As we all get ready to watch Eric throw a drink in the face of Jennifer, Shaunie O’Neal opened up to FOX revealing that moments like those are not what she originally envisioned.
“When I started the show I really just wanted to follow this group of ladies around. We all have a common bond; we understand each other’s lives. It started as that. Since then, it’s taken on a life of its own,” O’Neal told FOX411’s Pop Tarts column. “I never imagined it would be a group of ladies fighting and arguing that way that they do. That was never part of the plan.”
Shaunie Oneal
She continued,
“I hate that it has to be a fight or an argument that gives us 4.2 million viewers. I hate that, but it’s something where I’m working as hard as I can to show some type of balance, because it is there. We do know how to act, we do charity work. I would love a little more balance and we’re going to try to do more of that in season 4,” she said. “I know that people love the fighting and the arguing, but I do want to have some positive in there somewhere.”
Does Basketball Wives portray minority women as materialistic gold diggers? Hmmm, it's often the first argument about the show from critics. And the blogsphere seems more than a little disgusted that Evelyn Lozada would turn a hurtful insult into a bestselling T-shirt just to make a buck.
Shaunie O'Neal, former NBA wife and executive producer of the show, spoke out defending how Basketball Wives portrays women.
"Honestly, when we watch Basketball Wives, we recognize fully what hot-ass messes all these ladies are. Until we interviewed them, we thought most of the ladies were basketball players' loving, stay-at-home baby mamas."
Basketball Wives Cast: Season 1
Shaunie O'Neal actually feels her show portrays her cast mates with their own lives and agendas. In a piece she wrote for CNN.com ("Negative Portrayals of Black Women on Reality TV') before being a featured as a speaker on a reality television panel at the 2011 Essence Music Festival, she broke down her thoughts on reality TV and on her show in particular.
Here are a few favorite quotes and highlights.
This new generation of reality TV seems to be more about the drama and less about the storyline. That concerns me, especially now that I'm producing a reality show.
I have gotten both good and bad responses from viewers about Basketball Wives, and I certainly understand the opinion that the shows portrayal of black women is beginning to look somewhat negative.
The problem for me is when black women are portrayed as only being that way and labeled different than their non-black counterparts for the same type of behavior. That's when it becomes negative and damaging to our image.
I do believe some of the shows featuring African-American women have positive story lines and are not meant to tear black women down. Shows like [BET's] "Tiny & Toya" and "Monica: Still Standing," [TVOne's] "LisaRaye: The Real McCoy," [VH1's] "What Chili Wants" and [WE tv's] "The Braxtons."
They all have the same core storyline -- single, exes of high profile men, trying to raise their children and get their lives back on track. I believe that is positive and when handled properly can be very uplifting and empowering for women going through the same issues, no matter their race.
Guest Blogger:
Cherry Hunt
My Opinion:
My Opinion:
I find myself to be in the minority of people that doesn’t obsessively watch Basketball Wives. And I think it does portray minority women in a very negative way. In the few episodes that I have watched (please don’t judge me), I was not entertained by the petty drama, gossip, lack of moral value and character that these reality celebrities reveal. It is mind-blowing how grown women live their lives as if they never graduated high school, and where you are have to cuss out, throw a punch, or toss a drink on another female to become a part of the clique. What happen to the classy black woman on TV ie, the Claire Huxtables?
Class was once considered the essential attribute of womanhood, particularly in African-American communities where your racial background already marked you at a lower social standing and status in society. But, now it seems as if one is quicker to trade their dignity and self worth to be a drama queen, start the next fight, or be the first one to tell a married woman that they should cheat on a husband that has cheated. A famous quote states, “If you don’t stand for nothing, you’ll fall for anything”. And if we continue to support the portrayal of this ignorant behavior we will truly have yet another huge obstacle to overcome as women of color if we are continually portrayed in this manner. For every Michelle Obama-Jada Pinkett-Maya Angelou, it seems that we have 1000 women who are in line ready to be the next Basketball Baby Mama-Ex-Fiance-Past Jumpoff-Girlfriend and not the Wife that the show supposedly is promoting. In the Bible it clearly states, “He who findeth a wife, findeth a good thing”. And if that is to be true, then we must do our part to ensure this truth.
WE GOT TO DO BETTER.
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