"I'm Ashamed of it" says BET's Co-Founder Sheila Johnson of the channel

Black Entertainment Television co-founder Sheila Johnson did not have to many kind words when speaking about the channel and how it has become.

“Don’t even get me started,” says the 60-year-old Johnson, who has since divorced and remarried (charmingly enough, to the Virginia circuit court judge who presided over her divorce). “I don’t watch it. I suggest to my kids [a 20-something daughter and a college-age son] that they don’t watch it… I’m ashamed of it, if you want to know the truth.”

Johnson—who was at the Tribeca Film Festival this week for the premiere of The Other City, a searing, but ultimately hopeful documentary she produced about the AIDS epidemic in Washington, D.C.—says BET is making matters worse, and potentially contributing to the spread of AIDS, by promoting promiscuous, unprotected sex in raunchy late-night rap videos.

She also criticizes other channels and their programming.

“I just really wish—and not just BET but a lot of television programming—that they would stop lowering the bar so far just so they can get eyeballs to the screen,” she says. “I know they think that’s what’s going to keep programming on the air; that’s what’s going to sell advertising. But there has got to be some responsibility. Somebody has got to take this over. Because with all the studies that are out there, this is contributing to an atmosphere of free sex, ‘I don’t have to protect myself anymore.’”

What do you think of her claims?  Does BET have a responsibility as a reflection of the black culture to reflect a more positive view of the black culture?  Does Sheila Johnson and her husband have some responsibility in laying the foundation for what the network has become now?  Doesn't this apply to other networks such as VH1 and MTV whose programming is the same.  You be the judge.

Why do we allow ourselves to be entertained by the things that networks like BET, VH1 and MTV show?  It seems like it does not take a lot to entertain us anymore.  Remember shows like Teen Summit on BET that really spoke to the youth and real issues in society.  Remember when channels like MTV and VH1 only played music and celebrated the positive aspect of celebrity culture.  It seems like we have allowed them to tell us what entertains us and we just take it.  We need to reassess what we call entertainment and what we allow minds to be exposed to.

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