Who You Callin' a "Ho?"

By Esther Iverem
SeeingBlack.com Editor and Film Critic

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Oh no they didn't.

It is one thing to sit through another inane TV commercial for the latest movie in the "Friday" series. (You know the drill by now: Comedian John Witherspoon in another toilet scene, some broke down chick in heat, Ice Cube, momentarily grossed out, saying "ill!"). But it is quite another thing for the film's promoters to superimpose the word "Ho!" over pictures of three young Black women on national television.

Oh sure. They are trying to be cute.

"Friday After Next," which looks to be very funny, has a holiday theme. The "Ho! Ho! Ho!" is supposed to be some witty double entendre that both references the sound of Santa and engages in ghetto speak and terminology for women. Well, there is nothing jolly or playful about the result. Imagine watching Monday Night Football, consistently one of the highest rated shows in the country, and seeing, during a commercial break, these young women labeled this way. Imagine that it is the night before the national elections, that many children do not have school the next day and are being allowed to stay up late and watch the game. Imagine that maybe many of the children interested in watching the game are young Black males, who get to see, once again, Black women insulted and denigrated. And it is all part of a joke told nationally to a large audience of men….

Oh, am I supposed to laugh?

The insult is only aggravated, of course, by the fact that this is a "Black" film with all the appearances of being totally created and promoted by Black people. And the insult is aggravated by the fact that this is another Ice Cube movie that promotes itself by insulting the Black community. Much of the controversy about the scene in "Barbershop" failed to mention the fact that the same scene was actually used to promote the film. The promoters, at least, were fully aware of the scene's controversial nature, and the power of the scene to pique the interest of filmgoers, particularly Whites. In the process, they spilled the film's ridicule of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, the reparations movement, O.J. and Rodney King to those who did not even see the film, and provided comfort to those in the larger community who hold racist ideas. I realized that such a marketing strategy was successful when I saw two middle-aged White critics praising the film because it allowed them to be voyeurs into an inner-sanctum of the Black community that they did not usually access.

I realized that Whites heard the talk coming from this "Barbershop," and in particular from a wise old barber, as the real talk that real Black people talk when out of the earshot of Whites. There is a trailer for "Friday After Next" on the film's official web site that does not include the insulting segment. But, for some reason, this is not the trailer being shown right now on national television. Repeated calls to New Line Cinema were not returned.

Oh, it's so entertaining.

The promotion of this newest movie, though handled by New Line Cinema as opposed to MGM for "Barbershop," provides the same sense of Black voice: that this is a Black film made by Black men, which can take the liberty of calling Black women "hos" because it is being said by "us" about "us." Obviously, then, it must be O.K. Well it's not OK. Even cable music video stations and many radio stations force artists to edit out the words like "ho" and "bitch." Why is this okay for national broadcast television? The filmmakers may have the bigger voice on the big and little screen. But Black women also have a right to speak truth to this kind of media power, and to raise our voices about, once again, being called out of our name.

Esther Iverem's reviews often appear on BET.com

Related Web Sites:

• Official "Friday After Next" Movie Site

-- November 16, 2002

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