It pains me that, after praising "my people" for their impromptu tributes in the wake of Michael Jackson's passing, a planned "tribute to Michael Jackson," via the BET Awards Show, would not only pale in comparison but actually showcase what a complete travesty "Black Entertainment" has become.
It seems that the tears I shed for Michael Jackson should not just be for the end of his life, or the end of my childhood era, but also for the end of an era of black musical genius of the 20th century - which arguably began with Louis Armstrong, King of Jazz, and now closes with our very own King of Pop.
Considering that I've been pretty emotional since Thursday, I must offer a disclaimer in the way that I respond to last night's BET Awards Show, for I feel as if I'm going through the stages of grief. I already experienced Stage 1 - DENIAL - as soon as Michael Jackson's death was announced; then, Stage 2 - ANGER - came pretty quickly the next day, after suffering through a media onslaught of speculations of MJ's private life, his legal and financial troubles, and his rumored medical condition (keep in mind, we still don't know what killed him yet). Friday night, I was screaming at my TV: LEAVE MICHAEL ALONE! HE'S DEAD! YOU DISGUSTING VULTURES!! HE'S NOT EVEN BURIED YET! WILL YOU NOT STOP TILL YOU PICK HIS BONES DRY??!!
But over the weekend, my anger calmed down, and I thought I was pretty much ready for Stage 3 - BARGAINING - in which I thought Michael, if he were in deep emotional and psychological pain, was finally at peace and his reputation, upon witnessing the global outpouring of well wishes, MJ Saturday night parties and flash mob mass moonwalks from as far away as Paris, Vienna, Sydney, and Beijing, redeemed his legacy.
Then, the BET Awards Show happened and set me right back to Stage 2. And I should have known better. BET is nothing but "Black Embarrassment Television," "Black Exploitation Television," "Buffoonery Entertainment Television." But, when tuning in to CNN, I learned that the BET Awards Show had revamped the event so that they could turn the whole show into a "Tribute to Michael Jackson." Naturally, I thought I should see what "our people" would do for the man's legacy.
It seems that the tears I shed for Michael Jackson should not just be for the end of his life, or the end of my childhood era, but also for the end of an era of black musical genius of the 20th century - which arguably began with Louis Armstrong, King of Jazz, and now closes with our very own King of Pop.
Considering that I've been pretty emotional since Thursday, I must offer a disclaimer in the way that I respond to last night's BET Awards Show, for I feel as if I'm going through the stages of grief. I already experienced Stage 1 - DENIAL - as soon as Michael Jackson's death was announced; then, Stage 2 - ANGER - came pretty quickly the next day, after suffering through a media onslaught of speculations of MJ's private life, his legal and financial troubles, and his rumored medical condition (keep in mind, we still don't know what killed him yet). Friday night, I was screaming at my TV: LEAVE MICHAEL ALONE! HE'S DEAD! YOU DISGUSTING VULTURES!! HE'S NOT EVEN BURIED YET! WILL YOU NOT STOP TILL YOU PICK HIS BONES DRY??!!
But over the weekend, my anger calmed down, and I thought I was pretty much ready for Stage 3 - BARGAINING - in which I thought Michael, if he were in deep emotional and psychological pain, was finally at peace and his reputation, upon witnessing the global outpouring of well wishes, MJ Saturday night parties and flash mob mass moonwalks from as far away as Paris, Vienna, Sydney, and Beijing, redeemed his legacy.
Then, the BET Awards Show happened and set me right back to Stage 2. And I should have known better. BET is nothing but "Black Embarrassment Television," "Black Exploitation Television," "Buffoonery Entertainment Television." But, when tuning in to CNN, I learned that the BET Awards Show had revamped the event so that they could turn the whole show into a "Tribute to Michael Jackson." Naturally, I thought I should see what "our people" would do for the man's legacy.
Have Mercy!
What the hell did I just watch last night? Was that supposed to be a "tribute"? Bad jokes, ghettoized speak, and Jamie Foxx and Martin Lawrence reprising their most offensive drag-queen, woman-hating performances with their fake movie trailer called Skank Robbers (starring their demeaning altar egos Wanda the Ugly Woman and Sheneneh)?! Beyonce singing "Ave Maria" in lingerie (the sacrilege!) before singing "In the Arms of an Angel" in a ballerina-bride get-up that made her look a fool? And, if that were some "In Memoriam" anthem, why not sing her lovely hit song, "Halo"? I mean, come on!
Ne-Yo did a decent job on "The Lady of My Life," but Ciara sounded weak on "Heal the World," and where oh where was there even a dance tribute to our Lord of the Dance? No Michael Jackson montage, no medley of his greatest hits, nothing! Worse, we get some "hot ghetto mess" of a spoof on John Singleton's Baby Boy that most people, who probably didn't watch that dumb movie, wouldn't understand. Pathetic!
The most egregious offense had to be that new-school crap someone has the audacity to call "hip hop" performed by some youngins', including Drake, Lil' Wayne, and TI or T-Pain or whatever the hell they call themselves. One of them wore a "big ass chain" with the words "Big Ass Chain." I kid you not! And if that weren't bad enough, every other word was bleeped out, and then they brought onto the stage some 12 year old girls dressed up like the "skank robbers" Jamie Foxx and Martin Lawrence already spoofed. Before I could pick my jaw up off the floor, Jamie Foxx then ushered Janet Jackson onto the stage.
Make no mistake about it. Janet looked pissed. I would be too. Her words were gracious, but I wouldn't be surprised if she were thinking: YOU TRIFLING NEGROES! HOW DARE YOU DISGRACE MY BROTHER'S MEMORY LIKE THIS?!
If it had not been for Janet, this "tribute" show would have gone down in flames. But she managed to bring the telecast some grace and, surprisingly, some relief and some sanity. I think we really needed to hear from someone in the family, and who better than Janet, the other well known Jackson, to come out and say, "We're in pain, and we appreciate that you are giving us the love and support." People in the audience, and myself, started crying again, and suddenly the insanity stopped in time for Jamie and Ne-Yo to sing "I'll Be There."
And while the show ended on a positive note, it certainly wasn't enough to remove the stench of buffoonery that we witnessed in the previous three hours. I am appalled that this telecast dared to call itself a "tribute to Michael Jackson." Because, whatever flaws the man suffered off stage, ON STAGE, he was the consummate professional. And he never uttered profanity, he never demeaned women with disgusting lyrics, and he offered us magic. There is no excuse for the "hot ghetto mess" that BET showcased last night. Michael Jackson also came from a ghetto, but through Motown and later on in his adult life, he showed all of us how you can climb from humble beginnings to become a legend.
Not one artist who "graced" last night's stage is worthy enough to step into the King's shoes, and it pains me to think that Michael Jackson died without one potential artist to pass the torch to.
A travesty.
Let's hope other upcoming tributes planned are worthy of his greatness.
14 comments:
I was just thinking about that. There's not a single artist, on BET, MTV or on the Disney Channel that could fill Michael's shoes. If the best we have right now is Li'l Wayne, The Jonas Brothers and the Cheetah Girls, then American music is now dead...zero talent and/or ingenuity.
When Elvis and John Lennon passed away, at least Michael was able to fill the void that they left (with a little assistance from Prince and Madonna), which when you think about it, there must've been something magical in the water in the MidWest, when considered that Michael, Prince, and Madonna were all born in the summer of 1958--the same year Motown Record was founded. Despite his pale appearance, Michael and his brothers were true pioneers.
In fact, the Jackson Five were the first Black band to ever perform in Australia (circa 1972). Not The Temptations, not The Four Tops, but the Jackson Five.
Aside from Janet's appearance and the Jamie Foxx/Ne-Yo's cover of "I'll Be There," the ONLY act I really enjoyed from the program were my favorite group New Edition, dressed as the J5 and doing a medley of their songs. Talk about full circle. New Edition were the J5 of the 80s.
As much as I like New Edition, they owe much credit to the Jackson 5. As a matter of fact, not just New Edition, but Shai, Jodeci, All-4-One, Troop, and especially New Kids On The Block, 98 Degrees, Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC.
All of them, are indebted to Michael Jackson and his brothers for life!
My and I watched almost two hours of the show. Until hubby couldn't take anymore. After watching some of the acts my husband said "is this what we have to look forward to? Is this the future of Black music.?"
I said yes, looks that way, these entertainers have no class, no talent, and no self-respect. It is indeed sad. Today's popular culture has lost its SOUL.
It's even worst to see the old heads lacking in respect and class. Just sad.
It was really bad. I mean reeeeeeally bad. Oh my! I could have slayed them all... With Michael's sequined glove; just killed them. All of these ugly children, ohhh that waz bad lol!Michael Jackson, all my love.
I missed the BET awards like I intentionally do every year, but not this one. I meant to watch it however I mixed up the dates. From what I've been hearing from people online and offline I dodged a bullet. I don't think I could've regressed to stage 2 anger. BET needs to step up their game because its ashame that we can't give MJJ a proper homegoing memorial. And who in the world invited Li'l Wayne to do a tribute to MJJ??!!!
A sign that the staff is mostly made up of COLLEGE INTERNS! Come on BET you can do better!
Brava, brava, brava!
Unfortunately I'm back at Kubler-Ross's Stage I, and find it hard to feel anything but extreme numbness, with some hope that maybe this is the Houdini-esque part of Michael's comeback tour, and soon we'll see him moonwalking out of his coffin.
Thank God I didn’t see it. I already knew it would be a continuation (for those who already know) and expose (for those who weren’t aware) of the new millennium coonery. It’s painful to witness the slow (or perhaps accelerated) death of the greatest and most creative art ever; Black American music. BET is modern conduit to see our legacy (and image as a race) being drug down a road of broken glass, nails and cow manure behind a truck driven by intoxicated zero talent-self degrading-image managed Negroes.
I’m not surprised at the honest and heartfelt comments describing this spectacle by the arrogant new minstrelsy. I did see a clip of Jamie Fox ranting about Michael being black and “.....we are claiming our brother” (sic). WTF??!! Everyone knew Michael was black (although he may have had questions about it). What was the point? Instead of celebrating the decades of stellar music Michael made, these tasteless coon buffoons were acting out in the most simple minded and self degrading manner possible. It was more about themselves and promoting the worst of black America.
It’s not as if most of us were not aware of the sad new minstrelsy, but to go on national television where the “world” can see these Negroes act out their self anointed ignorance and stupidity is depressing.
I purposefully did not watched. Afraid for a while that I missed some huge shared cultural moment. But now, glad I tuned out.
BET: Lawdamercy.
Huey
Little Richard was in Sydney and saw Sputnik which caused his first retirement. Probably others earlier. History goes back forever.
Does anybody own a Jamie Foxx cd? I recognise him as an comic actor but why is he on all these music shows?
oh come now. we all know who has been jockeying to fill his shoes since before he even died . . .: Justin Timberlake.
He stole his dance moves. He stole some of his signature style from back in the day. He even molested his sister on national television trying to get a piece. And now he is trying to steal his come back tour.
I'm just hoping people do not fall for it.
I couldn't agree more. Enough is enough! It is time to take a stand against BET and the negative portrayal of African-Americans. The 2009 BET Awards were a complete and total DISGRACE. I encourage everyone posting a comment on this website to contact BET, Viacom, Al Sharpton and whoever it takes to ensure that we never see another embarrassing production like the BET Awards on the air again.
Michael Jackson is a GLOBAL icon and the WORLD was watching this tribute. After his death was reported, several major websites, including Facebook, Twitter, and others were shutdown due to the unprecedented traffic, as people went online to confirm the news. Michael Jackson opened doors for virtually every African-American artist - MTV did not want to show black artists until Michael Jackson changed the game. Given all of his contributions, Michael deserved a world class tribute, and BET failed MISERABLY. The show was an embarrassment to African-Americans and to the country at large. It would have been better for BET to wait and produce a separate tribute show, than to tie Michael's memory to this 2009 Minstrel Show. It was so bad that I don't even know where to begin:
- Jamie Foxx: He failed miserably as the host. He was vulgar, and his humor was disrespectful and inappropriate. He used the show heartlessly for self-promotion and his comment about "Michael belonging to us" was completely out of line and against everything that Michael Jackson stood for.
- Beyonce: She is a talented performer and could have used this as an opportunity to showcase Michael Jackson's choreography and his influence on her career. Instead, she engaged in a self-indulgent performance of "Ava Maria" that was completely hypocritical, given that she was dressed like a prostitute. The performance was all about HER and was not moving at all.
- T-Pain: He is an embarrassment to the black community and embodies every negative stereotype that has every existed about us. I can hear Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly laughing to themselves as he "shucked and jived" across the stage in his "BIG ASS CHAIN". He even had the nerve to bring alcohol on stage during a tribute show.
- Blame it on Alcohol - Just what we need - a big monument to alcohol in the middle of a black award show. This could have been the theme for the night, because clearly the producers and everyone involved must have been drunk in allowing this calamity to go on the air.
- Baby Boy Skit - Taraji Henson, you can forget about every getting another Oscar nomination after that ghetto display. Ving Rhames should have been carried off the stage like they used to do on Showtime at the Apollo - where is Sandman Sims when we need him?
- Mary Mary - You are defiling gospel music. Enough said.
- Soulja Boy - Another source of embarrassment. Pure ignorance on display for the world.
- Don Cornelius - He should have been stopped 5 minutes into his speech. Watching him ramble on was like watching paint dry - just painful.
- L'il Wayne and Drake - The icing on the cake. Hands down the most agregious performance that I have ever seen. Having young girls on stage to hear grown men use such vulgar language was just disgusting.
In closing, we have an African-American president in office who already has an uphill battle to fight. He will face resistance every step of the way due to the color of his skin. The last thing we need to do is to keep reinforcing negative images of African-Americans and sending them into the media and around the world. BET - please stop. Remove Tiny & Toya, Frankie and Neffe and all of the other minstrel shows from the air. Debra Lee - Take a look in the mirror and realize what you are doing and make this stop.
"Because, whatever flaws the man suffered off stage, ON STAGE, he was the consummate professional. And he never uttered profanity, he never demeaned women with disgusting lyrics, and he offered us magic." I have not heard it put better!
Christina
Thanks for your views, as always. It's great to read you and your commenters. I totally understand your frustration: when a figure we love dies, somehow we want our private and public mourning to harmonize.
I saw on TV a glimpse of Beyoncé singing that Ave Maria thing and was startled. I didn't know that she'd made a sort of "version" of that lied. I've checked the lyrics -- does her song speak about the Virgin or about a lover? The first two stanzas could apply to the former, apparently not the third. Anyway, the music and the text absolutely jar with Schubert's melody, the original German lyrics, the Latin prayer -- and it's not so easy to forget any of these and just follow Beyoncé. If you're going to tackle the classics, either respect them or subvert them; don't use them to produce a wishy-washy incongruous love song.
In any case, I don't know much about Beyoncé, but undoubtedly she must have something more appropriate in her repertoire that both fits and award ceremony and can be dedicated as a remembrance. Please! Any melancholic love song would have fitted. And if not, well, there is no lack of classics! No time to arrange or learn from memory? Bring a score on stage.
But why am I wondering about the music when she could not even wear something a little muted. Talk about painfully inappropriate.
Anyway: if this was a lost opportunity to do something decent, as you all say, I'm sorry. But I hope that not many people will take this ceremony as representative of anything, and I'm certain that you will find many more consoling moments, like the other videos you've posted.
Wonderful piece! And my sentiments exactly. I am out of the country so did not see the program live, and had I had the chance, I would have tuned in to BET just for this. After I heard all of the uproar and saw clips online, and became totally boiled over with anger. I felt so terrible knowing that much of the world saw that show, and that is now what represents us and our ways. BET does not represent me and did not honor MJ in any way. And when I saw supposedly intelligent black women dancing to Lil Wayne in the audience I cringed more.
Refreshing and hopeful to know that I'm not the only one who noticed that Beyonce's performance was totally incongruous. I thought to myself she's singing "Ava Maria" butt naked -- has the world gone mad?
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