Chris Rock Ain't No Hot Ghetto Mess

Many villagers spent time last month protesting against the 'Hot Ghetto Mess' television show placed on the air by BET. We had some successes in getting advertisers to leave the show as well as getting the objectionable name of the show changed.

During the course of the protest effort another blogger asked me about a Chris Rock vignette called, 'How Not To Get Your Ass Kicked by the Police'. The Teach wondered what I thought about Chris Rock's efforts.


Click here to see the 4-minute comedy sketch




Teach, I laughed out loud during the Chris Rock video! On the other hand, I didn't crack a smile during the HGM pilot show. If the goal of a comedian is to make us laugh ... Chris Rock beats Charlie Murphy by a landslide.

Detroit Drops Ads from Hot Ghetto Mess

It appears that a number of villagers joined me in contacting Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau (DMCVB) about our disgust in seeing their sponsorship of the pilot episode of 'Hot Ghetto Mess'. I shared contact information for DMCVB and two other sponsors on last week's 'Hot Ghetto Mess' pilot episode.

My message to DMCVB simply stated,

'I am the immediate past president of Black Data Processing Associates (BDPA). We brought our national conference to Detroit in August 2005. If the decision was left to me today about whether to come back or not ... I would counsel against it based on the sponsorship that you/DMCVB provided to the pilot episode of 'Hot Ghetto Mess' on BET last night. I cannot begin to tell you the level of disappointment, bordering on disgust, that I felt when I realized that the DMCVB decided to use member dollars to fund a show that is so disrespectful to the African American community.
Who should I speak with to register my complaint about your marketing decision? My hope is that DMCVB will join State Farm and Home Depot in taking proactive steps to remove any future advertising dollars from this disrespectful show that is based on the Hot Ghetto Mess website. Please review the website and tell me how you/your organization thought that this was something worthy of your marketing dollars?'

I received a response this afternoon from Kathy Smith (DMCVB advertising manager). She wrote, I had to smile when the cable affiliate wrote,

"I work for the Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau and it was
brought to my attention that the DMCVB was associated with a program called "Hot Ghetto Mess" - - - the DMCVB and our advertising agency of record (Berline) had absolutely no idea the DMCVB was listed as a sponsor of this show until
mentioned in your blog. The mistake has been corrected. Please see the letter
attached from the cable affiliate.

'Please know that we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this situation may have caused. We will add 10 scheduled spots in acceptable programming to your current schedule. We appreciate your business and will work very hard to avoid any such issues in the future.'

I gotta give props to my peeps in Detroit for turning this situation into ten extra commercial slots on other shows. More important, I am pleased that DMCVB was open to constructive criticism about their advertising decision. I wonder what it will take to get the other advertisers on the 'Hot Ghetto Mess' to pull out?

Villagers, did you contact the advertisers on this show to let them know your disappointment?

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.

BET is a Hot Ghetto Mess

A few months ago we joined others in the AfroSpear in urging that all villagers sign a petition protesting the negative images placed in our homes by BET and others. Recent developments give credence to those of you that refer to Black Entertainment Television (BET) as Black Exploitation Television.

Y'all know that I am OV (as Danielle recently coined us 'Original Villagers'). OVs remember when BET had some great talk shows hosted by Tavis Smiley and Ed Gordon. We remember the original Video Soul with Donnie Simpson. I enjoyed the concept of BET so much that I once owned stock in BET Holdings ... the company that Bob Johnson took public as part of his move towards becoming a billionaire.

Today the network reaches about 85 million homes, has an 18 percent nonblack audience, and its core viewers are 18 to 34 years old.

I don't think that anyone denies that BET has done a lousy job of programming for many years. The oldest and largest cable network aimed at African Americans has long depended on reruns, movies and music videos, developing few hits of its own. In fact, the National Association of Black Journalists plans to give a Thumbs Down Award to BET, citing "its depiction of Black images in the media, lack of news and public affairs" and the network’s failure to broadcast Coretta Scott King’s funeral in 2006.

BET needs a fresh profile. As such, I was happy when BET announced an effort to debut 16 new shows over the course of the next year as part of a BET face-lift. After all, the cable television market is very competitive. Other stations such as VH-1, TNT and USA Network are adding viewers at a rapid click with original programming.

The network, a division of Viacom, has other original scripted series on tap, including:

• "Somebodies" about a group of recent college graduates in Athens, GA
• "Exalted!", a biography series starting in the fall that will focus on ministers
• "Judge Mooney", Paul Mooney, the comedian, will have his own daily court show
• Comic-book artist Denys Cowan (His company created the Black teenage superhero Static Shock) is bringing in three fresh programs
• Orlando Jones (the actor and "Mad TV" writer) and Ali LeRoi (co-creator of "Everybody Hates Chris") have teamed up to create an animated sketch comedy.
• "Hannibal the Conquerer", an animated series about the ancient North African general (produced by Vin Diesel)
• "Cipha", an animated science-fiction series about a future in which hip-hop is outlawed (produced by Will Smith)
• "Hell Date", a nightly reality show that hooks up unsuspecting suitors with the opposite of their dream date.
• "Take the Cake", an hourlong live interactive game show of pop-culture trivia questions.
• "S.O.B. (Socially Offensive Behavior)", is a cocktail of sociology and comedy that uses hidden cameras to capture people’s reactions to strange, politically incorrect situations. For example patrons in a restaurant are told that seating is by race. Comedian D. L. Hughley is the host of this show.
• "Hot Ghetto Mess", which uses commentary, video clips and man-on-the-street interviews to examine Black popular culture. The show was inspired by the much-debated Web site of the same name, which showcases and comments on what it deems to be outrageous Black behavior.

Bloggers, including many in the AfroSpear, are protesting "Hot Ghetto Mess". Leading the charge is What About Our Daughters, a blog and audio podcast addressing depictions of Black women in popular culture. In recent weeks, the site targeted advertisers that appeared on a BET.com Web page advertising "Mess", including AT&T Corp., DaimlerChrysler and Target. Two advertisers, State Farm and Home Depot, released statements acknowledging that they withdrew both TV and online spots as a result of the boycott threat.
In many ways this looks like the Imus debate from earlier in the year. The next step is for large corporations to stop subsidizing degrading images of African Americans. A prolonged and consistent pattern of BET profiting off of promoting images that malign and degrade African Americans needs to come to an end.

It is odd how people look at the same show so differently. BET says,

"Hot Ghetto Mess" is an entertaining, tongue-in-cheek examination of the good, the bad and the ugly of Black popular culture. Utilizing comedy, man-on-the-street interviews, video clips, pictures and music, "Hot Ghetto Mess" aims to shine a spotlight on prevalent images in pop culture and examine what role they play in American lifestyle. "Hot Ghetto Mess" goes where most shows fear to tread. As host Charlie Murphy guides viewers through shaking booties, thug life, baby-mama drama and pimped-out high schoolers, "Hot Ghetto Mess" will explore what these images really mean to all of us. Cutting edge, original, relevant and irreverent, "Hot Ghetto Mess" is like the traffic accident you can’t look away from. Viewers will laugh. They'll cry. They'll think. They'll learn, and hopefully they'll recognize they've GOT to do better.

Personally, I feel that BET needs to do better. I encourage villagers to take proactive steps to protest 'Hot Ghetto Mess' including your support of online petition to remove the show from the airwaves. The show needs to be pulled from the air with the same quickness that Imus was pulled from radio and television. The offense is the same whether perpetuated by an old white guy or a Black cable television station.

Well, Villagers ... what say u?