With ‘All My Babies’ Mamas,’ America Sinks to a New Cultural Low

I can’t believe I’m actually going to type the words “reality TV has hit a new low.”

But it has, with “All My Babies’ Mamas.”

If you aren’t already depressed about American culture and the entertainment pimps who produce such garbage, check out the saga of the rapper and his 10 former girlfriends and 11 children.

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It’s scheduled to debut on the Oxygen cable channel this spring. Already there’s an online petition blasting the producers for creating what amounts to a “minstrel show” — as one blogger called it — stereotypically demeaning African Americans, especially black women.

I understand why the petitioners are angry. But the show doesn’t demean only black women. It demeans us all.

It stars Atlanta rapper Shawty Lo, whose real name is Carlos Walker. In a publicity still, he poses with his co-stars, all 10 of his babies’ mothers, who live with him in a fancy mansion in the Atlanta suburbs. His skinny new girlfriend is as old as his eldest child.

Yes, it’s predictable. The women scheme and have catfights for our amusement. And after watching the trailer, I hoped for one thing: That Bill Cosby would show up on the set, unannounced, with an ax handle and start swinging.

“This bold new series shows every second of the drama-filled lives surrounding a unique ‘modern’ family unit, as they navigate their financially and emotionally connected lives,” said a recent news release. “As the household grows, sometimes so does the dysfunction, leaving the man of the house to split his affection multiple ways while trying to create order . . . sharing your man with several opinionated women is bound to create issues.”

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“I had a lot of girls,” says rapper Shawty. “They was in love and, I probably was too. And it just happened.”

It just happened, Mr. Shawty.

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The producers of this show, Liz Gateley and Tony DiSanto, are white. {snip}

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It’s easy to decry “All My Babies’ Mamas” as racism. But what of Italian Americans lampooned on “Jersey Shore,” and the ridiculed country folk in “Buckwild” about the West Virginians? They’re white. And what of the Beverly Hills wives showing off their bling, locked in surgically enhanced sexual combat, so ridiculous, so sad. None of these botoxed cougars have bore Mr. Shawty’s babies, yet.

What does the chunky blond girl called Honey Boo Boo — who is sold these days as some kind of new Shirley Temple — tell us about our culture? To get her energy level up, the 6-year-old Boo Boo’s parents give her a combination of Mountain Dew and Red Bull. They call it “go-go juice.” That’s not the Good Ship Lollipop. That’s child abuse.

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