MTV draws fire for cartoon of black women on leash
By Steve GormanWed Aug 9, 3:14 PM ET
A new MTV cartoon depicting black women squatting on all fours tethered to
leashes and defecating on the floor is drawing fire from several prominent
African Americans who call the episode degrading.
Critics say MTV showed especially poor judgment because the weekly animated
program, "Where My Dogs At?," appeals to young teens and airs at an hour, 12:30
p.m. on Saturdays, when many children are watching television.
The show just completed its initial eight-episode run on MTV2, a spin-off
channel of the music video institution that recently celebrated its 25th
anniversary.
The half-hour show lampoons real-life celebrities and pop culture as seen
through the eyes of two wise-cracking stray dogs -- Woofie and Buddy -- voiced
by comedians Tracy Morgan and Jeffrey Ross, respectively.
A statement released this week by the Viacom Inc.-owned cable network, whose
president, Christina Norman, is black, defended the episode in question as
social satire.
In it, a look-alike of rap star Snoop Dogg strolls into a pet shop with two
bikini-clad black women on leashes. They hunch over on all fours and scratch
themselves as he orders one of them to "hand me my latte." At the end of the
segment, the Snoopathon Dogg Esquire character dons a rubber glove to clean up
excrement left on the floor by one of the women.
MTV said the "Woofie Loves Snoop" episode, which first aired on July 1, was
"in fact a parody of an actual appearance Snoop Dogg made where he was
accompanied by two women wearing neck collars and chains."
"We certainly do not condone Snoop's actions and the goal was to take aim at
that incident for its insensitivity and outrageousness," the statement said.
But several prominent blacks, including New York Daily News columnist Stanley
Crouch, condemned the segment as misogynist, racist and crude, and they
questioned the sincerity of MTV's contention that it was satirizing the
outlandish behavior of a real-life rapper.
"Where's the context in that?" said Lisa Fager, president and co-founder of
the Industry Ears, a consortium of broadcast industry professionals who monitor
and critique media content.
Crouch suggested in a column this week that the "Where My Dogs At?" segment
was an extension of dehumanizing images contained in gangsta rap videos aired
by MTV and projected "around the world as 'real' black culture."
Payne Brown, a high-ranking executive at cable giant Comcast Corp., said he
lodged a personal complaint in an e-mail to Norman but found her response,
essentially the same as the network's press statement, to be "unsatisfying."
"Clearly, it goes far beyond the pale of anything that remotely could be
considered acceptable," he said of the episode, stressing that he was not
speaking for Comcast. "This is just me as an African-American father, husband
and son."
The first season of the show, which carries a rating advising that parents
may find its material unsuitable for children under age 14, drew a cumulative
audience of 17.2 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research.
Reuters/VNU
Copyright © 2006 Reuters Limited.
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