New 'Sorority Sisters' VH1 Show: NBA Distances Itself From Show
The NBA has pulled its advertisement slot from VH1’s “Sorority Sisters,” a reality TV show that has been the target of protests and calls for boycotts.
Despite the backlash from many people in the U.S., particularly black Americans, VH1 continues to refuse pulling the show from the air.
The NBA made the announced on Wednesday via Twitter that it had pulled its advertisement from the show. They are the latest corporation to withdraw its ads from the embattled reality TV show, which many deem highly offensive, arguing it paints a stereotypical image of black American women.
This is the latest company to pull ads from the show after people turned to social media, using the hashtag #BoycottSororitySisters, to spread the word about the protest.
According to the Washington Post, other companies and brands that pulled ads from the show are Honda, Crayola, State Farm, JBL, Hallmark and Carmex.
One movie has also pulled its trailer from airing during “Sorority Sisters’” commercial time: “Selma.” A Twitter user contacted “Selma” director Ava DuVernay asking her to remove the film’s ads from the show.
However, the abovementioned companies are not the only ones to have pulled advertisements from the show. They are just the latest ones. There is also an online petition calling for VH1 to drop the show with more than 77,000 signatures.
“The show is a gross representation of African American fraternal life,” said Lawrence Ross, a member of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity who helped launch the boycott move.
“It makes a mockery of the association, and the work, that these organizations have done to date. And it’s intentional. The producers of this show made choices as to the types of people they wanted to represent these sororities, and as a result, they went for the lowest common denominator,” he explained.
However, the channel said it would not pull the show from the air in a statement to the Washington Post.
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