Reax to Tavis publishing R. Kelly Memoir

Reaction is running hot to Tavis Smiley gearing up to publish R. Kelly’s memoirs.

From the SmileyBooks press release

“I’m writing this book as Robert, not R. Kelly,” the singer says. “I’m tired of being misunderstood. I will show you the tears, fears, and sweat. I will open my heart and reveal the good in my life as well as all the drama. I want to tell it like it is.”

There is no direct mention of the sexual assault allegations that resulted in an acquittal.

From Gina MacCauley’s What About Our Daughters:

I had hoped this was a hoax, but apparently Tavis Smiley, who is accused of gathering large numbers of Black folks together so that they could get pitched predatory Wells Fargo loans (disproportionately affecting Black women) is joining forces with another accused predator, R. Kelly. Its amazing that the primary unifying force in the Black community is EXPLOITATION of women and girls. If you go to TavisTalks.com you will see front and center and item announcing that R. Kelly has joined Smiley Books. When is that State of the Black Union and how do we get a permit to protest it? I’m serious.

The comments are no less critical.

And from Danielle Belton’s The Black Snob:

And this book will be just another in a long line of signifiers to perverts that you can do pretty much anything to a woman, girl, child, whatever, and someone will love your trifling ass anyway because it’s our fault for having vaginas. But for Tavis, and others who claim to be holding the entire race to a higher standard, this is further proof that you never meant to hold anything to any standards ever. That “cash rules everything around you, dollah, dollah bill, ya’ll” and you could seriously give two craps about the implication of being the speakerbox to a known predator. After all, freedom of speech, ya’ll! And SOMEONE was going to publish his book so why not Mr. Accountability? Pardon me while I go regurgitate something.

(Belton’s blog also has a link to a guest post about Smiley and Wells Fargo.)

It provoked a conversation on Twitter where several of us talked about who gets the mic when it comes to representing blackness in media. The short answer, in my mind, is that the people who are the best at getting the mic are people who help build the platform: people like Tavis who are business-builders as well as media-makers. So all critiques have to be funneled through the lens of economics: if you don’t like what one mediamaker does, do you have an alternative brand or model?

What do you think?

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  • http://www.twitter.com/Nattyrankins Natalie Hopkinson

    Farai, great post. Everyone in the media game is trying to move units, but this is definitely a new low for Tavis. I followed your conversation on Twitter and I think one thing is missing: There is not nor should there ever be one person who “gets the mic” for repping black folks. The media landscape as a whole is fragmented, and black media landscape is no different. We all have to evolve. I think you are exactly right that Tavis, regardless of how grating, has learned the business side. I wish I were so inclined that would make a lot of things easier for me too. Keep up the great work Farai.

  • http://www.valsadie.com Valsadie

    I left this message on the Wall of the Tavis Smiley Facebook Fan Page at http://www.facebook.com/TavisTalks :

    Tavis–I am horrified that SmileyBooks, your publishing company, has taken on the memoir to be written by singer R. Kelly (with David Ritz). I thought your standards were higher than that. Mr. Kelly is not an honorable man, and putting him in the company of West and Gates and other such scholars that have published with your company damages its reputation–as well as your own! This is a man who at one point tried to pin his problems on his own brother!

    If the mission of your publishing house is to create book titles that uplift the race, how can you add Kelly to your roster with anything like good faith–? I am very disappointed in this decision.

    RE: http://www.tavistalks.com/sites/www.tavistalks.com/files/RKelly_PR120809.pdf

  • http://tallulahbankhead.wordpress.com/2010/01/04/heres-a-2010wishlist/ Here’s a #2010wishlist… « Tallulah Bankhead

    [...] stop feeling offended/outraged by the actions of Gilbert Arenas, Tavis Smiley, R. Kelly, BET, Jersey Shore or Jon & Kate or anyone else whose priority is making money in the most [...]

  • oob205

    Farai – I agree with you.

    The media is big business and as much as we may not like it, we need to look at the actions of media producers through the lens of economics. The outrage over Smileybook’s decision has yielded immense publicity that I’m sure many book producers would be happy to have. And, like it or not, people will probably buy the book. I completely agree with Gina & Danielle and, while I definitely won’t pay a cent to support the book, I’m not sure that I wouldn’t flip through it at Barnes & Noble just to see what drivel RK comes up with (…just being honest here)

    As you propose, it’s about creating alternatives – something that I think bloggers are starting to do. If we really want to see the media landscape change then people who care about telling different types of stories have to “get their heads in the game,” i.e., make good content, find capital and distribution, build an audience, etc.

  • Fergs

    I don’t get all the fake outrage about this. If you don’t care about R.Kelly, don’t buy the damn book. The fact is he has MILLIONS of fans who forgive past misdeeds. Nobody is perfect and why shouldn’t Tavis, a good brother who has done a lot of good in the community, profit instead of white ppl exploiting it. People need to get over it. Why should this define the rest of his life if he has truly learned from his mistake. So damn hypocritical! Kells has always been open about his struggles to balance trying to be righteous vs the negative environment he grew up in. A lot of people like myself relate to that. If you ain’t feeling it, who cares. If it is coming out, I’ll be the first to buy it!