NAACP TV Effort Finds Asian, Gay Support

(BPI) LOS ANGELES-The NAACP's continuing criticism of the TV networks for lack of ethnic diversity in their new fall shows got limited backing this week from an Asian-American group and the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.
"The NAACP's concerns about the lack of African-Americans on television are fully warranted," said Scott Seomin, GLAAD entertainment media director. "Looking at fall TV for 1999-2000, there's a major lack of gays and lesbians of color."
Kweisi Mfume, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, lambasted ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox last week for setting primetime schedules so lacking in minorities that there will be "a virtual whitewash in programming."
The NAACP's Beverly Hills/ Hollywood chapter last week announced that a multi-ethnic coalition dealing with this fall's TV lineup will include activists from last fall's protests of "The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer," UPN's short-lived Civil War sitcom roundly criticized for insensitivity toward slavery.
Also endorsing the NAACP's Hollywood assault is the Media Action Network for Asian Americans (MANAA).
"All of us have done a lot of talking with the networks for years," said Guy Aoki, a MANAA co-founder and syndicated radio scriptwriter. "They give us a lot of nice lip service-always saying they want to improve their diversity-but it seems to happen only by accident."
While GLAAD and MANAA concur with the NAACP's view, neither plans to join the black group's possible boycotts or lawsuits against the networks.

David Finnigan writes for
The Hollywood Reporter.