Bad News for CNN and D.L Hughley’s New Show

By The News Oct 29, 2008

With the possibility of a Black president on the horizon, CNN thought it would branch out to a new demographic with a Daily Show-like news show hosted by D.L. Hughley. Hughley used to be the host of BET’s Comicview, was one of the four "Original Kings of Comedy," had his own sitcom on ABC and a show on Comedy Central. Unfortunately, despite his resume, Hughley’s humor has not met the mark set by the social and political commentary of Richard Pryor or even his contemporaries Dave Chapelle and Chris Rock. Hughley has rested on reinforcing racial stereotypes for his punchlines, and the bad reviews prove that the joke may be on CNN. Gina over at What About Our Daughters, who led the fight against BET’s ridiculous show "Hot Ghetto Mess," is putting the heat to CNN for their gross misogyny

What happens when CNN hires a man with a well documented history of animus towards Black women? Well, right out of the box, he takes his Black woman hatred, degradation and misogyny to a world wide audience. Using the financial crisis to introduce the world to the hilarity that is human sex trafficking by bringing on a Pimp ( Human Sex Trafficker) named Freddie Mack to discuss the mortgage meltdown.

From the Kitchen Table, Melissa Harris-Lacewell adds:

I don’t have words to express my irritation with this development. CNN has been nearly lily white. Black commentators, guests, and hosts have been the rare exception rather than the rule. This is a network that responded to Hurricane Katrina, the most visible class and race disaster of our age, by promoting the blond, blue-eyed, Vanderbilt heir Anderson Cooper to a two-hour nightly show. They have now decided that the appropriate response to a likely Obama administration is to have a black comedian host a farcical news show. Hmmm.

D.L. Hughley does have a great bit of experience under his belt, so I hope he will take this criticism and use his edgy comedy for good. As the cable news networks decide that they would rather be known for their personalities instead of their objectivity, we have to make sure that we don’t just blame D.L. Hughley (or Don Imus, Bill O’Reilly, and the rest) but their networks that put news second to their ratings. This election season has proven that there are still plenty fools in this country, but when are we going to demand that they aren’t all given microphones.

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