Dear Mr. Wilmer Valderramma
Posted: May 25th, 2006 | Author: Mark Pike | Filed under: Politics |An open letter to the host of MTV’s celebration of bigotry.
Originally published in Campus Progress…
Dear Mr. Wilmer Valderramma,
Congrats on making Yo Momma the hit #3 television show in MTV’s lineup! I’ve been a huge fan of your show ever since I stumbled across it on Mother’s Day when I was looking for a new episode of Date My Mom. And, no, I don’t have an Oedipus complex.
There’s one thing that bothers me about Yo Momma (the show, not your maternal unit): some of the things the contestants say are really offensive. Sure, part of the game is hurling the most unique, cutting, and sometimes degrading insults they could possibly imagine, as is the format when “playing the dozens” (a term which is deeply rooted in the lexicon of slave auctions). But what if the show took a different approach and all the contestants attempted to smother the other’s mother with kindness?
Instead of “your mother is so fat, her blood type is Ragu” (which, according to the American Medical Association is not medically possible), how about a gentler approach? “Your mother is sooo well-rounded, and I’m not talking about her body type. She genuinely has a wealth of skills and knowledge. I respect her a lot.”
There’s more….
Read the whole thing in Campus Progress…
Thanks for the shout out, Wonkette! “Wilder Valderrama is single-handedly setting mixed-race people of indeterminate ethnicity back 20 years.”
That was written tongue in cheek, right? Otherwise, we should make checkers a game played where the first person to lose all their pieces and the one who has the most at the end are tied. We should ask all comedians to stick with the safe “situational” comedy.
Yuck.
Obviously, this was written in what could be described as a satirical tone.
Though, the message should come across very clearly: There is some very offensive material on this television show.
It’s not the type of racy-racial stuff that comedians like Richard Pryor or Dave Chappelle use, where there is a level of consciousness and a genuine attempt to try and understand and critique our current values. They’re usually very funny comedians.
No. Instead this show features one-liners and really disgusting racist jokes that never get past their initial shock to create a larger picture or message. It’s just Wilmer giggling like a schoolgirl while people degrade each other. It’s not very funny. It is, by no means, “Black Humor” on any level of meaning.
I agree that Comedians shouldn’t play it safe. It would be dangerous for society to have no jester, no ombudsman. Comedians should, however, question our current values and not just give people a soapbox to spit racist bullshit just because they think it’s clever. They need to step their game up.
Speaking of which, I’ll take you and yo momma out in checkers any day of the week.