![]() Another hour passed as his caravan-a black S.U.V., two white vans, an R.V. After a few hours of negotiations, Williams announced that it was time to go. ![]() Anxious-looking network executives approached, and Williams could be seen walking urgently toward them, then, just as urgently, walking away. (BET declined to comment.) Williams led an entourage of friends and assistants to the back of the parking lot, where the cheerleaders were mustering, resplendent in white-and-green outfits. ![]() Depending on whom you asked, the dispute was over working conditions, corporate standards, who was in charge, or hurt feelings. Now the cheerleaders had become the focal point of a dispute involving Williams, the show’s producers, BET executives, and a woman who seemed to be an independent talent wrangler. Two bevies, in fact: one that upheld normative notions of thinness as a feminine ideal and one that flouted them. Williams had arranged to share the stage with a bevy of black cheerleaders. The riding lesson went smoothly, but it soon became clear that something else had gone wrong. “It’s the fuckin’ hanging we had a problem with.”) His return in 2008 as the show’s host was one of its biggest selling points, and BET had built its promotional campaign around him. Williams wanted to show that he found the resulting hysteria ridiculous. Nooses had been making an unlikely comeback: white high-school students in Jena, Louisiana, had allegedly hung nooses in a tree to intimidate black students, and a handful of copycat incidents had been reported around the country. Williams had hosted the 2007 Hip-Hop Awards, and on that occasion he upstaged his own performance by appearing on the red carpet wearing a shiny pink suit, a black shirt, and, in place of a necktie, a noose. “That would be cheating,” he said, as a crowd gathered to watch. Williams had got himself into the saddle, spurning the trainer’s offer to use her sturdy thigh as a step. He had been named the host, and he planned to make a glorious entrance (or maybe an ignominious exit-it wasn’t clear) on horseback. ![]() The comedian Katt Williams was in an Atlanta parking lot, on a Thursday morning last October, getting a riding lesson in preparation for the BET Hip-Hop Awards, which were two days away. Photograph by Joaquin PaltingĪ small black man on a big white horse is bound to get attention. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |