Protests Continue Against “Demeaning” Hip-Hop Videos

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


mojo-photo-gangster.jpgWe’ve covered protests over hip-hop lyrics from a couple perspectives here on the Riff (now that’s fair and balanced!) and the controversy continues: today the New York Times is reporting protestors are targeting media companies like Viacom (owner of MTV and BET) for “degrading” music videos. The protesters have been targeting the homes of company executives, but their goals seem a little vague:

Among other things the protesters want media companies like Viacom to develop “universal creative standards” for video and music, including prohibitions on some language and images. Video vixens and foul-mouthed pimps and thugs are now so widespread, the protesters maintain, that they infect perceptions of ordinary nonwhite people. … “A lot of rap isn’t rap anymore, it’s just people selling their souls,” Marc Newman, a 28-year-old car salesman from New Rochelle, N.Y., said on Saturday. He was among about 20 men, women and children from area Baptist churches marching outside the Upper East Side residence of Philippe Dauman, the president and chief executive of Viacom Inc.

While 20 people isn’t that impressive, and Enough is Enough shares their name with another group focused on protecting our children from “hard-core sexually-explicit materials that is harmful to our youth” (uh, sic?), the Times reminds us that both the N.A.A.C.P. and the National Congress of Black Women are on the side of “more corporate responsibility” when it comes to music videos. The sentiments have perhaps been explained more clearly by the blog BrilliantBrown.com, in reaction to the BET show “Hot Ghetto Mess”: “At this point, I’m beginning to wonder if BET has been secretly purchased by the KKK or something.” Jeez, the KKK or the Taliban, do I have to pick a side?

Fact:

Mother Jones was founded as a nonprofit in 1976 because we knew corporations and billionaires wouldn't fund the type of hard-hitting journalism we set out to do.

Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2024 demands.

payment methods

Fact:

Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2024 demands.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate