Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Ex-BET Employee Throws Stones: He Was All For the Filth (And Violence) Before He Got Fired!

On one good note former child star Maia Campbell has entered treatment. Last week a video surfaced that showed her in a perilous situation being exploited. She has a diagnosed mental disorder as well as an ongoing substance abuse problem. Let's hope this is her rock bottom moment to rise up from and she gets the help she needs.

Now on to the ironic (but predictable) portion of our post. Andreas Hale, Executive Editor at BET.com was unceremoniously dumped from his position. He decided to put BET on blast as evidenced by this (excerpted) response:
As someone who has been critical of BET for many years, it surprised many that I would leave my post at HipHopDX last year to take a position at BET. But it was an opportunity I absolutely had to take. I could no longer be critical of this company without accepting the opportunity to change it when given....

Although I was hired to bring about change, I was systematically shut down. I wasn't hired to make noise, I was hired to be silenced. The truth of the matter is that everything that you thought was wrong with BET is true.

Over the past year I've seen a lot to reinforce my position that BET is too far gone in the negative to turn into a positive. We have all always thought the worst, but to actually see it in action is another thing in its entirety. The unprofessionalism, the tom foolery, the favors, the misappropriation of resources, the bad ideas that reinforce negative stereotypes, the emasculation of men, the meetings that break down in full fledged cursing battles, the unpaid overtime, the tears from employees scared for their underpaid and overworked positions and ultimately the unwillingness to change are all harsh realities that I've witnessed firsthand...
Ok, so far so good for those of us that subscribe to the Boondocks characterization of Debra Lee"vil", right? Well...not so fast for this former employee. Remember that Michael Jackson tribute that was supposed to happen during the BET Awards? I wrote a little post about it called Vortex of Coonery (note all the videos have been pulled by parent company Viacom though). My brain needed bleach to try to remove the filth of Lil Wayne "performing" a crude song about sexing women while his 10 year old daughter danced on stage in see-through leggings with him. I'd hoped time and distance and regression therapy would help me forget to no avail.

Well one Andreas Hale, would-be whistler-blower and moral consciousness of a generation not only DEFENDED it but blasted anyone who dared question it. Exhibit A: Message from Facebook that he sent to a black female media executive:
Via @AndreasHale (Executive Editor of BET.com)
"I don't care how you feel about the BET Awards, but if you say Jamie and Ne-Yo didn't own the night you deserved to be back slapped. TWICE!"
Slapped, eh? Have I mentioned this bastion of gentility is a black man? Surprise! Ah don't blame the messenger. These "jokes" write themselves folks! Yet again another "edumacated brotha" in a suit displays the same behavior as the so-called lower quality thug on the corner. I hope enough black women put down their "save a brotha" 200lb. anvil around their necks and start thinking about saving themselves for a change.

Weak, subjugated misogynists suffering from Negro Derangement Syndrome are only victims when something happens to them they don't like. Like a law enforcement situation. Had his immediate bosses been white we'd probably have heard of a pending discrimination lawsuit but they're also black so... Perhaps his firing had more to do with his treatment of women (and others) than his problems with the tone of the network. It's not as if he didn't know what he was getting into when he took the job! This is also why playing devil's advocate under disreputable doesn't work. If you think you're going to be able to control the circumstances or outcome you could very likely find yourself swept undertow.

Men like this cannot take one word of corrective evaluation and immediately go for the jugular. DBR behavior strikes again! I hope you are taking notes because I'm making a list and scratching off more names - so should you.


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3 comments:

Annette C said...

I stopped watching BET many many years ago. I blocked it on my television so my children couldn't see the funky smelling crap that flows out (along w/MTV). It long ago became a non-entity in my life as I am sure it did in many of our lives. It is unfortunate that we do not have our own voice on TV. But I will never settle for a sorry substitute such as BET.

Anonymous said...

I have to check myself sometimes when I see a movie or show that I haven't seen in awhile, and when I look to see what channel it's on...I won't watch it. I'm hoping TVOne doesn't get to this point, but they were a little suspect with Family Reunion show and now "The Tyler Perry Show"...lawd.

Faith at Acts of Faith Blog said...

CW: Here here!!

AnnKura: It's best to just stay clear of BET but until a la carte services are available we're still paying for it. We need to get the FCC to implement this change.

SassyJ: Ah Cathy Hughes is fighting paying music artist s though on the radio side so....it's still a problem.