Last night’s episode of “Love & Hip Hop Atlanta” was disturbing on many levels. Not only did it showcase violence against women, it proved that television networks like VH1 will air anything for ratings. Just in case you don’t spend your Monday evenings catching up with VH1’s popular production, you may be unaware of the altercation that occurred between Lil Scrappy and his “friend” Erica Pinkett. Scrappy and Pinkett had a mostly platonic relationship. Somehow, lines were blurred and it ultimately led up to Scrappy and Pinkett meeting for lunch to discuss their the bounds of their relationship. The situation grew tense and Pinkett threatened to slap Scrappy to which he responded, “That will be the last time ever slapping a n*gga in real life.” The screen went black as Pinkett appeared to throw her drink on Scrappy. We can only assume what happened…
Earlier this year, Scrappy’s ex Diamond accused him of being abusive toward her. “He was mentally abusive, physically abusive,” she revealed during an interview on Power 105.1. “We fought, like you ain’t beatin’ my a**. Yeah, he got some issues. Some demons, he needs some help,” she added. This isn’t the first case of domestic violence we’ve heard in the news lately. Former “Scandal” actor Columbus Short was charged with spousal battery in March after an argument between he and his wife Tanee McCall escalated to physical violence. Disgraced “Shield” actor Michael Jace murdered his wife after in front of their children after an alleged dispute over finances. R&B singer/songwriter The Dream made headlines when his baby’s mother claimed he choked and kicked her while she was pregnant. The tales of abuse go on and on.
Scrappy and Pinkett’s situation was even more bothersome because it was aired on national TV. MTV faced criticism for this very matter when they aired a promo clip of Snooki being punched in the face by a man on their show “The Jersey Shore.” They pulled the video and released this statement: “What happened to “Snooki” was a crime and obviously extremely disturbing.” They added, “After hearing from our viewers, further consulting with experts on the issue of violence, and seeing how the video footage has been taken out of context to not show the severity of this act or the resulting consequences, MTV has decided not to air ‘Snooki’ being physically punched in next week’s episode.”
We guess VH1 only got a portion of the memo. While VH1 didn’t air the actual fight between Scrappy and Pinkett (if there was one), we did see enough to render judgement. We don’t deny that Pinkett provoked Scrappy and that she was in the wrong as well, but there is no excuse for how Scrappy handled the situation. Violence against women is never OK.
