It isn't a surprise to me. Lighter skinned Blacks still do get greater acceptance. People will assume they are mixed, even if they ain't. The true shame though, is how this affects our community, psychologically and socially. You hardly see darker Black people on the covers of magazines. You can always catch Halle on a mainstream cover…but not so much the Gabrielle Unions and Jessica Whites…

I'm not surprised either… times haven't changed nearly as much as we think.

I'll take a stab in the dark- would it happen to be VH1? They have Flavor Flav on tv but I can't think of another "reality-show clogged network" it seems that reality shows is all VH1 is good for in recent days (it was practically non-existent on the radar a few years back).

It's 2008 and we're still dealing with this crap?
And the excuse is that "darker skin tones are harder to show on camera"? So, nevermind investing in better camera equipment…just don't hire the "darkies". This is crazy!!!

It's not VH1/MTV-they always have all kinds of shows with people of all shades….my very big hunch is Bravo network-y'know with queer eye,top chef etc etc on it?

BET?

vH1 and BET definitely have lots of "darkies." I don't watch Bravo enough to have an opinion. It's not TLC. I've seen several dark people on there and I don't even watch that channel very much.

ooops. vH1 and MTV I meant

Isn't Bet for/well about diversity??

It has to be Bravo-they have all those reality shows with lots of gay guys-it's basically really patronizing the way it represents all gay people and so it wouldn't surprise me if this was there memo…also having watched sum programs on that channel-I've never seen a huge or even small amount of diversity…

I say NBC.
Of the big 4(ABC NBC CBS FOX) they have the most reality based programming on during the week than anybody. I think Omarosa is the darkest person they've had on any of their shows(reality or script based).

I doubt it's Bravo, since they rarely have any black people light or dark. I'm thinking it's VH1,MTV,or BET. Those 3 have the most foul representations of black people.

In any case this memo is so not shocking. Light vs dark is still alive and kicking.

It's definitely not vH1 or MTV. I've seen lots of dark people on their reality shoes. For years.

Oh. Bravo doesn't have Queer Eye any more. There have been at least 2 dark people on Project Runway. There's one dark person on Make Me a Supermodel and Tyson Beckford hosts it. There's a somewhat dark client on that Matchmaker show as well as at least two darker women (though the matchmaker told one that she had to straighten her hair. She sent in a picture with her hair straightened and came in with a sorta-fro.

"In any case this memo is so not shocking. Light vs dark is still alive and kicking."

ahhhhhh……. :0

CBS

Who gives a damm what they think,say it loud i'm black and i'm proud and guess what people wear black cloths all day long on tv and it shows up thats a bunch of crap,if they pale a&& show up and they a&&e& all most see threw i know we show up &look even better on camera then they do aleast we add some color to the screen and beauty i'm sick of them trying act like they are so much better then us i will believe they are when god comes down and tell me so ok.

I don't watch CBS often, but isn't that the one with Survivor? I don't watch that show but I remember there was a very dark guy on there. They used to show clips on Best Week Ever.

I don't watch BET at all so I don't know what the people on there look like. I remember a NYT article about the show with wealthy kids. A pick up line was "my name is Earl. I have a curl. I'm light-skinned."

P.S.: when I read that, it was one of those moments that you're just ashamed. If it were in People magazine or something, that's one thing. But the New York Times. SMH

New York Times lost its journalistic credibility with me a long time ago. The problem is that for way too many people, it hasn't.

There is presently a lawsuit against CBS - Judge Judy show for just that.

Uh, yeah, I don't want to see black people arguing either. I haven't watched Judge Judy since high school but the black people they had up there were Jerry Springer style minus the violence.

Darker skin tones film just as well as lighter skin tones. Most things nowadays are filmed on HD or video and everything shows up pretty true to color. They are lying.

Interesting. I hate reality TV anyway, because it's always about people (specifically black people) acting a fool. I'll be happy if it is MTV, because they always manage to typecast the black person as loud, ignorant, argumentative and confrontational. Y'all say what they did to Tyree in Colorado?

The only real reality show I ever saw with black people in it is College Hill and Baldwin Hills (not to mention Ty from SWV's show). it reflected real problems and issues of our community.
hairsmystory.com

Just accept the fact, that is true. Or they could spend access money, but how is that good business?
Racist NO. I'm a model and skin tone had alot to do with getting booked. Get over it.

BET