NEW YORK (AP) – Don’t look for actress and Fox News Channel contributor Stacey Dash to be working on any more BET shows for a while.
Dash questioned the black-oriented network’s very existence this week and wouldn’t back down despite criticism. She wrote on her website that BET lies to its viewers and promotes segregation.
The dispute stemmed from Dash’s “Fox & Friends” interview Wednesday when she was asked about the lack of black nominees for Academy Awards. The former “Clueless” star said people need to make up their minds between segregation and integration, “and if we don’t want segregation, then we need to get rid of channels like BET and the BET Awards and the (NAACP) Image Awards, where you’re only rewarded if you’re black.”
A tongue-in-cheek BET tweeted a picture of Dash appearing in the network’s sitcom “The Game” and asking, “can we get our check back?”
More seriously, BET Chairman and CEO Debra Lee said the network was created to give African-Americans and lovers of black culture a place on TV where they could consistently see themselves represented and celebrated.