By Kemi Olunloyo Joshua

The controversial Boondocks episode that puts BET (Black Entertainment Network) and its executives CEO Debra Lee and President Reginald Hudlin on full blast has finally aired……..in CANADA. “Boondocks” is a cartoon about an angry point of view of two black kid brothers on almost everything. They live with their grandpa who they constantly argue with on many issues and topics. In the episode, Huey Freeman’s hunger strike against BET is supported by Reverend Rollo Goodlove, voiced by guest star Cee-Lo. The Gnarls Barkley crooner also narrates the episode, in which BET head Deborah Leevil, a Dr. Evil type ruler,(who actually says Bob Johnson’s name in the cartoon) runs the network with nothing but ill will in mind. She kills an employee with a shoe at the board table for a bad opinion.

“Weggie Rudlin, my Harvard-educated President of Entertainment, tell me about the eeevil shows you have in development,” the woman barks to her executive as she pets a hairless animal and places her pinky finger at the corner of her mouth.

Weggie Rudlin, a man who strongly resembles BET’s President of Entertainment, Reginald Hudlin, stands before her meekly and says: “My Harvard education tells us that our goal is to take all the s***ty reality shows that MTV did five years ago and make them black… Next month we’re going to have our first award show honoring video hoes, or as I like to call it, a hoe-wards show

This controversial episode which has CNN featured, MTV,  the Drudge Report, the New York Times, Tavis Smiley, a former BET host playing himself and even admitting he had problems at the network. Also  BET Vee Jay Tigger who Goodlove asked if his name stood for “tiger” or the “n” word. I was ashamed that Cartoon Network banned it making U.S residents resort to the net where it’s posted by Canadian YouTube members. The only thing I could see about the ban was when Huey, one of the kids went on CNN to protest BET.

Cartoon Network and CNN are both owned by Time Warner which may pose a conflict of interest. There was even a Walmart employee, homeless people and illegal immigrants who said they were supporting BET employees treated badly with little money by giving them portions of what they earn. Some BET employees were shown as homeless people living under bridges!

Huey’s demand was that BET stop demeaning women on their music videos and pay their employees well, so the kid went on a hunger strike. Have BET executives watched this show and determined that this is more than a parody and there may be some real issues in there? The network, a division of Viacom Media reportedly has a high turnover of staff. Many colleagues I met here in Toronto all tell me they have worked at BET!  What makes that cartoon perfectly safe in Canada and not America? Aaron McGruder who created and produces Boondocks has exposed a lot of issues in the black media community. The ultimate slap in the face to many black viewers may have been when he had Debra Leevil kneel to her “white” corporate bosses. Don’t Americans still have the right to free speech according to their first amendment? U.S media entities should ditch corporate feuds and use the power of the constitution to air content rightfully to it’s viewing public!

Kemi Olunloyo Joshua is a freelance TV/Radio News Reporter as well as a Print/Internet professional blogger based in Toronto, Canada. She created Keminications, a media news and gossip blog focusing on information the public needs to know. The controversial Boondocks videos may be viewed over there. She can be reached at mediakemi@rogers.com