Critics give reality show All My Babies' Mamas the Oxygen of publicity

http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/us-news-blog/2013/jan/07/all-my-babies-mamas-reality-oxygen

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There has never been a shortage of criticism of American reality shows, for exploiting and/or degrading their subjects, whether they are people with compulsive hoarding disorder, children who compete in beauty pageants or teen parents. Rarely, however, does such controversy result in the show in question being pulled.

A new one-hour special, All My Babies' Mamas, which will chronicle the life of rapper Shawty Low and his 11 children by 10 different mothers, might buck that trend. Critics are calling for its for cancellation before it has even finished shooting.

The special is set to air on the Oxygen network in the spring. In pre-production clips available on YouTube each of the mothers receives a branding (Jealous Baby Mama, Baby Mama from Hell, Shady Baby Mama, etc). Viewers are introduced to Low's 19-year-old girlfriend and her relationship with the other mothers – which is expected to be tense.

Bloggers are expressing severe opposition to the show, largely for its perpetuation of negative stereotypes of the black community. A petition demanding the cancellation of the show, on the online platform change.org, had received more than 20,000 signatures on Monday.

The petition's author, Sabrina Lamb, is an author, producer and founder of WorldofMoney.org, a non-profit that aims to empower under-served young people by teaching them about finances. In an open letter to the Oxygen network chief executive, Jason Klarman, Lamb criticized the network for giving attention to Shawty Low's lifestyle.

Lamb said: "In stereotypical and bigoted fashion, you are prepared to serve to an international community all of the images that African Americans and our courageous ancestors have spent a lifetime trying to overcome, all while enriching your corporate coffers.

What's worse: while thousands toil to solve the high rates of HIV/AIDS in our community, you and the self-loathing, misogynistic Shawty Lo seek to use your robust marketing machine to tell your prized audience – immature, impressionable young women – that having unprotected sex with multiple partners is acceptable, normal and worthy of praise. It is a message that suffocates the spirit of young women, demoralizes black children and attacks and curses the millions of black mothers and fathers who work hard every day to stand upright and love their families with abandon, all while fighting the stereotypes society saddles on their backs.

In a statement, Oxygen said: "Oxygen's one-hour special in development is not meant to be a stereotypical representation of everyday life for any one demographic or cross section of society. It is a look at one unique family and their complicated, intertwined life. Oxygen Media's diverse team of creative executives will continue developing the show with this point of view."

Oxygen launched in 2000, as an independent network geared towards women – Oprah Winfrey was one of its founders. The network was purchased by NBCUniversal in 2007 and is now famous for programs including The Glee Project and The Bad Girls Club. The latter places women, usually with psychological issues, in a home in an effort to repair their destructive behaviors. Bad Girls Club participants have used racial and homophobic slurs, fought with other cast members and abused a variety of substances.

Critics expect All My Babies' Mamas to continue the network's record of portraying women with destructive habits.

"Oxygen will give fans an intimate look at unconventional families with larger than life personalities and real emotional stakes," Oxygen's senior vice-president of development, Cori Abraham, said in a 26 December release. "All My Babies' Mamas' will be filled with outrageous and authentic over-the-top moments that our young, diverse female audience can tweet and gossip about."

The program's executive producers are Liz Gateley and Tony DiSanto of DiGa Vision, who were responsible for the creation of popular MTV reality shows Laguna Beach, The Hills and Teen Mom.