This posting has been retracted and re-posted. Read on!
Taye Diggs Gets No Love
Last week, Taye Diggs’ TV series “Daybreak,” was cancelled due to low ratings. Rumor has it that African-American women refused to support the series because Diggs’ love interest wasn’t black. Their lack of support was instrumental in the numbers being down and the show getting the boot.
He did an interview with Rolling Out magazine last month to talk about his situation with his lack of black female support. Here is snippet of what he had to say when asked about his white wife:
“I’m too far along in my life and in my career to really give a question like that any type of dignified answer,” says Diggs, who was raised in black, middle-class Rochester, N.Y., intones. “When I was in high school, maybe. College, maybe. But I’m a grown-ass man and if people have a difficult time dealing with that, then I welcome them to see a movie with Omar Epps or Denzel Washington or some of those other brothers that have chosen to spend the rest of their lives with sisters, as you say. I just don’t have time for it. You can’t make everybody happy. And for the fans that are out there that are into me; they don’t really give a f— what’s going on with my personal life.” [SOURCE]
As women of color, do we really have time to care about Taye Diggs' Career? There are so many black men and women dating out of the race that Tay is just another out of the tens of thousands. Don't get me wrong, he helped get Stella's grove back, him and Sanaa made a great love story in Brown Sugar and The Best Man, but after these releases, all of his other ventures seemed uninteresting. He pretty much typecasted himself into the role of every black woman's "fantasy man", and because of black women's support of his past movies, that character made him a celebrity in the black community. Now his viewer-ship has wained because the show was not compelling, like a Grey's Anatomy, and it seems that the people who supported him in the past are not being represented in his work. His television series, Day Break, features him with a non-black love interest, and supposedly black viewers are not supporting it.
I believe Diggs's problem is that he never made a strong presence to white viewers, like a Will Smith or a Denzel. In film, if you've done a movie as the same character more than three times and it happens to be a "black film", society, both white and black, can get tunnel visioned. People are used to seeing his love interest as a Nia Long or Sanaa Lathan character. Take a look at Terrence Howard, his ex-wife was Jewish. He has been seen in public with this woman and he has professed his love in the past for her. Has he lost his black audience? No. He was up for an academy award for Hustle and Flow, which happens to be a very well written movie based on "hood" life in Memphis. Despite the critics, every African American cheered him on. He has not lost his audience because he plays roles that many black moviegoers like to see. He knows his audience and he cares about how they view him as an actor. No one cared about his relationship with his ex-wife. I am sure that Taye Diggs cares about how all audiences view him whether black or white, but should he care more about his roles as a black actor to a black audience? The answer is yes and no. No, because he is an actor who happens to be black. He should be able to creatively use his thespian skills with whomever love interest, regardless of color. But Taye should also very much care about how he is viewed to a black audience, because in reality people of color do care. Especially women of color. In a society where women of color are viewed as finger snapping, rump shaking hotties, it can cause a problem for black fans when there is a lack of representation. It's a sensitive subject, but it's reality.
Here is a quote from a viewer:
"Taye Diggs used the Black female audience and for that I'll never support any of his efforts.This quote does not at all speak for all women of color. To be honest, I am not excited when I here about Taye Diggs, not because of who he is with in a relationship or on screen, his range of acting is not deep or inspiring, Very on the surface. What do you think?
Taye Diggs is a faker and an abandoner of his usually loyal Black female audience. Enough of being used and tossed out. We, Black women, are sick of it.
Question. Does race matter for an actor of color?
The NFL is a big boys sport, right!
Apparently not after TO had a slight tantrum and spit in the face of the "fine-as-wine" Deangelo Hall. Damn! He's fine. I won't get into detail because we are not sports junkies, so if you want more details, check out sports illustrated.
I know is it was hard for D to not kick his ass! I am so sick of Terrell and his random tirades.
Kelis: Ad Money
Vanity Pages has learned that Kelis will be the spokesmodel for Ford Motor Company's new SUV, The Edge
This car will be marketed towards young and hip African American women.
It seems to me they picked the perfect person. She looks great in this ad!
Pearl Jr.
Author, Black Women Need Love, Too! "- TV BARN