'Nappy-Headed Hos' Revisited: Why Is D.L. Hughley Getting a Free Pass?
By Eric L. Hinton
July 11, 2007
Don Imus uttered the phrase "nappy-headed hos" and was universally condemned on his way to losing a multimillion-dollar job as host of his televised radio show on MSNBC. Actor and self-proclaimed "king of comedy" D.L. Hughley uttered similar sentiments on the "Tonight Show" a few weeks ago about the Rutgers women's basketball team and received hysterical laughter, almost bringing host Jay Leno to tears. Watch the video.
"He called them nappy-headed hos and they weren't hos," Hughley told Leno. "But there were some nappy-headed women on that team. Shut up, I'm gonna say it. I don't give a damn if you all like it or not. You know it's true. They were some of the ugliest women I've seen in my whole life."
Hughley's comments weren't met with silence or condemnation, but rather laughter and applause from the studio audience. And weeks later, the same media that turned Imus into a human piñata has paid scant attention to Hughley's comments.
Why? Is it because Hughley is a comedian and comedians are often given license to offend if it means getting the laugh? Or is it simply because Hughley is black and Imus is white?
While the mainstream media has paid little attention to Hughley, who is currently looking for work following the cancellation of his show "Studio 60 Live from the Sunset Strip" because of poor ratings, blogs across the web are asking why some who were so quick to admonish Imus aren't giving the comedian the same treatment.
In an open letter to the Rev. Al Sharpton and Bill Cosby, blogger Francis L. Holland requested the support of both men in a boycott of one of Hughley's recent performances.
"Mr. Hughley shows no regard for our Black Women and is unapologetic about his social unacceptable behavior towards the Black Community," writes Holland.
On Keyboard Quarterbacks, blogger Karen Bailis thinks the double standard clearly has to do with the race of the person making the off-color comments. She writes, "If a black comic makes a racist, sexist joke about Rutgers' women's basketball team in the forest of late-night TV, does it make a sound in the mass-media landscape? Apparently not."
In What About Our Daughters, a blogger said Hughley's attempt to get a cheap laugh at the expense of the Rutgers team was cheap and ugly. "Where is the outcry from mainstream media, the African American community, or all these people that called for Imus' head on a platter?" she asks. "D.L's last show got canceled so there isn't anyone to boycott. Was it really worth the laugh?"
While Hughley hasn't gotten the Imus treatment, there has been some fallout from his comments. At least one of his standup performances was boycotted by black community leaders in Fort Worth, Texas.
"It's not only that comment, he has a history of demeaning our community in such a way that it's not funny anymore," said Pastor Kyev Tatum of Servant House Baptist Church, according to an article on EURWeb.
Hughley has defended his comments on the "Tonight Show."
"I believe that freedom of speech is a zero-sum proposition," he said in a statement released to the media. "Too many times I have watched clowns like these pretend to speak for the masses. I can only speak for me. Isn't there a child you can help teach to read, a war to help stop, an unjustly accused man you can help out of jail? I will not apologize for telling a joke about the world as I see it."
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