Foxx News

Did you receive an email a couple of weeks ago concerning the Jamie Foxx special that aired January 25^th on NBC? It reads something like this:
"[NBC is] purposely putting his show up against the second week of American Idol in hopes that it will fail. This will give them the excuse to never give another black person a music special because "it doesn't work". ..This is the first time NBC has ever aired an entire young urban African American cast on a music special. We need to show support..."[read the entire email here]

Yeah right. The folks at The Report are, by no means, masters of the remote, but we do recall a very successful NBC sitcom called the Cosby Show, which highlighted the lives of a middle class black family. And while we don’t have the exact Nielsen ratings, we’re pretty sure that it was one of the longest running and highest grossing shows in the history of broadcast television*.    

Herein lies the problem with the email. The message highlights the problematic assertion that ‘authentically black’ entertainment can only emerge from the urban narratives of the hip hop inclined (never mind that Mr. Foxx is a classicly trained artisit). This kind of essentialism has led many to forget about the multitude of entertainment firsts by African Americans who do not fit the now ubiquitous hip hop guise. To be clear, the Foxx show is not the first music special to be aired with an entirely 'urban cast' (whatever that means) on NBC. Remember Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever hosted by Richard Pryor, featuring Michael Jackson’s groundbreaking Billie Jean performance? I bet your Betamax does.

Let’s face it, no network would forgo millions in order to appease the small amount of people that are not infatuated with black male hyper-masculinity. The networks and their suburban audiences can’t get enough of it. To be sure, the Jamie Foxx special aired against American Idol because it is the only kind of show- a protracted hip-hop video- that can compete with Fox’s two ton guerilla.

Update- [After watching the show] It is clear that Jamie Foxx may, indeed, be the first "triple threat" who's talent actually exceeds the hype. Unfortunately, there was still something all too familiar about the show's subject matter and presentation. As usual, Mr. Foxx presented as an overly complicated comedian, and R&B singer from the streets, who loves his daughter (yawn). So, there was little about the special that seemed worthy of a large scale protest had it not been aired (FEMA's inability amend to its mistakes in New Orleans seems to be a much more worthy cause).  Bottom line-His show was not a first. And we can be sure that it won't be the last. Read a summary here.

*NBC, CBS, and ABC have never gone out of their way to find programming that may appeal to non-white, heterosexual males between the ages of 16 and 25. But, the channels that have – UPN, BET, WB, and MTV- have not stretched to offer any programming that deviates from the enigmatic Homeboys from Outer Space minstrel framework. Besides the clever Everybody Hates Chris, we'd rather have nothing.