Rickey Smiley and son Malik Smiley (TV One)
Radio host Rickey Smiley is vowing to make things right with a Black girl who was insulted by his son on his reality show, “Rickey Smiley for Real.” His 15-year-old son, Malik Smiley, landed in hot water when he callously expressed his disinterest in dating a Black girl.
On the episode that aired Tuesday, Jan. 17, Malik was unhappy when his cousin set him up with a Black girl.
“Her face … Black females are not attractive to me,” he said. “I look at them like my sisters … I went to an all-white school. Sometimes, people have different tastes, and I don’t have a taste for her.”
On the “Rickey Smiley Morning Show,” Tuesday, Jan. 24, the host vowed to make it up to the young woman with a $500 gift card, a dozen roses, a bouquet of Edible Arrangements and tickets to any concert that Birmingham, Alabama, affiliate 95.7 Jamz has for 2017.
“On behalf of me and my family, we wanna apologize to that young lady,” he said. “I tried to hit her up on Twitter but have not been able to reach her. If anybody knows her, have her to please reach out to us … because that’s somebody’s daughter and I probably would have been horrified if somebody had done that to one of my kids.”
A day earlier, Rickey had cleared the air about what occurred during the taping of the offending episode. Many Twitter users had asked him about his thoughts and he shared he was angered by Malik’s statement, adding a producer told his son to make the comment.
I didn't get an opportunity to address that. He's 15. That's a short phase some kids go thru esp when your school is white mostly
— Rickey Smiley (@RickeySmiley) January 23, 2017
I didn't like it, and I raised pure hell about it… There was no resolution!! And I'm still pissed
— Rickey Smiley (@RickeySmiley) January 23, 2017
And for the recored the producer told my son the make that statement about black women. He's about to apologize on the air
— Rickey Smiley (@RickeySmiley) January 23, 2017
On air, Malik said he was reciting the lines of a script he was given by a producer.
“I did not say that I intentionally do not like Black females,” he explained. “What I really said — they must have cut this out ’cause I know for a fact that I have said this when they was [sic] interviewing me — I said that ‘I had bad experiences with a lot of Black females and I want to try something different.’ ”
Rickey blamed the producers for wanting to stir conflict on the reality show to boost ratings and said he was not interested in making an instant-hit show.
“To the national audience, we love Black women,” Rickey said. “Our mothers and our grandmothers are Black women. And something like this, on this particular show, I apologize to the viewers and the listeners. It will never happen again.”
As “Rickey Smiley for Real’s” executive producer, the radio personality said that he took “full responsibility” for the scene involving his son.
