Reality TV has played a big role in boosting police and showcasing racial stereotypes

reality blurred

ViacomCBS has been a leading media conglomerate in expressing outrage and trying to do something in the aftermath of the George Floyd killing. Yet ViacomCBS is also responsible for airing pro-police propaganda Cops on Paramount Network. If ViacomCBS really wanted to take a stand on racial injustice, it would cancel Cops "now. Immediately," says Andy Dehnart. "Never air season 33. Pull any scheduled reruns." He adds: "Even if Paramount cancelled Cops, the problem is never one show, or one cast member, or one producer. The problem is patterns: almost three decades now of reality shows that often reinforce stereotypes or dehumanize black people and people of color, as we saw with the Big Brother producer who told Kemi to act and talk in a more stereotypical way, or the Survivor producers who stood by and filmed while women of color were the recipients of unwanted touching from a white man." Dehnart is also calling for A&E to drop Live PD, even though it's the cable network's most popular show. "A&E loves to pretend that its shows are just reality, copied and pasted onto the screen," he says, "but they are highly produced, often manipulated, frequently unethical messes."