Dusty Ayres
Commodore
It could be because for the first time America has a Black president and the First Lady is a sista, and together with their two beautiful Black daughters overnight improved the international image of Black people, let alone Americans. But leave it to the diabolical minds at FOX Networks to pick up where BET left off with the debut of their newest show “The Cleveland Show,” where in just 22 minutes they managed to portray Black mothers as unmarried promiscuous sexual objects, Black teenage girls as headed down the same path as their mothers, young Black boys as sexual deviants, and Black people period as being unable to speak anything other than Ebonics — all in the name of comedy.
Just like with the character Shirley Q. Liquor, a Black, unmarried, welfare mother who guzzles malt liquor, drives a Caddy, and has 19 “chirrun” some of whom are named Cheeto, Orangello, Chlamydia, and Kmartina, who is routinely performed by a White man in blackface, there's nothing funny about an animated television series that seeks to legitimize and reinforce every negative stereotype about Black people during primetime to the delight of White audiences from coast to coast.
When President Barack Obama was sworn into office, it signaled a new beginning for American politics and the end of mainstream media news reporting as we knew it because every day for the next four years, at least, a Black man was going to be the lead story on the evening newscast, and not for committing a crime, dunking a ball, or singing a song. In return, the news media sought to find balance by quietly, yet intentionally, removing Black anchors and reporters from newscasts around the country. I guess they figured one Negro making news on a daily basis was enough without having to hear about it from another as well.
All Black or majority-Black casts on television are a rare commodity. Blacks almost all but disappeared from broadcast television years ago, putting Black actors and actresses on the endangered species list with their news media counterparts.
Click here for full videoEven in today's economy and with the status of Blacks on television, be it entertainment or news, FOX is willing to capitalize off the continued objectification of Black women by using animation to over-sexualize their physical characteristics. (At least if the show weren't animated, a Black woman would be getting paid cash money for being objectified on screen, and a lot more than she would for just doing a voiceover, if you know what I'm saying.)
Just like BET knew they were pushing the envelope when they tried to go there with “We Can Do Better,” FOX knows it's pushing something with “The Cleveland Show,” and it isn't an envelope. FOX is making an attempt to capitalize off of the negative stereotypes of Blacks and laughing all the way to the bank.
Don't think so? How much do you think companies paid to advertise during a show that featured an overweight, recently divorced Black man and his overweight, developmentally challenged Black son, who go Down South where the father hooks up with his Black, overly voluptuous yet promiscuous high school crush only to play father to her delinquent Black children—all while speaking White people's version of Black Ebonics? I'm just saying.
Fox TV's New Minstrel Show