"Mess" flap spurs advertisers to drop BET series

By Andrew Wallenstein

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Mounting backlash against an upcoming BET series accused of trafficking in racial stereotypes has prompted at least two advertisers to pull out of the premiere episode on the Viacom Inc.-owned channel.

Sources said Monday that such companies as State Farm Insurance Cos. and the Home Depot requested that their advertisements be yanked from the new comedy series "Hot Ghetto Mess" as well as from a Web page on BET.com touting the program.

BET declined to confirm specific advertisers defecting from the program but released the following statement: "A few of our clients have asked to move to other programming dayparts, and we simply accommodated their request."

The corporate retreat appeared to be in response to a growing chorus of critics who have been calling for an advertiser boycott of the series, which is scheduled to premiere at 10:30 p.m. July 25. (A copy of the pilot could not be obtained before press time.)

"Mess" is a compilation of viewer-submitted home videos and BET-produced man-on-the-street segments that exhibit blacks in unflattering situations that typically illustrate the excesses of so-called hip-hop culture. Also drawing some fire is the show's 10 p.m. lead-in, the new hidden-camera series "S.O.B. (Socially Offensive Behavior)," as well as the logo for "Mess," which appears to be an animated blackface character depicted with a red slash through the image.

All six episodes of "Mess" are hosted by Charlie Murphy, a comedian best known from another program that tackled racially charged humor, the hit Comedy Central series "Chappelle's Show."

SITE OF CONTROVERSY

Ever since word of the series' development spread in January, "Mess" has been a lightning rod for debate online largely because of the Web site on which the series is based, HotGhettoMess.com. The 3-year-old site, which also has spawned a DVD documentary, features hundreds of photographs of mostly black men and women with hairstyles and clothing associated with inner-city fashion.

The network and Jam Donaldson, creator of the Web site and an executive producer of the series, maintain that the images are presented in a context meant to spur black America to question its community standards. But others contend that "Mess" is only perpetuating the stereotypes it seeks to curb.

"Maybe after Don Imus no one seems to have a problem with this kind of thing anymore," said Latrice Janine, a 25-year-old student in Chicago who has been circulating an online petition that includes more than 2,000 signatures. "I still do. I may not stop Viacom from doing this on television, but it's an effort to let them know the days of sitting quietly are gone."

Complicating the controversy is the involvement of BET, which has attempted to distance itself in recent years from a past checkered by programming that has provoked scorn from countless black luminaries. But BET president of entertainment Reginald Hudlin believes "Mess" is designed to be thought-provoking for its target audience.

"Is my goal to discuss these issues in a format and context that makes people who don't watch the channel comfortable or do it in a way that engages the 18- to 34-year-old viewer and makes them really think about these things?" Hudlin asked.

Asked whether the series has been screened for BET's parent company, Viacom, Hudlin said: "BET is very autonomous. We don't run ideas past Viacom. It's me having a conversation with my boss, (BET chairman and CEO) Debra Lee."

BLOGOSPHERE OUTRAGE

But it is Viacom, BET and even Lee that have been savaged in debates raging on blogs, podcasts and even the Web site's own forums. Leading the charge is What About Our Daughters?, a little-known blog and audio podcast addressing depictions of black women in popular culture. In recent weeks, the site targeted advertisers that appeared on a BET.com Web page advertising "Mess," including AT&T Corp., DaimlerChrysler and Target. Two advertisers, State Farm and Home Depot, released statements acknowledging that they withdrew both TV and online spots as a result of the boycott threat.