As a black woman of today, conscious of how black people are viewed in the media and society in general, it is hard not to have a love hate relationship with the Black Entertainment Network (BET), especially during the early 2000s.
I still remember watching BET’s infamous UNCUT, which featured edgy, almost pornographic music videos, late at night. Granted I was young, there are some images you don’t soon forget. Like a young black girl in a thong, no thicker than floss, shaking her ass to a song called Butter Face, whose lyrics comments on a girls appearance; suggesting ‘everything looks good BUT-HER FACE”. Crude? Yes. Disrespectful to African American Women? Most definitely. But who was to blame? Debra Lee, the CEO of multi-billion dollar network trying to make ratings or the audience keeping the ratings of this controversial programming up?
A bigger question, how is it that one markets to an audience, like the black community, and please every one? Lifetime and Oxygen knows their audience is women. TNT focuses on action, SPIKE TV on men. So how is it that someone targets an audience brought together only by race?
This is an issue Debra Lee, shares with Forbes, she struggled significantly with in the past. She not only represents herself, but an entire race.
Many black affiliated organizations were up in arms over BET’s Uncut and many of their other music video programming like it. So much so that they picketed in from of Lee’s house. Graduating from Brown University, and Harvard law, Lee admits that often times she must take her mind set away from being a lawyer, and think about what is best for the company. She came into her role as CEO of BET, not intentionally, but from working her way up as part of a young BET’s law department. She also comments that it is a bad day in BET when she is thinking of original programming, because this is not what she does.
There was a time, sad to say, that I avoided BET all together. However in the past few years there has been a considerable change in the programming. Lee states that BET now has a new standard. “Our programming filter now is: It has to have a message, can’t be derogatory and has to show positive images. That doesn’t mean that it’s unreal or fake” Lee states, that they still need to keep their ratings, and try to be as real as possible. They don’t aim to be the “Black PBS”. In particular I enjoy their formally CW, adopted half hour comedy-drama, The GAME - A fictional show focusing on football players and the women in their lives.
In growing up, I often found myself being one of the only black people in the room. I remember thinking I had to act a certain way, talk a certain way, to counter the image that was being portrayed of African Americans, through programming such as BET. Ironically, while I was trying not to be seen as a stereotype, Debra Lee was trying create positive images of African Americans with entertainment. Does the fact that I struggled with presenting a good image, because of part of her programming mean that she wasn't doing her job well enough? Or is that just a problem with our society, in which we accept a culture as one way.
I commend Debra Lee because representing an entire race is not an easy feat, and I do enjoy the many positive reinforcements of black culture recently airing on BET, such as Black Girls Rock, and BET Honors, award shows honoring African Americans portraying positive images of our community.
