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Hudlin Defends BET's "Hot Ghetto Mess"
posted on Jul 16, 2007
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| Charlie Murphy hosts BET's "Hot Ghetto Mess" |
At yesterday's meeting of the Television Critics Association in Beverly Hills, Reginald Hudlin, BET's President of Entertainment, defended the network's not-yet-aired but already controversial program "Hot Ghetto Mess" amidst charges that BET is perpetuating negative images of African Americans and on the heels of at least two advertisers pulling out. Hudlin says he will prove detractors wrong when the series finally
premieres on July 25. "It's unfortunate that people are making an
erroneous presumption
based on absolutely zero information," he said.
Hosted by funnyman Charlie Murphy ("Chapelle's Show"), "Hot Ghetto Mess"
is adapted from the web site HotGhettoMess.com, which
features photos and video footage of African American engaged in
behavior or dressed in attire considered by many to be embarrassing and
socially unacceptable. The six-episode series is a compilation of viewer-submitted home videos and BET-produced
man-on-the-street segments showing black people said to be exhibiting
excessive hip-hop and inner-city culture.
Hudlin noted that none of those criticizing the
show had even seen it and claims the show wasn't screened for the bi-annual gathering of national television critics because it wasn't finished yet. "That's unfortunate that they are making a presumption about a show they haven't seem and one of things I feel confident about is everyone who has seen a rough cut of the show says its nothing like it is presumed to be," went on to say.
The show builds on the Web site's effort to take "a hard look at some dysfunctional elements of our community," said Hudlin who went on to make an analogy between "Hot Ghetto Mess" and Bill Cosby. "The intent of the show is no different than what Bill Cosby is
doing as he's going across the country and lecturing as he talks about
the problems of the (black) community that we need to address," he said.
Speaking to reporters, Jam Donaldson, creator of the website and executive producer of the series said, "The show has exceeded my expectations. It's so much more than this name that everyone finds so objectionable. I don't think the name dictates what the show is."
"Everyone that sees the show will be pleasantly surprised," Donaldson added. Hudlin agreed saying “The biggest critics are going to be the biggest fans."
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