News: Former Exec Andreas Hale Leaves His Position At BET, Then Promptly Airs Them Out

As far as his posturing that he only left his post at HipHopDx to go on a crusade to help turn around BET, all I can say is "Child Please". Other than that though, Mr. Hale does mildly strike me as a cat that is pretty down and presents an important view of what really goes on at BET. Here in this email he sent out after he made it known that he'd been relieved of his position with the ever controversial network, Hale illuminates what many of us already would've assumed and/or feared about our once beloved TV home away from home.

Known as one of BET's most staunch critics before he took a job with em', Hale initially seemed like someone you'd catch protesting in front of a Viacom owned building or BET office rather than working in it. Alas, we live in times when more kids know Flavor Flav as a reality TV star than they do as a member of one of the most important Hip-Hop groups ever and Ice-T's most successful role is one as the Po Po. A lot of stuff makes little sense anymore in Hip-Hop or Urban culture in general and the distortion only grows worse when you tune into most of BET's sloppy boilerplate programming. I applaud Hale for coming back around to his senses and shedding light on his experiences over at what sounds like the worst "good job" any Hip-Hop writer, blogger or web master with change in mind could have.

Here's his take on the madness that is BET in 2009....




Andreas Hale:

As someone who has been critical of BET for many years, it surprised many that I would leave my post at HipHopDX last year to take a position at BET. But it was an opportunity I absolutely had to take. I could no longer be critical of this company without accepting the opportunity to change it when given. …

Although I was hired to bring about change, I was systematically shut down. I wasn’t hired to make noise, I was hired to be silenced. The truth of the matter is that everything that you thought was wrong with BET is true.


Over the past year I’ve seen a lot to reinforce my position that BET is too far gone in the negative to turn into a positive. We have all always thought the worst, but to actually see it in action is another thing in its entirety. The unprofessionalism, the tom foolery, the favors, the misappropriation of resources, the bad ideas that reinforce negative stereotypes, the emasculation of men, the meetings that break down in full fledged cursing battles, the unpaid overtime, the tears from employees scared for their underpaid and overworked positions and ultimately the unwillingness to change are all harsh realities that I’ve witnessed firsthand.

full email:
http://www.ddotomen.com/2009/09/08/andreas-hale-parts-ways-with-bet-and-puts-them-on-blast/