| NBC Refuses to Publicize All-Black Jamie Foxx TV Special | |||
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| Netlore Archive: Email rumor claims NBC refused to promote Jamie Foxx's January 25, 2006 TV special, 'Unpredictable,' because no white entertainers were invited to guest star | |||
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Email example contributed by Leslie B., 23 January 2006:
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Subject: Jamie Foxx - Music Special Controversy on NBC Please take the time to forward the below message to everyone in your address book. NBC is not doing any marketing and publicity on Jamie's Music Special on NBC because he stood his ground and wouldn't have any white guests as they requested. To make it even worse he had two controversial guest stars that do not fit the "NBC profile" on his show. Tune in to find out who they are. They are purposely putting his show up against the second week of American Idol in hopes that it will fail. This will give them the excuse to never give another black person a music special because "it doesn't work." Let's show them that it does work, and that we support each other. Tivo Idol and watch Jamie. I saw the taping, it is a good show. Jamie Foxx making history on NBC. This is the first time NBC has ever aired an entire young urban African American cast on a music special. We need to show support. This was not an easy sell for Jamie and he stood his ground to make it happen the way he saw fit.
JAMIE FOXX MUSIC SPECIAL WILL BROADCAST
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Comments: You know an entertainer is hot when he or she becomes the subject of multiple rumors simultaneously. Earlier this week Jamie Foxx was called upon to confirm or deny scuttlebutt connecting him romantically with "Desperate Housewives" star Eva Longoria, which he did, ironically, during a publicity session — one of many he has done in recent days — for his January 25, 2006 NBC special, "Unpredictable."
It is patently not the case that NBC has refused to market or publicize the show. Primetime commercials have aired for the past week. The special has been promoted in print and online. It's even touted on NBC's Web site with a prominently featured video clip of a vocal duet between Foxx and Snoop Dogg.
According to coverage on the black entertainment news site EURWeb.com, NBC network executives characterized charges that they had purposely sabotaged the show as "baseless rumor and speculation."
The cynic in me wonders if it isn't a backhanded attempt at viral marketing.
Sources and further reading:
Email Makes Wild Claims Against Jamie Foxx's NBC Special
EURWeb.com, 24 January 2006Jamie Foxx: No Romance with Eva Longoria
People magazine, 24 January 2006Jamie Foxx: Unpredictable
Offical NBC promo page
Last updated: 01/24/06
