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| B. Scott is the model of androgyny done right. |
First and
foremost, I have been a fan of B. Scott ever since he used to post videos to Youtube
from his L.A. home. He’d sing classic Mariah Carey with nothing on but a towel
wrapped snugly around his head and chest. I have always admired him for his
bravery and confidence especially when considering the society that we
currently live in today. It is amazing to me how he was able to build his brand
into the success that he is today.
On Sunday
evening I tuned into the BET awards with my family. BET is a station that I am
not very fond of. I feel as though they have had a history of taking ideas from
successful shows on rival stations, destroyed my beloved sitcom ‘The Game”, and
never have had any really good original programming. Quite honestly the awards
only held my attention due to the Twitter community’s commentary of the event.
When I saw B. Scott during the pre-show I was immediately excited. It felt good
to have someone from my community representing a station that was founded by
and ran by members of my race. However, that excitement quickly turned into
disappointment once I realized that the B. Scott I was viewing wasn’t in the
image that I had known and grew to love. My followers and myself noticed that
his appearance was extremely toned down from his usual standards. His hair was
pulled back, makeup was barely on, there was no heel, and he was wearing a
blazer. Now the typical viewer probably didn’t pay much attention to this but
as a dedicated Love Muffin… I was upset!
It was clear
that there was something bothering the multimedia personality. While
interviewing K. Michelle he asked her to sing some words of inspiration because
he had gone through a lot that day. Twitter was already in an uproar by that
time. Many still attacking B. Scott for his appearance. Others attacking BET
for hiring someone with an image as profound as B. Scott’s then asking him to
change it at the last minute. I felt as though BET took a step forward with
hiring B. Scott to represent them and then two steps back by asking him to
appear as something he was not. I was still satisfied that B. stayed true to
his personality and character even if his appearance didn’t necessarily match.
When he came on for a segment and let out the classic, “It’sssss Beeeeeeee
Scoootttttt!” I knew that he was making the best out of an unfortunate
situation and not letting down all of his fans and supporters.
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| B. Scott's appearance before and after. |
After all was
said and done, Scott posted to his blog and shared what really happened to him
first hand. Apparently the blogger had gone through several precautions to
ensure that BET was okay with how he was to appear on the show. This made sense
to me because when you have an image as distinct and unique as B. Scott’s that
issue probably has arisen several times. Once everything was seemingly approved
he had begun the show. However, after some internal phone calls BET had made a
last minute decision that the multimedia personality’s wardrobe and makeup
choice “wasn’t acceptable”. They immediately had him pulled off set after the
first segment to be replaced by Adrienne Ballon. I didn’t view the very
beginning of the show so when I saw B. Scott in his alternate clothing I didn’t
even realize he had already been on. In the post he also expressed his feelings
about the situation stating, “I was hurt, I am hurt.” I am personally hurt for
him. As a gay black male I have also been through similar situations with
family, friends, and society. It is definitely not okay.
BET has since
then made a response to the entire situation stating the incident “was a
singular one with a series of unfortunate miscommunications from both parties.
We regret any unintentional offense to B. Scott and anyone within the LGBT
community and we seek to continue embracing all gender expressions.”
B. Scott wasn’t
having it. He communicated, "I want a real apology from BET. This was a
not a mutual misunderstanding or miscommunication. I pride myself on being very
professional".
I agree. B.
Scott has always been about his business and it is no surprise that BET has
tried to blame everything on a miscommunication between “both” parties. They
never issued an apology they simply said, “they regret”. As in, “too bad for you
if you got offended". Also, what has BET ever done or aired that embraces all
expressions of gender?
The main thing I
wanted to talk about in the light of all of this is what does this say about
society today? More specifically, what does this say about the African-American
community? While BET isn’t a representation of Black America as a whole, I feel
as though this entire situation can be used to reinforce the backlash that
homosexuals experience within the black community. I feel as though they could
have used this situation as a way to stand firm and fight against the
homophobia found amongst racial minorities today. Even when B. Scott hit the
stage in what was considered to be toned down clothing and makeup, African-Americans
all over Twitter and Facebook were still posting negative thoughts about him
and his appearance. We have come too far as a society for something as simple as
this to be an issue. The Supreme Court just deemed DOMA unconstitutional as
well as turned over Proposition 8 in California. Yet a gay male cannot
commentate an awards pre-show in an ensemble that adequately expresses himself?
I for one will
not be watching another BET Awards show or any of their lackluster programming
for now on. They have truly disappointed me. My heart goes out to B. Scott but
I know from history that he will rise above this and continue to stride
forward. I can only pray that someday situations such as this will cease to be
an issue.
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