Now why did I just know that the execs at BET were going to find a way not to allow Aaron McGruder to have his say about their minstrel network? For those who are unfamiliar with the latest controversy surrounding The Boondocks (hat tip to my co-host Daryll of The Comic Shoppe for hipping me to this), it appears that the episode entitled The Hunger Strike will not be airing after all. I thought that it would be a pretty daring, if not a peculiar feat to broadcast an episode that aggressively lampooned BET while the President of BET Entertainment (Reginald Hudlin) still maintained executive production credit on the series. I honestly believe that the trap door has already been put into place as it relates to BET. Whether it's due to Black blogosphere or Reverend Coates' Enough is Enough campaign, there will be a reckoning for Sambo central-it just can't come soon enough. Here's more on this banned episode controversy, courtesy of HipHopDX.com:
Over the past couple of weeks there has been rumors hovering about a certain Boondocks episode waiting to be aired. A clip leaked to youtube that previewed the episode which takes a critical and humorous look at BET and its programming. The snippet heightened curiosity of when the episode would eventually air. After the rumored original air date (January 7th) had passed, there would be even more speculation as to what happened to the episode. The clips on youtube were also taken down with no explanation.
Message boards ran wild with talk that BET put a halt to the episode ever airing but there was absolutely no confirmation from either sources at BET or Boondocks. It’s no secret that the Boondocks has attracted controversy (ie: last year’s controversial “Return of the King” episode) but to hear that an episode may possibly never air has raised more than a few eyebrows.
Today, an anonymous source close to the situation issued a statement exclusively to HipHopDX.com explaining that not one, but two episodes have been banned from airing. Here's his statement as to what has transpired in recent weeks…
“It now appears official that TWO episodes of The Boondocks second season -- clips of which surfaced on and then were pulled from Youtube -- will not air. At all. Ever.
Fans who were waiting for the show to reach the levels of controversy that last year's Peabody Award-winning "The Return of Martin Luther King" episode achieved will have to cross their fingers and hope that Sony execs don’t also pull the episodes from the second season DVD, which is slated for late spring.
The two episodes were originally scheduled to air on November 16 and December 17, respectively. No official reasons were given for the banning of the episodes from either Sony or Adult Swim as of yet.
Rumor has it the higher ups at BET have been pressuring Sony behind the scenes for months to yank the episodes, including threatening legal action. Now I’m pretty biased as a BET hater, but it’s sad the people in charge over there are more worried about being teased by a cartoon than producing good television. Not surprising, but still sad.
I’m a fan of the show and I've seen the episodes and they are undoubtedly the most cutting, brilliant and funny episodes of the season. In the first one: "The Hunger Strike" – Huey teams up with an Al Sharpton-like character (played by Cee-Lo Green from Gnarls Barkley) and goes on a hunger strike to protest BET. In what has since become a bizarre example of life imitating art, BET execs ‘Deborah Leevil’ and ‘Weggie Rudlin’ (imagine Black female Dr. Evil and Reginald Hudlin as Number 2) go through extraordinary lengths to thwart young Huey’s crusade. In the second one, titled "The Uncle Ruckus Reality Show”, BET gives Uncle Ruckus his own show, and what follows is one of the most fucked up and hilarious things I’ve seen on TV in years.
Is this controversy good for the Boondocks? Probably. For McGruder, controversy has never been a bad thing. But it’s doubtful any of this can be good for BET, which seems to be under perpetual fire from community activists and critics alike for its garbage programming. Now with this and BET founder Bob Johnson’s cheap shots at Obama, Huey Freeman may not be the only one hungering for a BET boycott.”
Calls and emails to Aaron McGruder’s office have yet to be returned. An exclusive clip has also been leaked to HipHopDX.
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