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MTV`s Cartoon Sets Entertainment Critics on Fire

A new MTV cartoon entertainment show, `Where My Dogs At?` included an episode which showed black women on leashes. They were squatting on all fours and defecating on the floor. The episode is drawing fire from several prominent African American entertainment fans who call it degrading. Entertainment critics agree, saying that MTV, a popular entertainment music video channel on cable television, showed especially poor judgment because the weekly animated program "Where My Dogs At?" appeals to young teens and airs at an hour, 12:30 p.m. on Saturdays, when many children are watching television.

The half-hour show satirizes real-life entertainment celebrities and pop culture as seen through the eyes of two wise-cracking stray dogs, which are voiced by comedians Tracy Morgan and Jeffrey Ross. The network, owned by Viacom Inc., whose president, Christina Norman, is black, stated that the entertainment show is all about social satire.

MTV said that the episode, which first aired on July 1, was "in fact a parody of an actual appearance Snoop Dogg made at an entertainment celebrities party where he was accompanied by two women wearing neck collars and chains." However, several prominent blacks, including New York Daily News columnist Stanley Crouch, condemned the segment as "misogynist, racist and crude", and they questioned the sincerity of the entertainment and music channel`s statement.