Simmons, Chavis grind gears on offensive words

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on April 23rd, 2007

Daniel Trotta, in a Reuters piece, writes that Russel Simmons and Benjamin Chavis said:

We recommend that the recording and broadcast industries voluntarily remove/bleep/delete the misogynistic words ‘bitch’ and ‘ho’ and the racially offensive word ‘nigger.’

Simmons is co-founder of Def Jam records and producer of HBO’s Def Comedy Jam. Chavis is head of an “advocacy group” called the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network.

Monday’s statement changed course from another one by Simmons and Chavis dated April 13, a day after Imus’ show was canceled, in which they said offensive references in hip-hop “may be uncomfortable for some to hear, but our job is not to silence or censor that expression.”

April 13, it’s not their job. April 23, it is their job.

What the hell happened in the space of ten days to compel Simmons and Chavis to change so drastically their stance on such an important issue? On April 13, the bitch/ho/nigger express was chugging along… 240 hours later, these two have recommended “the formation of a Coalition on Broadcast Standards that would consist of leading executives from music, radio and television.”

Of course, all four major networks (and most cable outlets) already have broadcast standards in place. They have bodies set up “to review all non-news broadcast matter, including entertainment, sports and commercials, for compliance with legal, policy, factual, and community standards.” (Museum of Broadcasting Communications). And, thanks to Tipper Gore and the Parents Music Resource Center, we had parental advisory stickers on CD’s and video games. And the Motion Picture Association of America rates all the product coming through the movie theaters.

What exactly are Simmons and Chavis proposing? Or are they bluffing? And will their proposed Coalition of Broadcast Standards be a vehicle for artistic oppression or about “social responsibility of the industry to voluntarily show respect to African Americans and other people of color, African American women and to all women in lyrics and images?” (Curiously, white American males are left out… hmmm… perhaps it’s just an oversight!)

None of this seems to pose any sort of threat to comics… yet.

What would happen if Cosby, Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, Adam Sandler and Ray Romano formed a coalition and proposed that we all voluntarily expunge certain words, phrases and images from our works, verbal and visual? It sounds far-fetched, but who ever thought that anyone could put enough pressure on Russell Simmons, who is said to be worth $110 million, that he would issue the above statements?

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