reason why the only organization I belong to is AAA (the roadside assistance company)." In fact, McCauley's dialogue with these groups began after she wrote a post on her blog criticizing their methods.

"I'm not going to lie and say I haven't been impatient with the pace of their response," said McCauley. "As a blogger I move at warp speed. I can respond instantaneously with one click. I don't have to have a committee debate what I am going to release to the world." While initially disappointed with the pace of the response to her request for assistance, her patience is finally beginning to pay off.

"Yes, to me, they move at glacial speed." McCauley says of the organizations she's been working with "BUT, when they move- THEY MOVE!" Currently that glacier is aimed straight at Black Entertainment Television and Viacom.

Villagers, are you going to help us chase after these jackals? Hopefully, you signed the online petition. Now it is time to look the jackals and their keepers in the eye and let them know what happens when anyone attacks our dignity.

What say u?

Hot Ghetto Mess Does Damage Control

It amazes me how a college-educated brother can be in such denial. I see where Reginald Hudlin was doing damage control over the weekend. Reginald Hudlin heads up the Entertainment portion of Black Entertainment Television (BET). Hudlin feels that "Hot Ghetto Mess," a BET series that's provoked criticism and lost advertisers before it's even aired, will prove detractors wrong. At least two companies, State Farm Insurance Cos. and Home Depot, asked BET to drop their ads from the series' debut. Hudlin dismisses this by noting that neither sponsor had yet to see the show.

"It's unfortunate that people are making an erroneous presumption based on absolutely zero information," Hudlin told a meeting Sunday of the Television Critics Association.

"Hot Ghetto Mess," debuting July 25, combines viewer-submitted home videos and BET-produced man-on-the-street interviews that the channel said are intended to challenge and inspire "viewers to improve themselves and their communities." The six-episode series is hosted by comedian Charlie Murphy ("Chappelle's Show") is based on a Web site that features photos of men and women, mostly Black, with extreme hairstyles and clothing typically linked to hip-hop fashion.

I was surprised to learn that the website was created by a 34-year old Black female attorney from the Washington DC area ... Jam Donaldson. Turns out that Jam is also the executive producer of the television show. Donaldson told reporters that the series has "exceeded my expectations."

"Everyone that sees the show will be pleasantly surprised. ... I think they will learn something. There's Black history. We go to the community and ask what their opinion of some of these images are," she said.

"The show is so much more than the name," Donaldson said. She started the site because of "images of Black dysfunction" that were being distributed on the Internet without any discussion of the need for change. Personally, I think that she started the site because she saw an opportunity to exploit the Black community for money. She is no better than a street corner pimp in my view.

Hudlin had nerve enough to compare the show with a true American icon when he said, "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," he said. "Hot Ghetto Mess" approaches its goal in a lively way that will engage BET's young audience, Hudlin said.

"At the end of the day, the most responsible thing we can do is create a dialogue about those things," Hudlin told The Associated Press.

Most villagers agree that this show is simply a mess and that we can have a dialogue without demeaning African Americans for the entertainment of whites and others. It is simply a case of exploitation by Hudlin, Donaldson and the white media conglomerate, Viacom, that owns BET.

We encourage all villagers to take proactive steps to protest 'Hot Ghetto Mess' including your support of online petition to remove the show from the airwaves.

Well villagers, what say u? What do you see as the outcome of this situation?

Hot Ghetto Mess Removed from BET?

The drums are beginning to beat loudly all around the Electronic Village. Today, we received an unconfirmed report from HipHopDX that Hot Ghetto Mess is going to be removed from the BET lineup before the pilot show scheduled for July 25. Stay tuned to see if BET makes public announcement in the next few days.