Viacom-Lately To Decency

So, Viacom Is Going To Stop Rappers, Thugs And Whores.

The mega media corporation that owns Black Entertainment Network (BET) and MTV is not likely to solve the problem that the Don Imus firing has focused attention on because Viacom is part of the problem.

Don't believe me?

Turn on BET and see how much respect woman -- Black women -- are not getting from rappers who wiggle, waggle and gaggle all over the screen all hours of the day.

CBS was spun off as a separate company from Viacom although CEO Sumner Redstone still controls it -- after all, when he revealed that CBS CEO Les Moonves was going to do the right thing in the Imus mess we all got the feeling Redstone told Moonves what the right thing was.

Imus was fired.

CBS joined MSNBC owner NBC Universal in claiming the high ground and I wanted to get seriously sick.

Is anyone buying this?

Imus was wrong -- there I've said it again and again and again, but do you ever get the feeling that Don Imus' "nappy headed ho" comment may do more for the rap music culture than all the community leaders, religious folk and do-gooders like NBC and CBS have done up to this moment. How ironic.

Watch BET -- the company Viacom spent $3 billion to buy.

"Back That (Ass) Thang Up" by DJ Jubilee ought to get your attention. It played on BET and now resides on YouTube. It had 79,277 views as of this writing. I'll bet anyone over 30 isn't watching. Betcha a lot of kids under 20 were watching when it was a hit.



Objectification of women. Bare naked ladies -- and I don't mean the group. Insulting lyrics. Demeaning gestures. Disrespectful portrayals of women and I'm just getting warmed up. Seriously, turn on BET and you'll see what artful dodgers CBS and NBC are in this post-Imus world.

Imus was an idiot. He said it and then put the noose around his own neck. CBS and NBC were happy to tighten it for him. But even those impressive young ladies of the Rutgers basketball team forgave Don Imus and so will the general public eventually. I'll bet when (I didn't say if) Imus returns in radio syndication, he'll be a hot ticket. He's serving his time right now. He'll be paroled by the public and he'll be back on the air.

The hypocrisy of media America is more troubling.

Imus was sorry.

CBS and NBC are not sorry because their motives and actions contradict their rhetoric.

They just act like they are talking about how they heard their employees and are just being responsive to their desires on the Imus matter. That's funny, when does a media conglomerate listen to its employees?

For NBC its all about not losing advertisers. Every conglomerate hates a boycott.

For CBS they're so sorry (I'm being sarcastic) they continue to impart the culture of rappers, thugs and whores to their vast audience while talking out of the other side of their mouth about how terrible Don Imus was and how great they are for firing him.

Well, you've taken a step. A first step.

Now fire yourselves.

You are the ones broadcasting this rot on the public airwaves.

You
are the ones who incite these talk show hosts to take it right up to the edge all the time and then fire them when the heats on.

You are the ones who can't be trusted to walk away from the rap culture that is responsible for all this disrespect aimed at Black women.

Jesse Jackson has been trying to fight the lyric, rap culture demon in the Black culture for a long time but he has had more luck in one week getting a 66-year old talk show host fired than he has had revving up a movement to change things for the better.

There is an impossible task ahead as long as media conglomerates spew this rap culture to the public. There are issues of freedom of speech which I will address in another post, but what ever happened to responsibility?

Just because rappers are free to say and do what they want in this country doesn't mean that the owners of BET can't decide to establish some rules of engagement. Watch how quickly the music changes if the media magnates decide to set some standards.

So, CBS Radio -- the company that can't seem to keep a morning show -- is paying the price for a knuckle-headed comment that also begged the question -- how do terms like nappy headed hos get into our vocabulary.

Go Google nappy headed hos.

Go to your favorite online music site and search for "nappy headed hos". Type in the demeaning comment of your choice and see what music comes up. You don't have enough hours to see how deep this problem goes.

CBS has been a bumbling company. The radio division is now ready for its new leader Dan Mason who has integrity and will clean that place up.

MSNBC is so wonderful. I know this because they told us so. Yet parent company NBC Universal lives in a glass house and its time for some housecleaning.

Who would have thought that old Don Imus would be the one to light a fire under a movement to show decency toward Black women when he opened his big mouth?

The Viacom-latelies in the media business are about to put on a clinic of spin doctoring and don't do as I do, do as I say.

The media moguls are the enemy.

And it may take Imus' second comeback to hold them up to the public scrutiny they hope they can elude but so richly deserve.

It ain't over until the Black lady stops gyrating her butt while a rapper sings about something other than whores.

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New York Times columnist Frank Rich, who benefited from guesting on Imus In The Morning writes this piece in the Sunday Times -- Everybody Hates Don Imus