BET Dissing Black Female Hosts?
Sharon Carpenter, BET News
So I hear that BET executives don’t think Black women are “marketable” as hosts and won’t be hiring Black women as hosts going forward.
What the ….???!!!
Supposedly BET has hired Sharon Carpenter, who is half Indian and half White, to work with BET News. Rocsi, who is Dominican, is doing 106 and Park (and building up a horrible repuation), and Julissa, who is Puerto Rican and was on BET occasionally, has moved over to MTV. None of them are BLACK….you know, like us…regular African- American women. Sharon Carpenter has supposedly been talking about how BET doesn’t want Black women as hosts anymore, which is why they were so pressed to get her.
What I know is that young Black girls need to see role models that look like them hosting those shows. They are already seeing women that look like them pop their coochies in all the videos on BET…can we get them at least a decent host to identify with?
For real, I still need FREE! She was a very positive Black female role model and a fabulous host. If BET doesn’t think Black women are marketable as hosts, it’s very disappointing. As difficult as it is for Black women to get on-air jobs, I wouldn’t think that a seemingly Black network would not discriminate against us. Ol’ Massah (Viacom) definitely has to be in on this one. [The Insider]
BlackSuperwomen.com 
August 15, 2008 at 2:57 am
Hi there,
BET is owned by a white conglomerate….VIACOM ….and they are trying to make Black Entertainment Television now Multicultural Entertainment Television….
Black folks need to OWN their own or stop complaining when the owners DO AS THEY PLEASE….
{shrugs}
Lisa
August 15, 2008 at 9:11 am
You are on the money, but Sharon Carpenter does not look like she is “pure” Indian and white. Maybe she is Half “Island Indian” (partially African) and white. She definitely looks like a sis in that unfortunate pic of her.
August 15, 2008 at 9:18 am
So I looked her up…people are claiming that her family is Indian and White, as well. I just know my people. I’m island and know how it works. I would not be surprised if the Indian side did not broadcast it’s African roots…it is sooooooooooo common amongst the Island Indians to not claim African ancestry and excommunicate those who get with individuals with African heritage. They are probably in England the Indian life because they can “pass”. Just a theory.
May 3, 2011 at 6:42 pm
Anyone that has even a hint of African blood will not be able to hide it. Africans have the strongest genes. So yeah you must be from the island, but that doesn’t mean everyone does that. It’s almost impossible to.
August 16, 2008 at 11:01 pm
Sharon Carpenter never owns up to being black. She will say that she is part Indian, part Spanish, part Italian, anything but part black. I don’t know why she is on BET. Never did understand it. I even have difficulty understanding her with that British accent. Every sentence she speaks sounds like it’s a question. Her voice always goes up at the end. It’s ashame that BET thinks that little of black women that they put this non-black women on before giving consideration to a black women who is not only more audiable than Ms. Carpenter but would own up that she is black while being on a black station! You would never see a non-spanish person on Galavision TV. You can do much better BET! Black woman should boycott immediately!!!!
August 19, 2008 at 11:05 am
I just have to say one thing. If any non-black, mixed (whatever) individual is an employee of BET, why on earth would they go around saying that Black Entertainment Television doesn’t want Black hosts? It just doesn’t make any sense. Unless said individual wanted to jeopardize their employment. Am I making any sense?
August 26, 2008 at 10:06 pm
I’m just amazed that people actually think that BET will ever do anything positive for black people. In my opinion, BET is the worst network: EVER.
September 3, 2008 at 4:26 pm
Black Entertainment Network is just giving the audience at home a big laugh. The female host are not of black decent and they are the ones that are bringing down the networks reputation. Rocsi for one who is sleeping with a married man, which is morally wrong. It seems as if the owners of the network is not bothered by this. Julissa left and went to MTV. Who on BET is truly of Black decent. Do me a favor change the Networks name . Dont use black as a strategic way of advertising and competing against other network. The best host BET as ever had was Free and AJ , which moved on to better things in life. Ever since they left BET as never been the same. I wish MTV will hire Free and AJ, because I would surely have a reason to watch a music network
September 3, 2008 at 9:31 pm
There have been blogs started by current employees of companies. It gives them a chance to air their grievances. There have been people who have spilled the beans on their company many times. This is nothing new. BET screwed up.
Sharon Carpenter used to have a chicken joke about Black people on her Myspace.com profile which she took down after BET received complaints about it. (Watermelon joke)
Reginald Hudlin has taken the picture of his lightskinned wife after he was criticized for thinking darkskinned women weren’t marketable.
September 7, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Shame on BET! I am light-skinned but even I am getting tired of seeing these light-dkinned or “mixed” women hosting BET, a network supposedly for blacks only! Until they straighten up their act and let true black sisters take part in the show(and please not just for vulgar booty shaking) then I am boycotting!
Rant over.
November 14, 2008 at 9:02 pm
I have boycotted BET for years. It is probably one of the worse things that has happened to us since slavery. BET stand for Brainless Empty-headed Twits! Our girls think it’s an honor to be a hoochie, skank, chicken head… Our boys think to be a man is to be a thug, gangster, pimp, lazy, ignorant, baby making machines…
There needs to be an all out national boycott of BET. Bob Johnson is the biggest sellout Black American has ever seen. Jessie Jackson said they should cut Barack’s b@##$ off because he stepped on his toes. Bob Johnson is the who’s Uncle Tom b@##$ should be cut off. But I forget, he sold them to VIACOM.
December 7, 2008 at 11:09 am
You can also write to Sian-Pierre Regis at Sian-Pierre.Regis@Bet.Net and voice your complaints. After that racist joke she should have been suspended or fired.
January 18, 2009 at 6:01 pm
FYI Rocsi is Honduran, and Julissa is Dominican. They are of African decent which is black decent. Just saying.
March 7, 2010 at 10:27 pm
Has it changed to African-American Entertainment Television and I just heard late ?? So now an Afro-Latino doesn’t fit the bill, yet some AA’s (a lot) will surely go out of their way to tell them they’re just “ni**@s that speak Spanish” it’s all so confusing, since both are considered black or black mixed to a good amount of people here in the states. Whether some are in denial about it or not, most Americans consume themselves with racial labels when identifying other ppl, so they are still considered black to USA’ers. One Droppism, how ridiculous but that’s another topic. I do agree, though, that the beautiful Mz. Free should have been kept in the mix. No pun intended. =)
I hope you get your wish of a “regular African American” woman to host. {0_o} Maybe they SHOULD change it to AAET. High hopes.
March 7, 2010 at 11:02 pm
@ buttkist?
Rocsi is Dominican, Julissa is Dominican too although i’ve heard Puerto Rican, either way they’re definitely not pure Spanish, as in, the Spaniards from Spain. Afro-Latinos are not uncommon. This is just a case of colorism in black society; and that goes for All of the Americas. Like I said before, If most WA’s & AA’s know about, heard about, even sense, a drop of black in your blood…You’re black. There are even light-skinned black-americans that are up in the spot-light because they can “pass” or fit into the world’s strictly Europeanized, disturbing, standard of beauty. They are black, but there is still a lightskinned vs darkskinned animosity digging it’s sharp nails. It’s so sad that there still lacks unity in 2010. Racism is horrible, colorism is just as bad.
November 22, 2010 at 10:20 am
What we need is to cultivate solutions to our own problems and stop waiting for others to do it because it simply doesn’t happen that way. We are indeed too complacent in our collective destiny. If we are unsatisified with the African American representation on what use to be the Black Entertainment Network (unless it is to show African American women being denigrated in the videos themselves) then let’s boycott the network. Moreover, we need to have a larger discussion with the artist who like it or not are role models yet go to great lenghts to disrespect women and our community in general. It’s not normal and yet we take it as such. Dr. King is probably rolling in his grave to know that he sacrificed his life for us and we’ve become comfortable and indifferent.