It’s a Wrap for ‘Rap City’
BET Show Cancelled After Nearly Two-Decade Run
By R. Thomas Umstead -- Multichannel News, 10/9/2008 10:21:00 AM
Black Entertainment Television Thursday said it is canceling its long-running hip hop video music show Rap City after 19 years on the air.
The series, which featured top rap and hip hop music videos, will tape its last show after the network’s Oct. 23 Hip Hop Awards event, according to a BET spokesman. It’s unclear when the show will actually leave the air.
The show has come under criticism from conservative groups like the Parent’s Television Association for what they perceive as videos that demean women and glorify violence and drug use.
In a statement, the PTL—along with The Parents Television Council, the Enough is Enough Campaign for Corporate Responsibility, the National Congress of Black Women, and Industry Ears—: “We are heartened by the recent changes at BET, and we are gratified that our collective efforts were a catalyst for this positive change. It is apparent that our voices were heard by the public, by the corporate sponsors who underwrite television programming and by BET network executives.”
"Parents across this country want a cessation of marketing harmful, graphic and offensive images to children. But let us be clear about our goal: we are not trying to get a particular show cancelled or a particular executive fired. Rather, our goal is a reduction in the harmful and offensive messages on BET and MTV programming – especially when the programs are targeted at children. We have called for the networks to take responsibility for their products, and this program’s cancellation is evidence of a step in the right direction."
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