“Love & Hip Hop” producer Mona Scott Young has a new project, “Sorority Sisters” in the works, and Black Greeks from across the nation have banded together to keep the reality show from airing.
Reality television has presented questionable portrayals of African-Americans, from female doctors to wealthy housewives, and now Black Greeks are the latest target of what could be misrepresentation in the media.
Young hopes to bring the new reality show, “Sorority Sisters” to television screens across the nation. It will focus on members of four sororities – Delta Sigma Theta, Alpha Kappa Alpha, Zeta Phi Beta and Sigma Gamma Rho.
A trailer for the new show hit the web recently and was quickly taken down after provoking strong backlash.
As it turns out, the Greeks aren’t satisfied with just a few YouTube comments or blog posts. Instead, they have launched a petition aimed at pulling the plug on Young’s latest project.
“Stop the spread of ignorance and stereotyping of our beloved Black Greek letter organizations,” the online petition reads. “Our founders amongst every organization worked extremely hard to allow us to unite and flourish not only on college campuses, but as a people well beyond our college days, and Mona Scott-Young now threatens to demolish those aims and goals we all abide by.”
The petition on MoveOn.org features a list of those who have already signed the petition, proving that the fight to pull the plug on the show has garnered support from all across the country.
Lynnell Summerville from Baltimore, Maryland signed the petition and wrote, “We must put an end to negative media and social media on our race. We must replace these [images] with positive images of our race.”
Another woman who signed the petition, Lisa-Renee Howard from Ohio, bashed Young for even considering creating such a show.
“This woman is a complete idiot, her work stands for nothing!!! Ignorance at its finest!!,” she wrote.
Another signer explained that the Greek organizations were founded on a specific set of principles that are not in keeping with a reality program.
“Please do not air a show that shows organizations there were founded on principles of leadership and scholarship in a negative light,” Gerald Joseph Baron from Alpharetta, Ga., wrote.
As of Thursday morning, the petition has gathered over 27,000 signatures and posted a new goal of 30,000.
