Pimping D.L. Hughley

A little over a week before the U.S. presidential elections, CNN, the cable new network, decided to start airing a “comedy show” hosted by the Black comedian D.L. Hughley. On the face of it, it does not look like much, but the bottom line is that in a very sensitive election cycle where a Black candidate is on the verge of becoming the first non-white to be the president of the United States of America, CNN is using Hughley to give voice to its concerns about the Obama candidacy. To avoid being labeled racist, who better to make jokes about a black candidate without the attendant backlash than a black fool? It is a shame that D.L. Hughley is allowing himself to be pimped in such a fashion. One expects him to know that he is just feeding into the stereotype of an idiot (albeit a rich one) making a fool of himself in the village square. The dry jokes are not resonating. It would have been more respectable for him to delay his show until after the election. Perhaps, he could have avoided the unnecessary scrutiny this new gig will attract. Deep down, Hughley knows it’s not going to work. Comedians like him are not used to working in a very scripted environment where the jokes are forced and the language is plastic. There is nothing wrong in making fun of a black presidential candidate or any person of color running for higher office, but it should be done on the terms of the comedian, not as an outlet for a wimpy news organization trying to find a shortcut to asking difficult questions or raising and discussing difficult issues involving ethnicity, race and achievement. D.L. Hughley, you are better than this.