The Hunger Strike – S02/E14
- Lynxi Welcome
- Episode synopsis
- HBOMax Synopsis: Huey organizes a boycott of BET and gets some high-profile help. Will it be enough to bring the world’s worst cable network to its knees? We can only hope.
Pre Show:
Show:
- BET
- Media influence
- Hood culture influence
- Repackaged Black culture
White People Question:
- From yungmamacycle on TikTok: “Did you grow up with a dad?”
- Have a “Stupid White People Question” you want to leave us?
Post Show:
Trivia:
- There are widespread rumors that this show and a second episode (“The Uncle Ruckus Reality Show”) have been banned from airing in the U.S. due to threatened litigation from BET. However, a Cartoon Network representative stated that BET had not contacted Cartoon Network regarding the episodes. This, however, does not negate the possibility that Viacom, BET’s parent company, may have threatened litigation against Sony. Sony Pictures Television, which produces the series, has not issued a statement on the matter. The episodes are said to specifically attack Reggie Hudlin, BET’s President of Entertainment, and Debra L. Lee, President and Chief Executive Officer of BET Holdings (parent company of BET.) Lee is portrayed as Deborah Leevil, a parody of the character Dr. Evil from the Austin Powers movies, and Hudlin is portrayed as Wedgie Rudlin, a “culturally insensitive buffoon coasting on his Ivy League education.”
Ironically, Hudlin had retained an executive producer credit on The Boondocks, though this is only a contractual obligation; Hudlin has not had any involvement with the show since the first pilot was rejected by Fox. During the episode, the character Deborah Leevil relates the mission of BET within The Boondocks universe, stating:
“Our leader Bob Johnson had a dream, a dream that would accomplish what hundreds of years of slavery, Jim Crow and malt liquor could not accomplish – the destruction of black people.” - On the DVD release of the second season, McGruder states “I was looking for changes and improvements, and I didn’t see any.” referring to BET’s programming. He decided to show his frustration using satire in The Boondocks, reasoning “I didn’t see them. So I said, OK, it’s fair game.”
- Debra Leevil is a mixed caricature of Dr. Evil from the Austin Powers movie trilogy, along with Cruella de Vil of the One Hundred and One Dalmatians fame. : Elements including music, impulsive slaying of junior executives, and layout of the board room are all reminiscent of the Austin Powers movies, while Leevil’s looks strongly mirror the latter character.
- There are several American culture references in this episode. The documentary Rollo Goodlove makes called “BET: The High Cost of Low Standards” is a parody on the title of an anti-Wal-mart documentary entitled “Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price”. It also references facts found in that documentary. Rollo Goodlove dances to Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em, though not that well and doesn’t seem to know all the words. The song that Rollo Goodlove sings during his protest is “Go-Go Gadget Gospel” by Gnarls Barkley.
- At one point during the episode, a boy gets up from his couch and says “Man fuck BET! I’m gonna read a book!”. This is a reference to the D’Mite satire song titled “Read a Book” which, ironically, gained its popularity by becoming an animated music video on BET.
- At the end of the show, Huey asks Granddad for advice and says, “What do you do when you can’t do nothing, but there’s nothing you can do?” Granddad responds by saying, “You do what you can,” which is the same advice Martin Luther King, Jr. gives Huey at the end of Return of the King.
Show Music:
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