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Jigga What, Jigga Who?

April 12th, 2008 · 4 Comments

The marriage of two of the most lucrative popular culture icons in the country, race notwithstanding, is apparently not news. It’s hard to imagine a figure more ubiquitous than Jay-Z to hip hop or Beyonce to pop, but I guess if Eminem married Britney that would be a big yawn too if they did so after six years (!) of anticipation and speculation.

I had to see pictures of Eva Longoria’s wedding. Apparently she is more newsworthy than Beyonce and Jay-Z.

As someone who generally believes no one’s wedding (even that of a celebrity) is ‘news’ but a private, family event, the mainstream media’s claim that no one cared about about this particular celebrity wedding news strains credulity to the point of exhaustion.

To be clearer… Two black people get married. According to the statistics we are usually bombarded with, that in and of itself should be worthy of an interruption of you usual programming. I distinctly recall reading and watching several features that suggested African American women were now more likely NOT to get married in their lifetime than not.

Jay-Z and Beyonce

A black man gets married. According to the statistics we are usually bombarded with, if he’s not dead or in jail or on the down-low or just trifling, the last thing a black man wants to do is get married. To a black woman.

A black woman becomes the wife of a black man who apparently wanted to become her husband. If we extrapolate from the kinds of media coverage we usually get of black people and popular culture, this is the equivalent of a Bigfoot sighting or a high-def shot of the Loch Ness Monster. Right?

The man who gave us Big Pimpin got married, people. And mainstream media thinks that is not news. Think about that…

This post was written by Renea

Tags: black love · black men · black women · celebrity · culture · love · media · popular culture · racism

4 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Inkognegro // Apr 12, 2008 at 11:38 am

    In order for something as personal and private as a marriage to be news, the parties involved have to WANT it to be news.

    I actually applaud Mr and Mrs. Carter for their privacy in how they handled it.

    Believe me, if Jayonce’ (or is it Bey-Z? ) wanted a media circus…there would have been one.

    That said….Even if they WANTED it, it would have paled in comparison to some of the folk we see out there.

  • 2 ddsprncs // Apr 12, 2008 at 1:39 pm

    Who Cares! They bore me.

  • 3 DivaD // May 8, 2008 at 6:22 am

    Child please. You confusing us w/white folks? Nobody cares about their business…

  • 4 Charanne // Jun 9, 2008 at 9:34 pm

    I agree Inkognegro. They choose not to make their lives public. Their marriage is not “newsworthy” compared to other couples who have gotten married because there is absolutely nothing juicy about the story. They have been together for quite some time (relative to their counterparts), but their lives do not scream scandal. I am happy for them.

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