Free the Smack

Let me preface this with: Hahahahahahahahahahaha.....

If you haven't heard yet, hip hop station Hot 97 is being "smacked" (aaah-hahaha) with a $240,000 fine for their "SmackFest", a competition that aired between April 2004 and January 2005, in which mostly female contestants volunteered to smack each other in the face progressively harder until one of them surrendered. According to the Daily News, Hot 97 is also required to donate $60,000 to Safe Horizon, an anti-violence non-profit, for it's "brutish gimmick." This story is doubly enjoyable because of the subtle shades of meaning in the competition's name. But here's a question: when is VICE going to get in the shit for its black guy vs. white guy drinking-and-puking competition? Or its narcotics taste tests? How about Jackass? Is that "brutish" too? Or is this just another example of the white man trying to keep a brother down? To protest the continued racist condemnation of Hot 97's programming, I and some like-minded citizens plan to plant ourselves in front of Eliot Sptizer's office and stage our own voluntary SmackFest - only this time, it's called SmackFreedom. Speakers and a Smack Circle are also on the schedule. Full SmackFest story here.