The NAACP taps raging bigot and sexist D.L. Hughley to host its Image Awards.
Sisterdoc is a Lifetime member of the NAACP. However, she is thinking about turning in her card. For their 39th Image Awards show, airing on Fox on Thursday (Feb. 14), the NAACP has tapped D. L. Hughley as host. Last year, Hughley went on Jay Leno to co-sign on Don Imus’ racist rant against the Rutger’s basketball team. Hughley said of the Rutger’s women, “those WERE some nappy headed women” and “those were some of the ugliest women I’ve ever seen.” Who DOES something like that?!
Hughley is only one part of this problem. The national arm of the NAACP, which oversees the Image Awards, has been “overcooking my grits” for years. Remember when they repeatedly awarded Martin Lawrence an Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Award for “Martin”? Or, nominated Jaleel White (“Steve Urkel”) for the same? Remember when Isaiah “gay slur” Washington won Best Actor for “Dr. Burke”? Or, remember when they nominated R. Kelly for Outstanding Album for Chocolate Factory, right after his pedophile bootleg video was leaked.
In 1997, the Image Awards had gotten so bad that one local chapter, the Beverly Hills/Hollywood branch, protested its own organization—the national NAACP! The chapter parted ways with the national NAACP governance by protesting yet another “Martin” nomination. The local chapter also lashed out at offensive shows such as Homeboys in Outer Space, Goode Behavior, Malcolm and Eddie, Sparks, and the Wayans Brothers.
Where, O, Where is the Beverly Hills/Hollywood branch today? We really need them. But then, can anyone really disabuse Hughley of his kind of capitalizing logic to justify his own hatred:
When Mel Gibson made an anti-Semitic remark, he had a number-one movie, and his Q rating went up. Michael Richards made his statement, and sales of Seinfeld went up 70 percent three weeks in a row. Isaiah Washington made an anti-gay slur. Grey's Anatomy has never been stronger. Don Imus, his numbers went through the roof. (A.V. Club interview)
As for you, the NAACP: anytime you want to start a new search for a President, we are ready. And, hopefully Bruce Gordon’s resignation was a wake-up call, and that you will get your Board in order. Remember when Gordon raised $2.6 million for the Katrina Relief Fund but was chastised for not getting Board approval first? Remember when Gordon united leaders from across the country to present a unified position on the post-Katrina government response, and the Board said he should not be trying to “set policy?” Remember when the Board said Gordon shouldn’t try to initiate a Medicare Part D enrollment effort (with Bill Cosby and Danny Glover) because it was thought to be “service” and not “advocacy?”
We all want the NAACP to rise to its rightful place in leadership once again.
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