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Tuesday, April 27, 2010
This guest post is cross posted via The Anti-Intellect Blog and loldarian.com contributor Derrick Mcmahon.
Last night one of the hottest reality TV shows of the spring crowned its winner. Unfortunately this show is called Rupaul’s Drag Race, a show in which talented Drag Queens from all over the country compete to be crowned America’s next drag superstar. The show is executive produced by and stars one of the most successful African Americans in TV, Rupaul. The shows Season 1 winner (Bebe Zahara Bonet) as well as its newly crowned Season 2 winner (Tyra Sanchez) have both been Black.
And yet as of 1:17 PM not one of the following black blogs had a single post dedicated to the the show or its winner.
www.theybf.com
www.crunktastical.blogspost.com
www.necolebitchie.com
Now the aforementioned blogs don’t slack on their share of coverage for other reality shows like Tiny & Toya, Fantasia For Real, Flavor of Love, What Chilli Wants, or any of the other many shows featuring heterosexual African Americans. Despite these shows being no where near the success of Rupaul’s Drag Race the three Black Blogs listed shower them with coverage but couldn’t dedicate a single sentence to Rupaul Drag Race Season 2 winner Tyra Sanchez. Now don’t get me wrong the blogs don’t completely ignore the Black Gay Community. Crunktastical in particular has an affinity for offering up pictures of flamboyant gay men for public ridicule. The sites owner and its many members log on and hurl whatever clever thing they can muster about black gay men.
There’s a message being sent by black blogs and that message is clear. They are willing to cover black entertainment as long as that entertainment is predominately heterosexual. Of course they will include Dwight from Real Housewives of Atlanta in a post or two all the while rolling their eyes. But given the chance to dedicate a single post to the winner of Rupaul’s Drag Race, they couldn’t be bothered.
It’s interesting that Entertainment Weekly and Jezebel.com both sites that are predominately white have showered Rupaul’s Drag Race with coverage and love. But the very black blogs that pretend to exist to showcase and comment on Blacks making waves in the Entertainment business have failed to do so for the Black Gay Community. There homophobia is just a window into the treatment that Black gays face in the Black community.
It’s unfortunate that the Black Blogs mentioned chose to pretend to not know that Rupaul’s Drag Race had crowned it’s new winner but ultimately their exclusion affords us a sad realization. Blacks go on and on about how the mainstream media overlooks us and only cares about certain people (Whites), but when given the chance to be inclusive of all Blacks our Black bloggers turn around and do the same thing.
10 Comments:
Not sure if it's still there or what time they added it, but Concreteloop.com had a story about it.
April 27, 2010 6:46 PM
It is true that most black media outlets shun the black gay community. However all is not lost. Centric (formerly BETJ) airs repeats of Rupaul's Drag Race frequently and announced the winner on their Culture List blog. Also, they did feature a confident openly gay cast member on their hot Model City series and BETJ did air Noah's Arc way back when. The only way we are going to get greater representation from our own is if we demand it like our white counterparts. So let's rally Centric, BET etc. for more inclusive programing. BTW personally I can't help but think that the reason why Rupaul's show is so successful is because it reinforces stereotypes of gay men especially black gay men. Why didn't LOGO give Noah's Arc the same kind of promotion?
April 27, 2010 8:31 PM
its sad but black folks even in 2010 don't wanna talk about gay black men unless its in a negative way and as a black gay man myself it hurts making me put my full trust in god because i know he has my back at all times.i give props to concreteloop for saying something positive about rupaul's drag race
April 27, 2010 9:24 PM
PREACH... You better call a spade a spade. And most of the blogs you mentioned, their owners/creators are constantly seen with gay men in their entourage... I guess its all about look but dont touch or dont ask, and they wont tell.
April 28, 2010 8:45 AM
After the racism that's cropped up on white gay blogs, I'm sadly glad there's silence on the black end of things.
I hate being gay and black sometimes. I hate feeling like I'm in the middle of a way and am being forced to make a choice.
April 28, 2010 1:25 PM
It is sad. I suspect that it’s likely not a deliberate attempt to shun. I just viewed them for the first time today and of the three sites, two of them have commercial advertisers. Not that that’s a legitimate reason, but I’m sure it’s all about business, and the website owners want to make sure that their content appeals to those advertisers. After reading this today, I can say that I’m glad that I don’t patronize those blog sites.
April 28, 2010 2:58 PM
None of those 3 sites are that popular. Now if he had mentioned Bossip, ConcreteLoop, or SandraRose then we could talk. However, RuPaul's Drag Race airs on LOGO, and I don't know too many black folks that watch that channel. Also LOGO is an extended package channel that isn't available if you have basic cable or satellite, so the omission could be because nobody really has access to channel thus no access to the show???
April 28, 2010 7:33 PM
It's sad, but this should push us to do our own media
April 29, 2010 7:24 PM
@ Kayman. What? In regards to popularity, Necole Bitchie, Crunktastical and THEYBF are of the same caliber as Concrete Loop.
Darian, I agree with everything you said. It really is unfortunate and late when the only thing Black and gay that pops up on those sites are ridiculous gay caricatures and "WHICH MALE RAPPER, SINGER, or RAPPER is suspect/gay" teas. Screw 'em. I seldom visit those sites. They constantly report the same exact things, business they should not be concerned with anyway.
@Synnerman, it is sad that, at times, you hate being a Black gay. Don't let any mentally underdeveloped knots make you feel as though you need to make a choice between your race and your orientation. That's a mess.
April 30, 2010 3:05 PM
check out today's post. " A Real Man" by Tim'm West.
Quick question, why is attention being brought to the three sites in mention? I'm not sure if I'd check them out regardless of their content...
July 26, 2011 12:55 PM
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