BET Could Learn Something from The Life of George Wallace
Monday, September 17, 2007 at 2:02AM The Blogmother Debra Lee and Reginald Hudlin could learn a lot from George Wallace. Right about now, they ought to be considering whether they could possibly be on the wrong side of history.
George Wallace was very successful. He was elected Governor of Alabama four times. He ran for president four times. However, like George Wallace, BET is about to end up on the wrong side of history.
Some folks would like to trace the ruckus back to one person on one blog, but you know good and well there has been a widespread quiet rage at what BET had become. Most folks who didn't like the channel just ignored it and turned away and that is what BET counted on, folks sleeping while they aired shows like BET Uncut for six years. Yes, Mr. Hudlin, I keep mentioning Uncut even though it is no longer on the air because airing that show for as long as you did was an for some people an unpardonable sin. One for which your network refuses to atone. BET never apologized, never said they were wrong for intentionally going around broadcasting standards to air Uncut, even when Debra Lee pulled Uncut, she praised it as taking videos to a new level as if it was groundbreaking. I realize Mr. Hudlin was not on board at the time of Uncut, but there has never been any recognition of the wounds it inflicted on so many people. The young women at Spelman tried to tell Debra Lee this, but she wouldn't listen to them. She told them BET was doing better than ever because BET was making more money than ever.
Now you can continue to dismiss your critics as crazy or detached from reality, but whose reality? In your mind BET has done nothing wrong, but in the eyes of hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, you have. This is not about a few people on the Internet or 500 hundred upset folks marching around Debra Lee's house and it ought to become clearer with each passing day that whatever this is that is happening is something BET and Viacom have probably never seen before. This may very well be the “Montgomery” of my generation. So the old “BET is doing better than ever because BET is making more money than ever” delusion you have been operating under sounds increasingly like George Wallace's “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever ”
So keep saying “BET's making money now, BET's making money tomorrow, BET's making money forever!” If this stubborn refusal to even consider people's legitimate and strong feelings about your network's programming decisions continues, you an I both know that BET may very well not be making money forever. You call yourself BLACK Entertainment Television so we have a stake in what you do whether we fall into your “target audience” or not. If you don't want that burden, consider changing your name and stop associating yourself with an entire race of people. You've managed to skate by while building up a storehouse of ill will within the African American community and that is not going to go away by trotting out new programming and trying to “teach” the African American community to “Read a m@#*&#^ing Book!”
The first step MIGHT be to say “We're Sorry” even if you don't really mean it. Here is some proposed draft language:
“We're sorry we aired Uncut, it was inappropriate and degrading to all Black people. We're sorry we gutted all of our public affairs programming to feature booty shaking. We're sorry we thought so little of our audience that we didn't invest in original programming FOR YEARS and are now having to play catch up. We're sorry we paid performers slave wages. We sorry we called ourselves BLACK entertainment television and didn't consider the conclusions some folks might reach about ALL Black Americans based on the narrow set of images we elected to transmit to the world. We're sorry that despite the fact that we are well aware that BET is one of the top networks viewed by children of all races, we elected to air soft porn in the afternoon in the form of music videos while we knew their parents were hard at work to pay the cable bill so that BET could enter their homes. Most of all, we're sorry that when you tried to come to us and express your genuinely heart-felt concerns, we didn't always listen, and sometimes we were too cavalier in our dismissals of your complaints. We've been defensive when perhaps we could have been initiating a dialogue ”
I don't think most Black folks want BET to become PBS. What I think they want is BALANCE. Even if you are making huge changes in the future, you still haven't atoned for what your network did in the past. Until you do, you can roll out 160 new programs a year, BET will still be known as Black Exploitation Television because you can pour as much clean water as you want into a dirty jug. All you are doing is contaminating more water.
You don't need to consider offering an apology for our sake. We don't need one. You need to considering offering an apology for your sake. Just because BET is making a ton of money now, does not mean it will be doing so forever, especially if African Americans begin to either A) cancel their cable subscriptions in large numbers just to avoid giving Viacom their money or B) start jumping on the bandwagon to support cable choice.
For too long BET treated goodwill within the African American community as if it was a luxury item that BET didn't need to be successful. After all, BET was doing just fine without it because you were making money without it. You are about to be shown that you were wrong. Instead of rolling out 16 new shows, consider rolling out a new attitude from your executive suite and you can consider starting with an apology.
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Reader Comments (9)
that ain't nothing but the T-RUTH. I've tried to email BET about their programming and the email "bounced back". What a surprise. I also tried to email VH1 about not airing a 3rd season of Flavor of Love but couldn't locate their email address on their web site (big surprise). I ended up posting a complaint of that show on their weblog. Thank you for writing this. It's what I am thinking but just not patient enough to write down.
Eye-opening blog.BET has been a cancer bw didn’t she had until a dr. Imus diagnosed it. Then I heard the question, who will protect us? I thought about blocking BET and other channels, but didn’t realize I was still supporting their malfeasance. I have suspended my direct TV. My 14 year old son is having t.v. withdrawal, but to my satisfaction is getting a more homework done, plays outside more, goes to bed a decent hour (mainly out of boredom) and even asks to visit grandma (she has cable).I direct as many people as possible to your blog. Keep up the good work!
Hi,
I don't think BET/ Viacom is willing to learn any lesson that does not include financial incentives to learn. If as you suggested in an earlier post that we African Americans simply cancel our cable, then they will have reason to change.
Thanks for your post
Im just curious. It seems like odd timing. After 10 years of BS from BET, you guys wait until BET actually attempts to re-vamp its programming, add more original shows and reflect more diverse images of black folks to start protesting them? What is the incentive for the network to improve if any effort to make progress is met with this type of protest politics? You cant blame folks that have just taken the helm for 10 years of bad programming decisions. Why dont you give them a chance to improve? Unlike their brother company VH-1 or MTV or Maury, at least it seems like they're trying. You consistently talk about the Hot Ghetto Mess show and after checking out one of the later episodes I will say it actually sparked a great conversation with me and my teenage daughter. I couldnt imagine that THIS is what you are protesting. Its like you want them to fail because if God forbid, they actually succeed in producing good programs, we can no longer blame BET for every ill in the black community and we may be forced to actually go out and solve real problems.
You certainly have a right to do what you do, it just seems this particular energy and animous against BET could be used more effectively on issues like wedlock kids or public education.
You certainly have a right to do what you do, it just seems this particular energy and animous against BET could be used more effectively on issues like wedlock kids or public education.
I get so sick of people trying to tell other people what they should or should not be focusing on.
Anon clearly didn't read the blog. hmm lets see we focus on everything here at WAOD. All the media want's to talk about, is BET and THAT show, but lets see, we've covered health, beauty, money, we did a WHOLE article LAST week on THE CONCUBINE CONSPIRACY.
Anon must have missed that one.
Kitty,
The way I see it is that folks were probably saying the same thing to Thurgood Marshall and MLK. Shouldn't you be doing X,Y,Z? As if people can't chew gum and walk at the same time. I can both criticize the foolish emanating from the executive suites at BET and do other things and I have. Just because you didn't notice doesn't mean it is not happening.
I think we are giving them a chance. I am not the one that decided to put out a show based on a website with rampant nudity, pictures of child abuse and other lunacy. I didn't force them to use a blackface cartoon as a logo.
And they were barely out of the HGM fiasco when they released Read a Book. SO I think we are giving them a chance and they are using that chance to hang themselves.
Their choice not mine. They have the right to crank out foolishness and we have the right to call them on it.
They do things no other network would dream of doing yet they don't want to be criticized or "held to a higher standard". So they want a free pass?
With privileges comes responsibility. ALl they have to do is chance their name and stop referring themselves as Black anything. NO other ethnic group has to deal with this foolishness.
Stop believing everything you read in Ebony magazine.
Hey, your site's new look is a great improvement. Much easier to read!
Im just curious. It seems like odd timing. After 10 years of BS from BET, you guys wait until BET actually attempts to re-vamp its programming, add more original shows and reflect more diverse images of black folks to start protesting them?
The issue isn't that people don't appreciate BET's attempts at adding original shows. The point is that the network cannot erase the legacy of a decade worth of programming that continued to spiral downwards. I think BET is going on a PR blitz right now within the black community trying to promote its "balanced" programming(giant feature in Ebony plus Debra Lee featured in Essense). I for one, however, am not buying it for a bit. It's not as if the idea of balanced programming is anything new. Remember shows like Teen Summit? BET had some balance but the network systematically chose to give up that balance in favor of a bigger corporate balance sheet. Don't be fooled--they may claim to be working on and airing 160 better shows for all I care but I'm not giving them an ounce of respect until we see the track record of this programming. Are they going to air them just long enough to placate their critics? Is BET even capable of doing positive yet engaging shows...or are they going to put up some preachy, cookie cutter bs that they know the young audience won't buy then blame low ratings to cancel them and go back to their smut bread and butter?
It's good to try to better--but what are their motives? Even if they don't offer an apology like Gena is asking for, the network could start by at least admitting the fallacies of their previous programming. Instead, they're trying to somehow stand behind the smut while claiming to move forward.
bookishblackgirl.blogspot.com
Debra Lee characterized it perfectly when she said "BET is making more money than ever". That's the reason Bob Johnson sold it and Viacom bought it. The network isn't about portraying black people in a positive light, it is ENTERTAINMENT even if its at our own expense. The buffoonery, the 'hood mentality and Tocarra's ebonics, low brow entertainment indeed.
I don't even bother watching BET. My remote just breezes right past that nonsense. I'd rather watch TV One.