I like most of America just finished watching this year’s BET awards and it was a spectacle to say the least.  I thoroughly enjoyed many of this evening’s performances such as Maxwell, Ne-Yo and the O-Jays.  It is always refreshing to be able to listen to good music and watch artists at work.

I understood this evening to be a tribute to the late, great Michael Jackson, arguably the greatest artist of all time.  While I totally understand your limited time to prepare for the event due to his untimely death, I think you have truly done a disservice to his memory with tonight’s programming.

I personally do not know all the steps involved in putting together an event of this magnitude, but I do feel betrayed by your choice of content during this “tribute”.  While the organization of the show was noticeably “off”, I am willing to overlook that due to the time allotted to prepare.  However what I cannot overlook are your poor decisions of material.

Throughout the evening there was a need to censor much of what was said by the host Jamie Foxx and others on the program.  While I know the standards of what is acceptable to say on television is constantly evolving, the definition of decent and proper is unwavering.  This was a historic event with a large audience of families, many with small children watching.  Having the host of the event go into graphic detail about sexual material in the opening monologues was both insensitive and completely inappropriate.  It is still possible to be funny without being obscene.

As I continued to watch the show waiting for an actual tribute, I was consistently disappointed by the lack of any such thing.  The most offensive and appalling moment came during the performance of Lil Wayne.  You mentioned HIV awareness multiple times throughout the evening both through commercials and remarks made by the host.  I just don’t see how this message mixes with a song about “fucking every girl in the world”.  While I’m sure this was out of your control, it did not help matters to have young women on the stage at the time.  This moment was completely unacceptable in my opinion.

I used to truly enjoy the programming on BET all the way back to the days of Video Soul with Donnie Simpson.  Your network was a groundbreaking opportunity for people of color to show the world what it was like to walk in our shoes.  However, somewhere along your road to success you have lost your way.  Many of us thought it was with the acquisition by Viacom, but I believe this presented you with an opportunity to improve with better funding.  Instead it seems your programming has taken many steps in the other direction, often showing very irresponsible examples of what being “black” is all about.

I don’t know how much difference this letter will truly make, but I want to stand up as one person who is willing to speak up and call wrong what it is.  I am embarassed tonight for the entire Jackson family and the mockery you have made of their son, brother and father.  I am embarassed for all of his fans who put their faith in you to put together a fitting tribute to him.  Most of all I am embarassed for you, a network formed to highlight the black experience but which has rather done it a great disservice.

Ultimately I believe the reason for tonight’s programming is a culmination of all the bad programming you have been producing over the past few years.  Your standards have continued to drop as you have struggled to stay hip and relevant.  Well you have now lost me as a fan and viewers, for tonight you have failed.

The one thing I am happy about is that Mrs. Katherine Jackson did not have to experience this embarrassment in person.

Sincerely,
Shawn Scott