Logo for Hot Ghetto Mess
BET is set to release one of many new "hip series" this summer. The most controversial of these is called Hot Ghetto Mess, based on a website which displays pictures that are considered "ghetto", distasteful, or a "hot mess", as is commonly used in ebonical jargon. Is the show doing this in order to help dispel negative stereotypes about Black people or is it simply jumping on the latest bandwagon of Bafoonery Profiteering? We all watched as Dave Chappelle walked the tightrope of bafoonery and social awakening only to be knocked off by his own inner turmoil and slip on the racial residue perpetuated by those not looking for meaning, but ammunition for hate. I don't think there are many feelings worse than pursuing what you see as a noble cause only to have critics and others turn it into something completely different and opposite, despite your best efforts. What's your take on the show and it's intentions? The following link is to an article on Yahoo where Reginald Hudlin, president of entertainment for BET and director of such hits as House Party, Boomerang, and the Great White Hype, and "Jam Donaldson", creator of the Hot Ghetto Mess website, give an alternate, yet optimistic, point of view in regard to the show (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070710/tv_nm/mess_dc). The article also notes that two sponsors, Home Depot and State Farm, have already pulled their advertisements from the program. Can a show like this actually get a net positive result in the Black community and beyond? Are we as Black people now at a point where we must talk to our kids through comedy and silliness in order to convey substantive ideals? Are the president of BET and the founder of the site setting themselves up for a fate similar to that of Chappelle's or worse? I welcome your thoughts.
2 comments:
Hot Ghetto Mess.....I won't be watching it.
It's very hard to see how anything positive for Blacks as a whole can come from this. That is one reason I wanted to hear other individuals' points of view.
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