Love and Hip Hop Atlanta: K. Michelle and The Fags

                              (Follow the author of this article @noose_lme)

We have become immune, so very immune to dehumanizing and degrading language, images, and behaviors. However, I suppose it’s not degrading if it’s entertaining.

K. Michelle, a TV personality and aspiring singer, hits men where it hurts: sexual orientation. On VH1’s hit reality-soap opera Love and Hip Hop Atlanta, K. Michelle walks the line between heroine and villain. A self-proclaimed battered woman, K. Michelle wages warfare on anyone that rubs her the wrong way in an effort to ‘keep it real’.  Her choice of weapon for men is questioning, no, stating that they are gay. K. Michelle can be seen calling any man she verbally spares with gay Monday 8 p.m. eastern standard time.  

Twitter loves the slander. The majority of the people I follow on Twitter and other forms of social media are Black gay men like myself. A vast majority of them find it comical that K. Michelle uses their sexual orientation as an insult. Would we accept a White woman calling a White man in an argument Nigga? I predict we would if it were for entertainment; I’m not proud of my prediction.

Coming from a generation were we have widely accepted the term ‘nigga’ as a placeholder for ‘friend’ or ‘homeboy’, I understand the nature of words and how they change according to times and the culture using them. K. Michelle and her use of degrading men by using gay is not the same thing. Besides, belong to the culture is a prerequisite to participate in the changing of derogatory words. K. Michelle’s intent to use the word ‘gay’ as a sword against her opponents is derogatory and ill spirited.

K. Michelle maybe the problem, but we, as a society, are the enablers. Have you seen Family Guy? More specifically have you seen the episodes of where they poke fun at the Rihanna-Chris Brown domestic violence altercation? More importantly, have you seen the photos of Rihanna’s abused face with the ‘funny’ captions? What about the jokes on Twitter about the violence bestowed on women by men? If we make jokes adding to the humiliation of a abuse victims like Rihanna, how can we expect the average woman to come forth about domestic violence and rape? We should not.

Recently, Kelly Rowland released ‘Dirty Laundry’ a track off of her MCA release Talk A Good Game.  The songs chronicles Kelly Rowland’s abusive relationship with a former lover that led to a rift to her and Beyoncé’s friendship. On Facebook, I witnessed 30 something year old African American Men and Women bashing Kelly Rowland for being jealous of Beyoncé’s success. Whoa! Are we listening to the same song or have we come so immune to violence on woman that Rowland just seemed like a whining brat? 

I suppose nothing is degrading as long as all of it is for entertainment and product. Yeah, that’s what slave owners thought when they made slaves rape one another.
-Noose

(Follow the author of this article @noose_lme)