This morning, I stumbled across yesterday’s episode of “The Wendy Williams Show.” Notice I said stumbled across because I don’t normally tune in unless there’s a guest I really love. It’s nothing personal against Wendy; my time is very limited and I’m already a recovering procrastinator. The smallest distraction can make me relapse for a day or two. Anyway, Wendy opened up her infamous Hot Topics segment with the news of Lady Gaga replacing Beyoncé as the headliner for this year’s Coachella concert in April. According to Wendy, she likes to stay in tune with the millennial crowd via social media to see what’s on their minds in terms of pop culture, and she said she was surprised to find the Beehive pissed that Gaga would be performing instead of Blu Ivy’s mother. Wendy claimed Lady Gaga and Beyoncé generally have the same fanbase so she doesn’t understand why the hive is so upset… Well, Wendy, that’s because they don’t.
African-American women who are past 40 years old make up a huge population of Beyoncé’s fans, such as my mama, my clients, my Facebook friends from all over the United States, and ladies I don’t know from a can of paint but have seen come out in droves to a Beyoncé’ concert. When the “Oh-Oh” dance hit the scene in 2002-2003, my mama wore it out! If the tickets were free you could not get most Black women to go see Lady Gaga. Beyoncé’s fans are not only racially diverse but diverse in age as well. Wendy referred to Coachella as a modern-day Woodstock and said that if you only bought Coachella tickets for Bey, you were “less than smart for that” because you’re supposed to get into all that the event has to offer. Honestly Wendy, when did a significant number of Black women spend their coins on Woodstock?
Wendy then moved on to her second Hot Topic of the day–reports of T.I and Tiny allegedly playing out their divorce on another season of their Vh1 reality show. Of course, this segued into a discussion about Tiny reuniting with the ladies of her ’90s R&B girl group Xscape. The daytime TV gossiper went on to say those who care about the group’s reunion are people with too many financial responsibilities to help the group “recover.” And just what are those responsibilities? Wendy said Xscape’s fans have to choose between cutting the grass for the week or sending their kids to college, so buying an album or concert tickets for Xscape is a no-go. Then, to add insult to injury, she asked some random white lady in the audience if she remembers Xscape, and of course, the lady said she does not.
Wendy! What are you doing? I’ll tell you. For one, you are discouraging Black people from supporting a Black music group. You are also implying that all the people who are fans of Xscape are African-American women struggling to make ends meet like an episode of GoodTimes. Make a choice between cutting the lawn or streaming a few songs for enjoyment? Girl, I pay my 16-year-old cousin 20 to 30 bucks to cut the grass; it’s not a financial decision that’s going to send me into bankruptcy or cancel out all my fun for the year. Go to a concert or send the kids to college? Concert tickets for a nosebleed seat are usually around $50. How would a $50 concert ticket completely blow my children’s hopes and dreams of attending college? I’m confused.
Wendy needs to get it together before Roland Martin makes another trip to the show to enlighten her about downplaying our culture. Matter of fact, I’m, willing to come if he can’t.
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