Hot Ghetto Mess to Offer Unity Through Humor

Thanks to BET's upcoming show Hot Ghetto Mess, which is losing sponsors left and right, we can now leave Katrina behind and once again laugh at poor black people.

Of course, like so many people have told me over the years, "it's just a joke."  No reason for anyone to be concerned.  We're just holdin' up mirrors and stackin' dollars!

And, if you don't like it, you can hold an ineffective burial ceremony and call it a day after reminding people that "We Got To Do Better."

About the Show:
Hot Ghetto Mess

Update:
The Hollywood Reporter takes a look at the situation including the pullout of advertisers:
It is Viacom, BET and even [BET Chairman & CEO Debra] Lee that have been savaged in debates raging on blogs, podcasts and even the Web site's own forums. Leading the charge is What About Our Daughters, a little-known 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.

What About Our Daughters - BET Programming Chief Unrepentant about “Hot Ghetto Mess” - "It's so doggone goood-!"

Comments

[Stone]

Hmm.....I never even heard of this show until now, but I'm curious because all of the "controversy."

Unlike some people who are quick to react, I'm not gonna pass judgment on this thing until I actually watch an episode. If it is a social critique like they claim then it could be the catalyst for interesting discussion.

[Clyde Smith]

Good for you!

I don't really have time for such niceties but I look forward to your response.

[Nicole]

I am concerned that this show will become a laughingstock and not in a good way. Why does everything in the black community have to be presented in the form of comedy? Why can't we just hold a much-needed mirror to the worst of our behavior in our own community without it becoming just more entertainment for whites who laugh and point and say, "See, look at those dumb n****s, just as we thought, GOOD FOR NOTHING BUT LAUGHS!!" I feel that this show may not reach it's target audience but will instead fall to the bottom of the barrel in the portrayal of blacks, right alongside "Flavor of Love", "I Love New York" and (shudder)"Charm School". The outcome, the fallout from this, is already reminding me of Spike Lee's movie, "Bamboozled". However, I do recommend visiting the website. The point the founder of Hot Ghetto Mess is seen clearer there.

[Fed Up with Foolishness]

It's time to say enough is enough. African-Americans in this country have already become somewhat of a "laughingstock." Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of shows on television that make Caucasians look ridiculous, but they are not a minority group already plagued with problems. We have stopped caring for each other, teaching our kids to hold their head high and speak with dignity and clarity. We have stopped teaching our girls self-respect. We have, in a way, allowed this to happen because we have stopped being proactive. Instead, we are in a cycle of reactive behavior (which, by the way, is viewed as "bellyaching" by the white majority). Furthermore, there is a lack of vision in the community. Our people are obsessed with b******, hoes, shiny rims, and quick money. This show is going to glamorize and make it okay to act the dern fool as usual. What happened to honesty and strong work ethic? It has probably gone up in the smoke of a crack pipe. Stepping down off my soap box...

[Native Son]

I could not agree with you more. Why do we always have to turn things into comedy? We all know that for every 1 person who gets it, there are 10 other black people who will see nothing wrong with it and tune in just for laughs at the expense of ourselves? When will we learn?? BET President Debra Lee is an ivy league educated black woman and should understand even in the corporate world how white people stereotype us. You would think that someone especially a sista, would understand that.

[Karen Hatter]

Commentary from Inside The Eye Of The Storm:

Hot Ghetto Mess debuted this week on BET, the so called Black Entertainment Network. The show is an off shoot of the web site of the same name, Hotghettomess.com. As a matter of fact, the web site solicits visitors to the site to send in, “.... your craziest home videos for a chance to be on BET.”

The web site was created by an African American female attorney, Jam Donaldson, who serves as executive producer of the show. BET's entertainment head is Reginald Hudlin, an African American man.

Now, I just might be a bit touchy but, given the caliber of entertainment that most often finds black people either on the wrong end of the law or as glorified buffoons in varied situation comedies, I'm not longing for videos and clips of black people behaving embarrassingly and in patently stupid ways, in a quasi reality t.v. format.

Writers on the short lived series that premiered on UPN in 1998, The Secret Diary of Desmond Pffeifer, the 'P' was not silent, which disappeared after four episodes, were African American. Somehow the notion of a comedy series that centered around an enslaved person of African descent, with jokes, for instance, that hinted at sending him to the field for some infraction, struck these writers as funny. Obviously, this faux pas, literally translated from French as false step, meant to convey a blunder, by the purveyors of Hot Ghetto Mess, pales in comparison.

For decades, the airwaves have carried the images of the majority population of this country, that is white people, portraying all manner of characters, from highly intelligent scientists to the idiotic buffoon. Unfortunately, intelligent black drama is usually short lived.

There isn't enough time here to fully articulate my outrage at the motives and intent of a show that offers a critique of alleged bad behavior and actions, while calling for videos to be used to provide the material for scrutiny and castigation.

However, I do know that because there is not a true balance of buffoons versus brainiacs on television showcasing African Americans, the portrayals of black folks, after more than fifty years, have gone from maids and servants to being predominately top heavy with wise cracking sistas/brothas/mamas/papas/children, take your pick, buffoons, gangsters, thieves, pimps and whores, on reality television and in sitcoms.

I fail to see how watching Hot Ghetto Mess will, as one of the creators claims, get viewers, “.... to improve themselves and their communities" by “...taking a hard look at some dysfunctional elements of our community.”

How will observing ever more demeaning and degrading negative images or portrayals aid us with learning how to 'do better', as the site directs?

I think we've covered those bases and seen enough of how not to behave with the top two highly rated shows that aired for the last two years on VH1, and this year's new top viewed show, programs that have succeeded in convincing all who watched of the low moral character of the majority of individuals within an entire group of people solely through their identification with the group.

We, of African descent, do not have the luxury of being magnanimous and proclaiming this as harmless fun, meant to poke fun while it educates.

It may be said that only the ignorant will believe that all black people will behave like those featured on any of these shows. Whether others outside of our community view these shows and believe we are all as crass, ridiculous and laughable, as those seen on these shows, should not be our concern.

We should be terrified of even more negative imagery being internalized by our impressionable youth.

[Clyde Smith]

Karen, I normally ask people not to post whole essays and other material to which they could link directly. However, in this case, I'm going to leave it up because it is a well thought out statement on an important issue.

As a white man, I feel that certain issues are ultimately up to African Americans and I just help where I can. That said, it's quite clear that black folks in the States are in a difficult situation and, in many respects, under direct attack.

So though I am against censorship and feel that, when all is said and done, everything should be up for comedic use, there are certain times when that's just not appropriate.

I'm not talking about political correctness, I'm talking about the fact that if a mother just lost her son, only an evil asshole would start cracking jokes about dead kids.

If that seems like a stretch, there's a more directly relevant example here at ProHipHop:
XXL Mag/Harris Publications Blogger Disses Islam During Ramadan
http://www.prohiphop.com/2006/10/xxl_magharris_p.html

Now, I actually feel that Islam is a fair topic of humor and I'm very happy to hear about Dave Chappelle supporting an upcoming Muslim comedy tour. And I think people who are against Islam should be able to make their little jokes as well.

But in the context of a post 9/11 hysteric America where being Muslim gets you on all sorts of lists and wearing a burka or praying anywhere other than the dinner table makes you the object of public suspicion and derision, lines need to be drawn until Muslims are in a less precarious state.

That's why both Adisa Banjoko and I both took a strong stance on that topic.

Adisa also posted on the issue:
http://www.netweed.com/lyricalswords/2006/10/byron-crawford-attacks-muslims-during.html

So, though I also have personal issues with the blogger in question that partially motivated my attack, I would have joined Adisa in a response to anyone that visible within my sphere of hip hop media. Or elsewhere if Adisa made that call.

I hope my reasoning is clear. If not, let me know.

I want to close by saying that, while I've always been sympathetic to Muslims, I've learned a lot more about what it means to be Muslim through speaking with Adisa about his beliefs and how they meet or differ from other Muslims.

And he does let me get away with all sorts of jokes during our personal exchanges cause he's a very funny man in person and knows full well that even Islam has to ultimately be up for humor, since every other thing in our lives is fair game!