Fancy Man Frrrunkus
12-01-2007, 11:21 AM
from Home News Tribune (http://www.thnt.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071201/COLUMNISTS/712010409)
Three days after Don Imus was fired from his morning radio show for racially insensitive quotes about the Rutgers University women's basketball team, Steve Harvey, a noted black comedian and actor, played a skit on his morning radio show where two rednecks from West Virginia talked about marrying members of their immediate family.
It was not original, not funny and not notable except for the fact it was worse than what Imus said on his program that April morning. As Imus prepares to return to radio Wednesday there still exists a brutal double standard where racism is only a one-way street in a medium where the freedom of speech has been destroyed for corporate interests.
How can Harvey or other black entertainers, whether they are on radio or television, be allowed to portray another race in a negative way while others lose their jobs? A few weeks following Imus' firing, J.V. and Elvis, a somewhat popular midday radio show in New York, were fired after playing a skit degrading the workers at a Chinese food restaurant.
Even while Imus made an attack on a specific group of people and Harvey's was in the abstract their comments were made in the same context.
That is not to say that it is right for each of these people to make these remarks, even though they are meant in jest, but their remarks should be treated equally. How can three white radio hosts get fired over a racial skit and a black radio host goes unscathed?
"It is to the point that I cannot even imitate, say, an Asian person," said Anthony Cumia, co-host of the Opie and Anthony show last month on air. "Even if I correctly imitate how the person talks in a nonhurtful way the censors at this station will dump out. It's gotten ridiculous."
Yes, it has gotten ridiculous. And it is time for things to change, but sadly it only looks like things will get worse.
The racial issues surrounding radio and television today are not being driven by the Federal Communications Commission but instead the broadcast companies themselves. In the case of Imus and J.V. and Elvis, the companies fell to public pressure. They were not worried about protecting freedom of speech of backing their talent's ability to entertain an audience, but fear of backlash from black America.
It is obvious that as a whole white people in America do not take arms when a derogatory comment is made about them as a people. It is brushed off as a joke and a laugh. Comedian Dave Chappelle mocked both blacks and whites in his wildly successful "Chappelle's Show" on Comedy Central that was meant obvious in jest.
And while white people laughed at Chappelle's views on white America it is difficult to see black America taking to a white comedian doing the same things. Instead, there would likely be protests and the threat of boycotts if such as a show was ever put on the air in the first place.
There is still a rift in the races that despite efforts to close it remains wide open.
Does it help for this double standard to exist? Does it help if blacks are allowed to make fun of whites without consequences?
Maybe there is no answer, but the state of racial comedy on the radio is in a state of unbalance. And when Imus returns next month it will be made an issue again. But as everyone tunes in to see if Imus is going to say something inappropriate maybe someone should listen to his black counterparts as well for the same reason.
Staff Writer David Stegon can be reached at (732) 565-7251 or dstegon@thnt.com.
Three days after Don Imus was fired from his morning radio show for racially insensitive quotes about the Rutgers University women's basketball team, Steve Harvey, a noted black comedian and actor, played a skit on his morning radio show where two rednecks from West Virginia talked about marrying members of their immediate family.
It was not original, not funny and not notable except for the fact it was worse than what Imus said on his program that April morning. As Imus prepares to return to radio Wednesday there still exists a brutal double standard where racism is only a one-way street in a medium where the freedom of speech has been destroyed for corporate interests.
How can Harvey or other black entertainers, whether they are on radio or television, be allowed to portray another race in a negative way while others lose their jobs? A few weeks following Imus' firing, J.V. and Elvis, a somewhat popular midday radio show in New York, were fired after playing a skit degrading the workers at a Chinese food restaurant.
Even while Imus made an attack on a specific group of people and Harvey's was in the abstract their comments were made in the same context.
That is not to say that it is right for each of these people to make these remarks, even though they are meant in jest, but their remarks should be treated equally. How can three white radio hosts get fired over a racial skit and a black radio host goes unscathed?
"It is to the point that I cannot even imitate, say, an Asian person," said Anthony Cumia, co-host of the Opie and Anthony show last month on air. "Even if I correctly imitate how the person talks in a nonhurtful way the censors at this station will dump out. It's gotten ridiculous."
Yes, it has gotten ridiculous. And it is time for things to change, but sadly it only looks like things will get worse.
The racial issues surrounding radio and television today are not being driven by the Federal Communications Commission but instead the broadcast companies themselves. In the case of Imus and J.V. and Elvis, the companies fell to public pressure. They were not worried about protecting freedom of speech of backing their talent's ability to entertain an audience, but fear of backlash from black America.
It is obvious that as a whole white people in America do not take arms when a derogatory comment is made about them as a people. It is brushed off as a joke and a laugh. Comedian Dave Chappelle mocked both blacks and whites in his wildly successful "Chappelle's Show" on Comedy Central that was meant obvious in jest.
And while white people laughed at Chappelle's views on white America it is difficult to see black America taking to a white comedian doing the same things. Instead, there would likely be protests and the threat of boycotts if such as a show was ever put on the air in the first place.
There is still a rift in the races that despite efforts to close it remains wide open.
Does it help for this double standard to exist? Does it help if blacks are allowed to make fun of whites without consequences?
Maybe there is no answer, but the state of racial comedy on the radio is in a state of unbalance. And when Imus returns next month it will be made an issue again. But as everyone tunes in to see if Imus is going to say something inappropriate maybe someone should listen to his black counterparts as well for the same reason.
Staff Writer David Stegon can be reached at (732) 565-7251 or dstegon@thnt.com.