If you checked out the show last night, you heard Gen and I talk a bit about the current lawsuit filed against Playboy, in which a producer of one of their Playboy Radio made claims of racial discrimination and more from co-workers and executives.  During the show, we somewhat made light of the whole situation, joked and laughed about some of the things mentioned in the court documents, and it was fun.  But, the fact that the comment of “…No Negro Shows” was allegedly made is disturbing to say the least.

I’ve been a “hanger-on” in this business for a while now.  In my earlier days, I was quite adamant in pointing out the apparent racial inequalities that were spread throughout the adult industry.  The shit that some companies would say and do could be classified as nothing less than flat out disrespect to people of color, especially blacks.  It was as if the racial sensitivity of the skin biz was still stuck in the 1960’s.

But that was years ago.  Since then I had given up on trying to “fight the power” or whatever the fuck you wanna label it.  Most of the blacks in the biz didn’t care.  The few that did saw it as part of the package deal of doing what they loved to do.  And who was I to try and change things?  I wasn’t on the front lines, being neither a performer or director.  So if they could live with it, I could fall in line.

Over the years though, I have seen so many positive things happen for the people of color in the industry.  many new companies were launched, awards were won, performers were given more opportunities.  It seemed like things were getting better – even from my outsiders view.  Though I had long given up on my former attitude towards the industry, I still took some delight in this.

I know that people everywhere in LA like to crack little racial jokes to people they consider friends.  Calling a friend out for some racial stereotype seems to be a form of endearment out here.  I do it all the time myself. But the “no negro shows” comment that was allegedly made by an exec at Playboy Radio just doesn’t fly with me.  There’s a difference between ribbing someone in general, and actually using what is considered a racial slur when discussing business.  On top of that, I’d think that someone who works for a company as established and as public as Playboy would try to maintain a certain standard of professionalism.  Or at least enough to not use the word “Negro”.  What the hell is the need for that?

But I guess that’s how it (still) is in this business.  People hold the blacks who work just as hard, just as long, (no pun intended) as still being less than worthy of even marginal respect.  I ain’t shocked.  it’s just a damn shame.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008 at 1:25 pm and is filed under Flexx's Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.