Dr. Ian Smith Claims Black Talk Show Host Limits Appearances From Black People, Claims Show Says: Don’t Pitch Us Your Black Clients, Pitch Us Your White Clients

Dr. Ian Smith Claims Black Talk Show Host Limits Appearances From Black People, Claims Show Says: Don’t Pitch Us Your Black Clients, Pitch Us Your White Clients

Fast Burn! author Ian Smith seemingly alleges that an African-American daytime talk show host explicitly avoids incorporating Black experts on their talk show and sees their production as a “white show.”

While appearing on SiriusXM’s Karen Hunter Show, Dr. Ian Smith spoke up against an initially unnamed television host’s anti-Black practices. After first thanking Karen Hunter for providing a platform for “professional voices–particularly of people of color,” Ian Smith goes on to address major shows’ hesitancies to do so. He states:

“There are a lot of people who look like me, who are equally educated, equally articulate, who are not getting a platform on major shows. And, you know, they won’t bring on African-American or Latinx people as experts to talk about things like education or sociology or medicine or law. They will only bring us on when we’re an entertainer or an athlete or we do something salacious. There is a talk show with an African-American host, with an African-American executive producer, that has said to publicists, ‘Do not pitch us your Black clients. We are not a Black show. Pitch us your white clients. We don’t wanna be looked at as a Black show.'”

 

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He continues:

“However, this show will continue to bring on Black experts when they do something salacious, when they’re in the headlines for doing something bad. Then they’ll bring Black people on to talk about that. But they won’t bring us on to talk about COVID, to talk about education, to talk about law, when we can look professional and [like] experts. And I’m putting this show on blast because when white shows and white hosts don’t let us on, we criticize them. But the same criticism has to be held for shows that are helmed and hosted by Black people that keep us off the airways. And it’s just not right.”

In response to Ian Smith‘s allegations against the unnamed show, Karen Hunter then inquires about the specifics, to which he replies,

“It’s a talk show on a main channel.”

The two then go on to discuss how white supremacist culture seeps into the entertainment business. At the same time, Karen Hunter attempts to determine who the talk host in question is, as Smith was hesitant to name-drop anyone.

Towards the end of the interview, Smith begins to sum up his stance, stating:

“[F]or someone to actually say to people… ‘do not pitch us your Black clients. Pitch us your white clients because we are not a Black show.’ That is disgusting to say in this year and people should be held accountable for that.”

In response, Hunter jaw-droppingly announces:

“Alright, well Tamron Hall you heard it.”

Tamron Hall‘s talk show, Tamron Hall Show, is executively produced by Candi Carter, who previously served as EP for The View. 

Whoopi Goldberg, Candi Carter, Tamron Hall

The show debuted back in 2019 and was renewed for a third season late last year.

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