Shocked by my title? You should be. That is not the way I talk. It is not the way I think.
It IS the way, however, that megalomaniac Donald Trump has chosen to portray the majority of his black female contestants on his long-running The Apprentice series. I have watched it for the last time.\
There are two versions of this so-called extended job interview/contest:
Season 1 premiered in the winter of 2004 with 8 men and 8 women who all ran successful business enterprises throughout the United States.
Among them was the now notorious Omarosa.
Armed with her Master's degree from Howard University, this attractive and glib former low-level staffer in Vice President Al Gore's offices has the personality of a buzz saw. There is nobody on Earth who could tell Omarosa she isn't fabulous.
Ever the showman, The Donald re-called the eliminated woman- viewers- loved- to-hate for the first episode of Celebrity Apprentice in 2008. The Buzz Saw then went mano-a-mano with the Bulldozer -- ascerbic Brit Piers Morgan, the eventual winner. According to an article on DailyGuru.com , Morgan described Omarosa as "one of the most venomous poisons", a "disgusting little tramp", an "irrelevant, ghastly little creature", and a "pointless celebrity wannabe idiot." A TV Guide survey conducted in the summer of 2005 voted her as the most reviled reality show contestant of all time.
Over the eleven seasons of the Apprentice franchise there have been several African American contestants who have acquitted themselves admirably. Among the celebrities, supermodel Selita Eubanks and singer Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins of girl-group TLC fame come to mind. Actor and talk-show host
Holly Robinson Peete was a finalist in the competition, coming in second to Piers Morgan.
Apparently, however, the American viewing public really enjoys a good cat fight. That was again confirmed when ratings shot through the roof the season Joan Rivers, the eventual winner, and pro poker player Annie Duke tried to relieve each other of their gizzards. So The Donald upped the ante and assembled not one but four strategically selected black cats and threw them in the sandbox this season. And what a four they are:
LaToya Jackson – Oh, my goodness -- the overly sculpted big sister of Janet and the late Michael, even in her prime, whenever that was, was never the sharpest knife in the drawer. The trademark Jackson whispery voice seems to emanate from a distant planet. Her limited business related skills had her relegated to serving as timekeeper on last night’s project. Timid and reticent, LaToya is described by teammates as “sweet.”
Star Jones – Only the most dedicated TV hater will have escaped knowing who this attorney cum fired talk show host is. The aggressive, conniving and manipulative former prosecutor is nothing if not fabulous. Just ask her! Winning at any cost is her modus operandi, but she is as smart as they come and would never allow her real cards to show. When addressing “Mr. Trump” the fabulous Ms. Jones is all smiles and over articulation. The proverbial butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth.
NeNe Leakes --This 5’10’ breakout star of The Real Housewives of Atlanta is a walking IED. Loud, flamboyant and volatile, NeNe makes Omarosa look like Princess Di. Although she seems to be trying to tone down her in-your-face aggressiveness on Celebrity Apprentice (CA), her inner ghetto fabulousness is almost sure to emerge before the season ends. Recently, she has been making the rounds of TV talk shows to promote CA and has minced no words about her disdain for Star Jones. I am sure America will continue to tune in on Sunday nights so as not to miss NeNe in all her I-will-cut-you splendor. We real real housewives of Atlanta are seriously offended by this woman’s (as well as the other three over-the-top divas on that show) representation of us.
Dionne Warwick – Since we are not and have never been girlfriends, I don’t know if Dionne has always been a pompous ass, or if being 70 has given her a sharper edge. Suffice it to say, Dionne believes it when she is called a legend in the media. Her petulance has turned off everyone, but the other African American women seem to be struggling to maintain a certain degree of respect for her, in deference to that aforementioned legend status.
So, Donald, you have assembled a veritable smorgasbord of negative stereotypes: The Air Head, The Intellectual Bitch, The Angry Ghetto Bitch, and The Arrogant Diva. As you hoped and probably expected, they are going at each other with claws and fangs glinting in your bright television lights. To your great delight, Star Jones smiled like Hannibal Lecter in the board room while she eviscerated poor, defenseless and white Lisa Rinna. You wouldn’t quit last night until you forced NeNe to say in so many words that LaToya is not very bright. Because Dionne was too…whatever…to stay up late with the rest of her teammates and went to bed, you rightly fired her, but not before you tried to force the other three black women to call her out on her haughty attitude.
Last night, as I watched Dionne leave the board room and board the elevator to elimination, I thought about what you have said about President Obama. You fed the ignorant belief (I prefer to call it a tactic manufactured by the puppeteers of the right) that Barack Obama was not born in Hawaii or any other state in the union. You said you thought it was strange that nobody heard of him before he appeared on the political scene.
I don’t want to call you the names I see floating around in my mind, but I most certainly will call you a fraud. You have no more desire to be President of the United States than I do, Donald. You are simply a media whore who will do anything…anything…to keep those cameras rolling. You can take your circus act already in progress on Celebrity Apprentice and shove it. I’m done looking at that animal atop your head while you exploit people for your own amusement.
A few women I highly respect have reminded me it is not just black women Trump is exploiting, but women in general. Then, somebody mentioned men like Gary Busse and Dennis Rodman, David Cassidy and others who are also being used to draw ratings. I should have made it clear: I believe ALL reality shows are exploitative of ALL the people they put on camera.
Perhaps my responses to a couple of these comments will help crystallize the place from where I am coming today:
Thanks, Alysa. You made just the right comment to get me back up on my soapbox. I knew people would point out the fact that the idiot is exploiting everybody. And that is absolutely true. But there is a big difference; a difference that many non-minority people have trouble grasping.
When a white woman acts like a wild woman on TV, NOBODY decides, based upon that one incident, that ALL white woman act that way. They rightly observe that this particular women -- they don't even note the woman's ethnicity -- is weird, out of control, low-life or whatever. But, as much as we all hate to hear it, there are still people in America who make judgments about all African Americans (or Latinos or Asians or Nigerians) based on what they see on these stupid "reality" shows. It's not just Trump and his pap. I have been steaming about this for years. I have watched Survivor and Big Brother in the past, for instance. Every time there is a person of color participating on those shows, they are some kind of strange. NONE of the people in my world act like any of them do. Yet, there is going to be some yo-yo out there who will decide, just for example, that he won't date black girls because they are rowdy, bossy, loud, crude, conniving, dishonest and pushy. Where'd they get that from? Am I any of those things? (Well, okay, I'm a tad bossy :D)
L.
Gabby Abby: Please go up the thread and read my response to Alysa.
The point you make that no one has a gun to these women's heads is valid. I don't think it is they who are being exploited, but viewers of color. If I were to list my vulnerabilities in order of frequency, being black always comes in ahead of being a woman. God and you and every other woman on this thread know there are times when I'm not really sure which one it is, but I tend to think color before I think gender. I never want to get into a debate over who gets mistreated more. I could have written the same kind of post using all white women, for sure. But today, the black side of my sensitivities kicked in.
L.
It IS the way, however, that megalomaniac Donald Trump has chosen to portray the majority of his black female contestants on his long-running The Apprentice series. I have watched it for the last time.\
There are two versions of this so-called extended job interview/contest:
Season 1 premiered in the winter of 2004 with 8 men and 8 women who all ran successful business enterprises throughout the United States.
Among them was the now notorious Omarosa.Armed with her Master's degree from Howard University, this attractive and glib former low-level staffer in Vice President Al Gore's offices has the personality of a buzz saw. There is nobody on Earth who could tell Omarosa she isn't fabulous.
Ever the showman, The Donald re-called the eliminated woman- viewers- loved- to-hate for the first episode of Celebrity Apprentice in 2008. The Buzz Saw then went mano-a-mano with the Bulldozer -- ascerbic Brit Piers Morgan, the eventual winner. According to an article on DailyGuru.com , Morgan described Omarosa as "one of the most venomous poisons", a "disgusting little tramp", an "irrelevant, ghastly little creature", and a "pointless celebrity wannabe idiot." A TV Guide survey conducted in the summer of 2005 voted her as the most reviled reality show contestant of all time.
Over the eleven seasons of the Apprentice franchise there have been several African American contestants who have acquitted themselves admirably. Among the celebrities, supermodel Selita Eubanks and singer Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins of girl-group TLC fame come to mind. Actor and talk-show host
Holly Robinson Peete was a finalist in the competition, coming in second to Piers Morgan.Apparently, however, the American viewing public really enjoys a good cat fight. That was again confirmed when ratings shot through the roof the season Joan Rivers, the eventual winner, and pro poker player Annie Duke tried to relieve each other of their gizzards. So The Donald upped the ante and assembled not one but four strategically selected black cats and threw them in the sandbox this season. And what a four they are:
LaToya Jackson – Oh, my goodness -- the overly sculpted big sister of Janet and the late Michael, even in her prime, whenever that was, was never the sharpest knife in the drawer. The trademark Jackson whispery voice seems to emanate from a distant planet. Her limited business related skills had her relegated to serving as timekeeper on last night’s project. Timid and reticent, LaToya is described by teammates as “sweet.”Star Jones – Only the most dedicated TV hater will have escaped knowing who this attorney cum fired talk show host is. The aggressive, conniving and manipulative former prosecutor is nothing if not fabulous. Just ask her! Winning at any cost is her modus operandi, but she is as smart as they come and would never allow her real cards to show. When addressing “Mr. Trump” the fabulous Ms. Jones is all smiles and over articulation. The proverbial butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth.NeNe Leakes --This 5’10’ breakout star of The Real Housewives of Atlanta is a walking IED. Loud, flamboyant and volatile, NeNe makes Omarosa look like Princess Di. Although she seems to be trying to tone down her in-your-face aggressiveness on Celebrity Apprentice (CA), her inner ghetto fabulousness is almost sure to emerge before the season ends. Recently, she has been making the rounds of TV talk shows to promote CA and has minced no words about her disdain for Star Jones. I am sure America will continue to tune in on Sunday nights so as not to miss NeNe in all her I-will-cut-you splendor. We real real housewives of Atlanta are seriously offended by this woman’s (as well as the other three over-the-top divas on that show) representation of us.Dionne Warwick – Since we are not and have never been girlfriends, I don’t know if Dionne has always been a pompous ass, or if being 70 has given her a sharper edge. Suffice it to say, Dionne believes it when she is called a legend in the media. Her petulance has turned off everyone, but the other African American women seem to be struggling to maintain a certain degree of respect for her, in deference to that aforementioned legend status.So, Donald, you have assembled a veritable smorgasbord of negative stereotypes: The Air Head, The Intellectual Bitch, The Angry Ghetto Bitch, and The Arrogant Diva. As you hoped and probably expected, they are going at each other with claws and fangs glinting in your bright television lights. To your great delight, Star Jones smiled like Hannibal Lecter in the board room while she eviscerated poor, defenseless and white Lisa Rinna. You wouldn’t quit last night until you forced NeNe to say in so many words that LaToya is not very bright. Because Dionne was too…whatever…to stay up late with the rest of her teammates and went to bed, you rightly fired her, but not before you tried to force the other three black women to call her out on her haughty attitude.
Last night, as I watched Dionne leave the board room and board the elevator to elimination, I thought about what you have said about President Obama. You fed the ignorant belief (I prefer to call it a tactic manufactured by the puppeteers of the right) that Barack Obama was not born in Hawaii or any other state in the union. You said you thought it was strange that nobody heard of him before he appeared on the political scene.
I don’t want to call you the names I see floating around in my mind, but I most certainly will call you a fraud. You have no more desire to be President of the United States than I do, Donald. You are simply a media whore who will do anything…anything…to keep those cameras rolling. You can take your circus act already in progress on Celebrity Apprentice and shove it. I’m done looking at that animal atop your head while you exploit people for your own amusement.
A few women I highly respect have reminded me it is not just black women Trump is exploiting, but women in general. Then, somebody mentioned men like Gary Busse and Dennis Rodman, David Cassidy and others who are also being used to draw ratings. I should have made it clear: I believe ALL reality shows are exploitative of ALL the people they put on camera.
Perhaps my responses to a couple of these comments will help crystallize the place from where I am coming today:
Thanks, Alysa. You made just the right comment to get me back up on my soapbox. I knew people would point out the fact that the idiot is exploiting everybody. And that is absolutely true. But there is a big difference; a difference that many non-minority people have trouble grasping.
When a white woman acts like a wild woman on TV, NOBODY decides, based upon that one incident, that ALL white woman act that way. They rightly observe that this particular women -- they don't even note the woman's ethnicity -- is weird, out of control, low-life or whatever. But, as much as we all hate to hear it, there are still people in America who make judgments about all African Americans (or Latinos or Asians or Nigerians) based on what they see on these stupid "reality" shows. It's not just Trump and his pap. I have been steaming about this for years. I have watched Survivor and Big Brother in the past, for instance. Every time there is a person of color participating on those shows, they are some kind of strange. NONE of the people in my world act like any of them do. Yet, there is going to be some yo-yo out there who will decide, just for example, that he won't date black girls because they are rowdy, bossy, loud, crude, conniving, dishonest and pushy. Where'd they get that from? Am I any of those things? (Well, okay, I'm a tad bossy :D)
L.
Gabby Abby: Please go up the thread and read my response to Alysa.
The point you make that no one has a gun to these women's heads is valid. I don't think it is they who are being exploited, but viewers of color. If I were to list my vulnerabilities in order of frequency, being black always comes in ahead of being a woman. God and you and every other woman on this thread know there are times when I'm not really sure which one it is, but I tend to think color before I think gender. I never want to get into a debate over who gets mistreated more. I could have written the same kind of post using all white women, for sure. But today, the black side of my sensitivities kicked in.
L.
Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins
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