TCU Editor’s Note: Honestly, I haven’t paid much attention to The Real World in about 10 years or so, randomly catching an episode here or there but never paying much attention, basically making each season a blur to me. Why haven’t I paid much mind to the show? Well, because you don’t need to watch the show to know what’s going on because the script has remained constant since circa season three. They’ve recycled the hell out of the formula … white guy/girl from the middle of nowhere that’s never been to a big city, coupled with the gay dude, the bi-racial person battling their cultural identity, the party animal, the douchebag, the Republican racist, etc, etc, etc. Don’t act like you’ve been blind to the never changing formula. Occasionally you’ll get a winner like Ruthie but basically the same people, different names, have reigned over The Real World since it’s inception.
But who cares about that, what I care about is the misrepresentation of black folks on the show. Black men specifically. The folks that MTV have pulled in to represent black folk are a slap in the face. *Cue Kanye West … “MTV doesn’t care about black people!” and cut to Chris Tucker* Where the hell is Al Sharpton when we need him? Oh, he’s probably getting his hair did, huh? MTV’s Real World has for seasons upon seasons upon seasons played black folks. Thanks, assholes (and not the cool ones, the jerks… the douchebag type of assholes). MTV basically jumped the shark on including “real black folks” since, well … basically the beginning of the show. I think it started when Kevin zoned out on home chick during the first season with Heather B and the deal was sealed when David “raped” Tammy with her giant ass Tyra Banks forehead. MTV execs probably had a meeting and determined that they couldn’t have real black people on this show any longer because they’re unstable (allegedly). Oddly enough, they’ve probably learned over the years even the ones they thought were stable can zone out (insert dude from Seattle smacking the shit out of home girl). Those clowns that MTV have selected don’t represent me (well, Teck was cool cause he just came to party and have a good time, that would probably be me).
After catching about 15 minutes of The Real World DC premier, I jumped on twitter and was venting about it. I then decided to unleash the homey @JAlexanderH on the topic. He went it and basically sealed our fate of being unable to EVER work for or be associated with Viacom (Haha). Well, enjoy. Oh, and if you’re offended by the overuse of the F bomb, you might want to stop reading now…
Let me preface this by saying I use to watch MTV, before my parents got rid of cable TV because of my expensive discovery of the Adam and Eve Channel (Detroit Barden Cablevision Channel 51. Or 53? I can’t remember). That was when they had “Liquid Television”, “Beavis and Butthead”, and yes, “Yo! MTV Raps”.
Bringing up YMTVR raises a funny thought for me … I never liked Fab Five Freddie. Ever. I have NO idea why. Dre and Lover were cool but F5F? I fucking HATED that fucking guy. We’ll get to that later.
MTV has always had a dearth of Black Artists on their airwaves. I’m oddly accepting of that. At least I was. What I DO NOT condone though, is the way the Reality Craze allowed MTV to put basically every stereotype of Black people known to man on FULL DISPLAY. I don’t wanna FULLY go into every one of them, because maybe you might want in on this Busto of criticism for MTV’s whore ass (A busto, for those unfamiliar with the term, is basically a person who gets a train ran on them… You’re welcome for the visual).
We’ll obviously start with the second season of The Real World, because EVERYBODY remembers David “Stinky” AKA “Boo This Man” Edwards making history as the FIRST dude to get removed from a Real World House. Why did he do so? Because he dragged a chick down the hallway in a blanket. I’ve heard grumblings and rumors that her thighs were ashy. I have no idea. I was 13 at the time, and remember thinking “What the fuck is the big fucking deal, fuckers?”… Which I guess leads me to a question of “Since we NEVER really know what’s going on in these houses because of what ends up on the cutting room floor, do they edit this stuff on PURPOSE like that?”
Yes. Yes they do. For the same reason Jerry Springer’s show beat the shit out of Ricki Lake. The setup and staged fights every day is WAY more sensational and attractive than one shoving match on stage a week, or even one dude smacking a chick in the face in Seattle. The smacking, though? You wanna know how fucking hilarious the postscript to that story is? If you DON’T know, a dude named Stephen smacks a chick with Lyme disease cuz she calls him Gay. Infamous MTV moment, cuz the David thing was questionable and debatable. The smack was not. At all. So umm… Stephen came out the closet later. Fuck you, MTV! You probably knew all along!!!
I could SERIOUSLY go on about this shit for days. Teck, the womanizing, weed smoking blonde tipped douchebag from Hawaii. Alton, the mandingo schlonged (I WOULD pause that, but I done already said the shit that is basically UNpausable, plus EVERYBODY seen RW: Las Vegas. So fuck you. I likey the chicks with the tittehs and the vaginas) womanizer who had a ménage while the housemates were on vacation (High Five, dude) and STILL got with Irulan. Who I woulda boned. Hard. Repeatedly. Ragged. But I digress…
Why they have so many black people in Sin City, though? You ever think about THAT shit? Cuz they wanted to see us lose our fucking minds. I think we did pretty well as a people in that one, actually. Aside from a 5′4″ dude walkin around like @ihuntmidgets’ tripod avatar…
The fucker from Nawlins was a dick. Don’t get me started on Karamo. Nehemiah was cool. Kinda slave-like and angry and shit but he was cool. How the fuck you have a Real World in DC and only have ONE black cast member? Conspiracy ninja. Conspiracy…
They do this shit on purpose, y’all. Viacom, who owns BET as well, is out to do what Fox News can’t: get people to actually watch. And they’re succeeding. They hate us. They LOVED ‘Ye and his 5th of Detroit Water (Hennessey, to the Uninitiated) getting on stage and fucking over Taylor “I’m not legal yet, so stop staring at me like that” Swift. I BET one of the next College Hill seasons is set in Detroit. Watch. Even though there are no HBCU’s in the blackest city in America. They gon put em downtown by the Stadiums but make em work on the East Side. Watch. It’s GONNA happen. They’re GONNA set it up. They hate Black people, and ALL of AMERICA hates on my fucking hometown. It’ll be a perfect storm of conning fuckery, all set in the city that has become a lightening rod for everything that’s wrong with America. Fuck you if you agree.
I rant, I rave but this shit is really serious. Every fucking season of The Real World, I watch the first episode where they introduce everyone and every fucking season almost, that’s the LAST time I watch. Cuz I can’t identify with ANYBODY on the fucking show. Isn’t it supposed to have people on that are similar to you? I THOUGHT the show was supposed to be a microcosm of issues facing the US of A in the days it was filming. I can’t identify with a gay black dude from Houston, or a musician from Chicago. I understand that these are eclectic individuals, but I SWEAR, MTV you recycle the EXACT SAME personalities EVERY FUCKING YEAR.
Perhaps I’m just out of my mind. I mean, Jerry Springer followed a script and has a certain type of character always on the show. Why wouldn’t MTV? Maury has the same show on EVERY FUCKING DAY. The news is always the same story. I have no idea why I expect anything different from the people who brought you Tila Tequila and the EX Effect.
I’m tapping anyone else to come into this ring. When I go off on shit like this, it actually fezzes me up to the point where I get physically pissed and want to hunt Newts (Republicans, not the lizards. Thanks)… So I’mma stop.
I love Coral’s titties by the way. Best thing to happen on MTV since… Well… EVER.
Follow me: twitter.com/throatchopu
Article by
Q (@ThroatChopU) is firm believer that if it's funny, he's going to laugh and then blog about it. He writes about pop culture, politics, music and provides a bit of social commentary. Never holding his tongue and always keeping it real. Check out his work over at www.throatchopu.tumblr.com or www.themadbloggers.comYou can read more of his work at http://throatchopuniversity.com.
has written 19 article(s) for us.
Senor_H_El_Jefe (24)
bitter black dude (15)
Abdul Wilson (12)
JG* RunsTheKitchen (12)
the uppity negro (12)
J Mark (11)
Idu Charles (10)
true2me (9)
E. Reed (7)
R0cktheMike (6)
Yvonne (6)
Ashleigh L. A. (5)
blackchild (5)
Garfield (5)
Diggame (4)
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
The Real world is good for the first episode and updates on status later. I play a game called who is it. As in who is: Gay, the drunk one, most likely to get kicked out, most likely to whup someone, most likely to get whupped.
This post is a little… “all over the damn place”, fyi. For that reason, I chose to skip and skim.
With that said, EVERY reality TV show has it’s types as mentioned by Amadeo. There will always be the conflicted Gay character, the alcoholic, the White “slut”, the angry Black man, etc, for example. And these “castings” can also be seen in shows that came well before the “reality TV phenomena”. No one is exempt… therefore I doubt it’s an issue of MTV or Viacom disregarding the Black race.
lol I not at all surprised they didn’t have alot of blacks on the cast in thee chocolate city…I dont even think white people think Blacks actually LIVE in DC …..
I’ve never been a fan of the real world, but I was intrigued by the preview for the 3rd show. What piqued my interest was the lone black cast member holding a white girl against a wall and yelling ” look at me b$#^&”!!! Previously in the commercial they had shown a budding relationship between the two, which quickly switched to him putting her against the wall. From just watching that preview you would believe he was another angry black man once again lashing out on a defenseless white woman…. I decided to investigate and caught the last 10 minutes of the previous episode for a more in depth preview. It turns out the white girl spit in my man’s face first before he started wiling out. It still doesn’t justify him hemming her up, but it puts things in a better perspective. MTV perpetuated the stereotypes you discussed in this article through their preview commercial. It seems the white woman is usually seen as the innocent victim and the black male is portrayed as the volatile aggressor. I’ve seen that story way too many times so I avoid the Real World.