Buckling under the pressure from thousands of viewers who were
offended at the mere thought of such a show, Oxygen might be scrapping
plans to air “All My Babies’ Mamas.”
The reality special featured rapper Shawty Lo and his life as the
father of 11 children and babydaddy of 10 women. Understandably, the
thought of a network shining a spotlight on something so stereotypical
and derogatory resulted in a strong response from Black TV viewers.
Although the network hasn’t confirmed it yet, it’s now expected that
“My Babies’ Mamas” won’t see the light of day. Oxygen execs haven’t been
promoting the series as they have other upcoming programs and blamed
the leaked trailer on a hacker, according to the Associated Press.
It remains to be seen whether the one-hour special will actually air,
but considering that nearly 40,000 people signed an online petition
asking for the show’s cancellation, it’s difficult to reason why Oxygen
would opt to broadcast it.
Notably, it’s not just minorities who were upset by the show’s
premise and purpose. The Parents Television Council (PTC) also
questioned the series’ entertainment value, calling it “grotesquely
irresponsible and exploitative.”
“If Oxygen moves forward with the program, we will be contacting
every corporate sponsor that buys advertising time on Oxygen Network to
hold them accountable as well,” PTC president Tim Winter told the
Associated Press.
Initially Oxygen defended the show reasoning that it wasn’t about
airing the Black community’s proverbial dirty laundry. “It was not meant
to be a stereotypical representation of everyday life for any one
demographic or cross section of society,” Oxygen statement.
For Sabrina Lamb, who started the online petition on Change.org, the
boycott of the series isn’t just about negative stereotypes, but also
about protecting the children who would be featured on the show.
“You can’t exploit these innocent children and then tell your viewers
to tweet and gossip about them,” Sabrina told Sister 2 Sister,
comparing the would-be program to watching children sold at a slave
auction.
See tweets from relieved Twitter users below.
Checkout the news clip below:
I wanted to see this..
ReplyDelete!!!!Hot Mess!!!
ReplyDeletelmao -TP of OceanviewBLVD
ReplyDeleteI have to admit, I kind of want to see it LOL
ReplyDeletesome of those baby mammas look familar....
ReplyDelete