Native Americans Call For CBS Boycott After Outkast Grammy Performance
By Clarence Burke Jr.
Date: 2/10/2004 2:25 PM

While Andre 3000 of Outkast drew praise from much of the country for his performance during Sunday night's Grammy Awards, some Native groups are not happy.

Some Indian groups are calling for a boycott of the network, deeming Andre 3000's neon green Native American attire offensive.

The rapper and backup dancers wore green buckskin dresses and green buckskin leggins.

A tipi with smoke billowing out of it was used as a background prop during the performance.

One board member of the Native American Cultural Center in San Francisco called the performance the "most disgusting set of racial stereotypes aimed at American Indians...ever seen."

Andrew Brother Elk, chair of the cultural center, filed a formal complaint with the FCC.

A spokesperson for CBS issued an apology, saying the network was "very sorry if anyone was offended by the performance."

I wish everyone would just shut the fuck up already and quit bitching.

While I think the costumes trivialized Native American culture, I didn't see any real stereotyping. But I'm not a full-fledged N-Am, so my perspective is going to be different.

Harlepolis said:

Not surprised to hear this. I was waiting for it actually. People are offended so easily these days. It's kind of ridiculous when there are so many other crucial, important matters going on in this world.

I saw that coming... let the civil lawsuits begin... starting with that lady from Tennesee who is suing Janet over the tittie thing... stupid people!

Their performance was not disrespectful in any way that I saw...

As someone who's part Crow, I can see the value in perhaps cocking an eyebrow at Andre's performance...reducing a people's culture to day glo kitsch can be considered a little lacking in sensitivity, I suppose...but I have to say I've seen and been negatively affected by images far worse than the Hey Ya performance - I don't think was a big deal, or guilty of THAT bad of a judgement call. Food for thought? Maybe. Moral outrage? Come on, now.

Heck, I'm surprised it took so long. When I saw them doing the "hey ya, hey ya" chant I could see it coming. That is a bit stereotypical.

Thankfully, that Janet lawsuit was dropped.

I was looking for more info. Thanks for posting this, Harle!

Universaluv said:

Looking at the outfits and the teepee I was wandering if this was PC.

Universaluv do you mean "Hey Ya" the way Andre sings it in the song, or "hey ya, hey ya, hey ya", etc. like in an Native American chant way?

Atlanta Brave fans do this pseudo Native American chant and tomahawk chop during ball games...Outkast is from ATL, right?

EvilWhiteMale said:

look at me over here agreeing with EvilWhiteMale.

EvilWhiteMale said:

lawd...i'm agreeing with EWM...the world must be ending soon.

Rhondab said:

that's exactly what I was thinking!

Hmmm

Hmmm

WHATEVER!... if it was offensive, then Andre will probably appreciate knowing...ya think?

I was a little offended by the way the at the way his fit...so baggy...LOL!

Harlepolis said:

You know...CBS should just issue a blanket apology statement for all past and future offenses people take from the spineless network.

UptownDeb said:

I'm referring to the psuedo-indian chant "hey ya, hey ya, hey ya" that was playing during Jack Black's introduction of Outkast (the one where he beat the living hell out of the audience).

I thought, "hmmm somebody's bound to notice that..."

Most Blacks in American are African/Native American Mixed...so whats the big ass deal???

I didnt think it was offensive or a spoof of Native Americans, I actually thought it was supposed to be an outerspace tribute!!!

They looked like ATLIENS TO ME!

LMAO

NPD313 said:

"some" = yeah "quite a few" = yeah.
I just don't know about the percentage being that close to "most".


BTW I got Cherokee on both grandmother's side

It WAS NOT in any way referencing Native Americans. His performance was a tribute to 1930's old westerns.

DuuHH!

PFunkjazz said:

i've got cherokee on my mom's side of the family, and my mom was a quarter cherokee...as for the performance, i was thinkin that folks would be a bit offended by it. i didn't think it was offensive, just silly.

How retarded and oh so OTT American. Their chant was closer to Aboriginal Australian, anyway. Sheesh!

.
[This message was edited Wed Feb 11 22:28:34 PST 2004 by mrdespues]

If Madonna did it, no one would have shit to say. I thought it was offensive when she was doing that Geisha shit. No one said shit. It's just because they're black that people are complaining!

I kind of figured this would happen...It'll all die down after awhile...

BRO915 said:

Of course it will! A3T will claim to be 1/4 Cherokee, 1/4 Blackfoot, 1/8 Sioux...and it'll be all good.

Just another thing for people to bitch about

oh fer fucks sake...everybody's offended by something these days!

Here's a longer article about it..
http://www.eonline.com/Ne...html?tnews

Native Americans Rap OutKast

by Joal Ryan
Feb 11, 2004, 4:45 PM PT

You know when OutKast's Andre 3000 hopped around onstage at the Grammys in front of a bright-green tepee--his backup dancers (barely) clothed in feathered headbands and matching fringed hot pants--and you thought to yourself, "Ooh, somebody is not going to like this"?

Well, somebody didn't like it.
As CBS' corporate boss got chewed out Wednesday in Washington, D.C., for airing Janet Jackson's bare right breast during the Super Bowl, the San Francisco-based Native American Cultural Center called for a boycott of the network for airing OutKast's "racist" "Hey Ya!" production number during the Grammys.

"We're not attacking OutKast as artists," the group's chairman Andrew Brother Elk said Wednesday, "They can go out and make fools of themselves if they want to, but we are going to question the commercialization of our symbols."

Specifically, the group is taking issue with the "fake tepee," the headdresses, the braided wigs and the "war paint" as smeared on the faces of the University of Southern California marching band, whose members also took part in the number.

Brother Elk cited the use of feathers, sacred symbols of Native Americans, as a particular abuse. He said he understood if a majority of Grammy viewers missed the distinction.

"If people were wearing yarmulkes and the Hasidic dress and bumping and grinding, we would see that as ridiculous, but for some reason we don't see what OutKast did as ridiculous," Brother Elk said.

The group is questioning why under-fire CBS didn't see the routine as "ridiculous," or worse.

"Our point is: How could no one...say, 'This is not entertainment, this is racism?' " Brother Elk said.

The Native American Cultural Center has called for a boycott of CBS, the Grammy organizers at the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences and OutKast's label, Arista Records.

In reports published Tuesday, a CBS spokesperson was quoted as saying the network was "very sorry if anyone was offended." There has been no word on the subject from the Recording Academy or Arista.

CBS' apology, which was not formally extended to Brother Elk's group, wasn't good enough anyway, he said. He wants one directly from CBS CEO Les Moonves.

Moonves is a man with a lot on his plate these days--not much of it good.

On Wednesday, Moonves' boss, Viacom President Mel Karmazin, apologized to Congress for Jackson's breast and pledged to make live TV a little less live in order to prevent further bust-outs.

Earlier, Federal Communications Chairman Michael Powell testified the Jackson affair was "just the latest example in a growing list of deplorable incidents over the nation's airwaves."

Brother Elk's group is looking to add OutKast's Grammy performance to that tally. He said he has lodged a formal complaint with the FCC. No word from the commission Wednesday on its status.

And there was a blanket "no comment" Wednesday from the office of the Tennessee attorney who helped a woman file, and withdraw, a class-action lawsuit against Jackson and Justin Timberlake , et al., over their Super Bowl display. In dropping the suit, the egregiously offended woman vowed to monitor CBS and see if it was serious about changing its ways.

OutKast won three Grammys, including Album of the Year (Speakerboxx/The Love Below), on Sunday's CBS telecast.

The duo is up for a leading six awards at next month's 35th annual NAACP Image Awards--unless the Native American Cultural Center gets its way. Brother Elk said he's calling on the NAACP to drop OutKast from its roster of potential honorees.

A NAACP spokesman said he wasn't yet familiar with the complaint, but noted that no nominee had ever been nixed from the show. In addition to OutKast, this year's contenders include the under-indictment R. Kelly.

Janet Jackson, meanwhile, steered clear of the Grammys and is steering clear of this latest broadcast controversy.

"If there's anything demeaning with what happened at the Super Bowl it demeaned only Janet Jackson," Brother Elk said. "In the case of the Grammys, the performance demeaned a whole group of people."

EvilWhiteMale said:

Then why you are the first one to bitch?

After reading the article, I think that OutKast (more specifically, Dre3K) should have thought about the juxtaposition of the song with the garb. Maybe they did and thought it was funny.

It would be absurd for anyone to think "Hey Ya" is a racist song. But when you continually sing "Hey Ya, Hey Ya!" with Indian garb on, you're bringing back bad memories for the Native American bredren.

Janfriend said:

Exactly, just like nobody complained when Madonna used all that Catholic imagery in her Like a Prayer video.. Oh wait, never mind...

"I'm Rick James Bitch!"

Brother Elk needs to get over it. Most "African-Americans" have Native American in them I'd presume by now-- after centuries away from the Motherland. Personally I'm about equally African, European, and Choctaw (Native American) and am proud of these heritages. I wasn't offended in the least and neither should anyone else be. For those questioning, I would be very offended if the performance was in any way derogatory of Native Americans. My maternal great-grandfather, whom I knew, was Choctaw and the patriarch of my paternal grandmother's family was Choctaw. That's not mentioning the Native American in my paternal grandfather's family. Hell, his grandmother was Native American and they lived on an "Indian" trail in Mississippi. Anyway, the point is I identify very much with Native Americans.

I do, however, understand the sensitivity that causes this reaction when the media has very few examples of people of any color. So when you finally do see somebody you identify with you want it to be in a positive light. What they should do is talk to Andre if they think it's truly that offensive or better yet, boycott CBS for not representing us in the first place.
[This message was edited Thu Feb 12 15:13:57 PST 2004 by whodknee]
[This message was edited Thu Feb 12 15:16:02 PST 2004 by whodknee]

madartista said:

It's a good feelin', ain't it?