It’s no secret that BET, including its co-founder Sheila Johnson, has been the target of public criticism for airing shows and music videos that many deem as offensive and degrading to women.
However, over the last few months, BET has exercised its option not to air certain content and has even introduced shows like “Let’s Stay Together” and resurrected canceled CW series “The Game.” In BET CEO Debra Lee’s opinion, those measures have gone a long way to improving BET’s image.
“I think the criticism has gone away. The first thing I did, which was in the works anyway, was to create more original programming that shows different images of women,” Debra told FOX Business, explaining her agenda once she took control of BET. “Our sitcoms have started doing that. We’ve got more documentaries. We’re going to get into the drama business.”
As for music videos, Debra said that BET “grew up” by playing less of that content in order to explore other avenues in its programming. Of the videos it does play, the network CEO said that BET has become more selective.
“We’ve gotten more strict on what we allow on air,” Debra said. “We used to live by broadcast standards, but as the hip-hop industry got a little more risqué we had actually had to bring that back some and say just because it can be on the air doesn’t mean it has to be on the air.”
Most notably BET has declined to air the videos for Kanye West’s “Monster” and Ciara’s “Ride.” Rihanna’s raunchy clip for “S&M” was on the chopping block, too.
Information from Eurweb.com and Fox Business contributed to this report.