Tavis Smiley's Dismissal By BET Outrages Blacks Across The Nation

Jet, April 16, 2001

Tavis Smiley, the former host of the talk show "BET Tonight with Tavis Smiley," says he appreciates the outpouring of support from Black viewers since he was recently fired by BET after five years.

"My friend (Harvard professor) Dr. Cornel West is right: Outside of God's love, there's nothing in the world like Black love. I will never forget that. I will never take Black love for granted," Smiley said during his bi-weekly radio commentary on "The Tom Joyner Morning Show."

He said, "Thank you to all who watched when they put me on and wrote when they took me off."

Blacks demonstrated their love for Smiley by flooding BET and its White-owned parent company, Viacom, with thousands of phone calls, e-mails and faxes to voice their dismay and anger over Smiley's dismissal.

Blacks also demonstrated in L.A. where Viacom Chairman Mel Karmazin addressed the Hollywood Radio and Television Society. In Washington, D.C., Cornel West led a protest news conference outside of BET headquarters.

Many Blacks were suspicious that BET founder Robert L. Johnson--who sold BET to Viacom last year--was ordered to fire Smiley by Viacom.

Johnson said he made the decision to fire the popular talk show host because Smiley offered an exclusive interview with former Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) member Sara Jane Olson who was involved years ago in the kidnapping of Patricia Hearst to ABC instead of BET.

"He never offered the opportunity for that interview to appear on BET. Now he had no obligation. There is no contractual obligation for him to do it, but I felt that based on our five-year relationship that he should have made an effort...."

Johnson also said he was concerned that it was announced on the Joyner show that people should call and e-mail Karmazin. "... I didn't see how we could have a beneficial business relationship with all of this going on."

Smiley, speaking on Joyner's show, said the Olson interview didn't fit the format of any BET show and that Olson wanted wider exposure. He said he offered the interview to Viacom-owned CBS, but the network declined.

Smiley told JET: "I find it even more curious that Mr. Johnson would move to dismiss me for selling one interview featuring a White woman to a White company, when he sold the entire network to a White company."

Stressing that he did not want to "get into a tit for tat public fight with Mel Karmazin and Bob Johnson," Smiley, who has already received offers from network and cable outlets, added: "As for me it is time to move on. To find and create new ways to fulfill my passion and purpose. And that Brothers and Sisters, has not changed in the least bit, to continue to use whatever talent God has blessed me with to help enlighten, encourage and empower Black people. To do my part to help make Black America better."

He added, "Until you see me again, I encourage you to continue to advocate (as we will on this program) for television that honors us, not whores us, television that entertains and empowers us; television that informs and uplifts us."

Smiley later told JET: "While I do have a First Amendment right to free speech, I do not have a First Amendment right to a talk show. But my advocacy on behalf of Black folk will continue."

He continues his work with teens through his Youth to Leaders conferences across the country. The conference kicked off in Warren, OH, and will continue in Oakland, CA (April 21); Washington, D.C. (May 12); Atlanta (June 9); Detroit (June 30); Chicago (July 21); Philadelphia (Aug. 11); Houston (Sept. 8); and New York City (Sept. 29).