Dr. Boyce: Shaunie Says the Basketball Wives Won’t Be Fighting, Alrighty Then
by Dr. Boyce Watkins, KultureKritic.com
Shaunie O’neal, the woman who has made a small fortune by convincing women of color to brawl on national television, expressed a point of personal enlightenment this week by confessing that the next season of Basketball Wives is going to consist of less fighting. Shaunie, the Executive Producer for the most notorious entertainment calamity since Flavor of Love, made the announcement during a reunion special for the show.
I applaud Shaunie’s announcement, for it hopefully represents progress in a show that was built on a questionable premise to begin with. Millions of Americans were already confused and annoyed by the fact that people were making themselves famous for the work of someone that they once had s*x with. Most of the “Basketball Wives” have never been married to anyone, and some didn’t even obtain the “glorious (yet profitable) distinction” of becoming an NBA baby mama. So, I wonder if there should be legislation introducing restrictions on when someone is allowed to use the word “wife.”
My mother has been a wife for nearly 40 years. That’s because she endured the challenges of being legally committed to the same man for most of her life. That makes her a bit different from Evelyn Lozada. who dumped the ex-fiancee (Antoine Walker) who went broke in exchange for a new man (Chad Ochocinco) who will be broke in about four years.
With that being said, I am sure that Shaunie’s “moment of clarity” was heavily influenced by the petition created to boycott her show, which has made Shaunie into the new Jerry Springer. Seeing VH1 openly exploit and promote the moment where Evelyn climbs over the table to punch another woman in the face was just too much for some people to watch. World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) couldn’t have come up with a better promotional video than the one created by the producers of “Basketball Wives,” and every 12-year old bully in America is taking notes.
I applaud those who’ve stood up against “Basketball Wives,” which makes a point of showing women of color at their absolute ugliest. I hope that Shaunie can learn the lesson that Bob Johnson never learned with BET, that a person can make a profit and not sell their entire soul in order to achieve it. The public gives Basketball Wives a great deal of leverage: They are allowed to illegally use the word “wife,” they can give a group of women celebrity status for someone else’s hard work, and the public doesn’t judge the women for displaying disgusting amounts of shallow materialism. All people are asking is that the “Basketball Wives” stop punching it out like a pack of drunken thugs.
Now Shaunie, go ahead and make your money, just show a little class in the process.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Professor at Syracuse University and author of “The RAPP Sheet: Rising Above Psychological Poison.” To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.
Comments
Powered by Facebook Comments
I hear you but, I think she’s just saying that to get the pressure of her. If she halfway cared, she wouldn’t have let the foolishness occur and keep occurring in the first place.
Shaunie is the Executive Producer so she could have easily pulled Evelyn and Tammy to the side and side you can argue but Do not put your hands on anyone! She sits back and watches and on some occasions and instagated..especially with the Meeka lady and yes she is actually one of the married wives! Shaunie is the blame and now that her purse is being challenged she is making changes..so we will see..Good for the people who stood up against this bullying…
This reminds me of all the hoopla over the violence on The Jerry Springer show years ago. After the complains died they went right back to the fighting. Unfortunately with these type of shows that’s what people are tuning in for. This show should be called Basketball Baby Momma’s.
The effort we all should be contributing to to uplift the race is only damaged by the utter ignorance of this program. On with the boycott!
The show should be called “Bullies Gone Wild”. When Tami took Kesha’s personal belongings and refused to return them and the rest of the tribe stood around and did nothing to make her big a** return them was the last straw for me. I decided then and there that either Tami goes or I do, so I guess I have seen my last episode of Basketball Wives.
Shaunie is to blame for all the ignorance that occurs on the show. I say let’s get rid of her and let an experience producer with class take over. Shaunie is all bullshit and cares nothing about her race.
What happened to Tami’s anger management? She needs to think back on her first episodes when she was the underdog. She has a lot of potential if she starts acting like a decent person.
I know I can’t be the only one who notice that darker skinned women on this show was the most disrespected. No one deserves to be bullied and attacked but I can’t help but speak on the fact that there clearly was less sympathy for Meeka, Kenya, and Royce (All darker skinned) being attacked. But when Kesha was verbally attacked she is labeled as so sweet, dainty, helpless receiving all this sympathy. Although Jennifer eventually was included in the attacks, she early on supported Evelyn’s and Tammy’s bullying until she became a target and now has a change of mind. Also remember when Malaysia (darker skinned) on LA BBW was attacked by Laura (mixed light white) but Malaysia tagged that big nose, so Laura never tried that again! But once again, the darker skinned was attacked with no sympathy.
There should be no reviving this show! And Shaunie needs to be shut down because her so called executive directing is destructive and detrimental to the already negative image most everyone including Black Men have of us already. There is also an increase in attacks on young darker skinned girls at school happening as well. There is no redemption, Shaunie has made enough money at the expense of Black Women!
I agree keep the boycott moving forward and don’t support anything future Shaunie, Evelyn, Tammy, or Suzy the Sh*t starter will try and do!
If Susie had kept her mouth shut, this would not have happened. Susie you can’t be friends to everyone. She tries to play both sides of the fence, then when someone gets hit, she feels so bad. Wasn’t she a target at one time? Then she should know how this feels. Tammi is nothing but a bully, but she wouldn’t have kept my purse!!!!
They should just get rid of the show period we should boycott all these trash shows that do nothing to enligthen the people and just dumb society down.
I’m sure they won’t be fighting because we won’t be watching. To hear this from Shaunie is not too convincing; especially, since the fighting occurred at her events and she did nothing about it.