Cee-Lo on Today

“You don’t wanna hear the truth, so I’ma lie to you, make it sound fly to you…” In his unique lyrically-genius style, Cee-Lo shows us at the end of The Experience (from the Still Standing album, LaFace Records, 1998) that he has what it takes to work in mainstream media today, in that he is willing to lie to those who refuse to hear truth. Only he drops the line at the end of the 2 minute 20 second intro, in which he has already slipped more truth to our ears than we have heard all season from the Today Show, Headline News, or the Fox Report. It is clear, then, that Cee-Lo is mocking both those who would rather hear lies, as well as the liars who decide to evade the truth.

I’ve been mad all week about last Saturday morning’s Today Show, and I only saw about 30 minutes of it as I ironed my clothes and ate my breakfast. It was enough, though, to illustrate the insidious ways that it and like shows use coverage and side comments and “expert guests” to interrupt our quest for truth. In thirty minutes, their pieces on the African Ancestral Burial Ground Memorial, the Duke Lacrosse trial, Marian Jones, and President Bush were enough to make me wonder if this was the “real” news or if my alarm clock had malfunctioned and I had actually woken up in the middle of Amy Poehler and Seth Meyer’s “Weekend Update” on SNL. But when they sprinkled in jokes about O.J.’s fake Rolex and played excerpts from Jessica and Cody’s Today Show wedding, I realized that it was actually the real news: slanted and careless and extremely problematic; but the real news in all its glory.

So it started with Lester Holt announcing what they’d talk about that morning. I was excited to hear that I’d learn about the Ancestral Ground Memorial opening, curious to see what they’d say about the Duke case, saddened to anticipate what Jones would say about her steroid use, and frustrated to think about whatever our president would say today on Today.

The voice over the Ancestral Ground Memorial opening pointed out that “historians say that they discovered the remains of what may have been thousands of Black slaves” who labored and died in what would become lower Manhattan. It caught my attention because the video footage showed archeologists dusting off remains of skeletons from a couple generations back, and ceremonies that commemorated the ways in which we had helped to build New York. Historians “say”? Did the voice over head not believe it was true? I know they don’t qualify other “truths”… especially not those that have been proven by science and recognized for over a decade. The short segment on the unveiling of the memorial space gave way to a much longer piece about the on-going Duke Lacrosse trial mishaps, and I wondered why a lawyer had been invited from North Carolina to join Lester on the couch, but nobody from downtown Manhattan to speak about our Ancestors.

A segment, much longer than that on the Ancestor Memorial, highlighted all the ways that District Attorney Mike Nifong had done wrong, and how the lacrosse players were pulling their lives back together after their terrible experience. Injustice is injustice for sure. Ill-prosecution is wrong, by all means. And no one deserves to be maligned at all. But when the lawyer for one of the young men said that this was the “worst case of prosecutorial misconduct in the history of the country,” I nearly chocked on my eggs. The Worst? Really? Do they not teach about the Scottsboro Trial in law school? Had he somehow slept through the tribulations of the Jena 6? I suddenly felt hyper-aware of my own implication in condoning such foolishness by watching the show at all. Recently gifted with a large-screen television, it dawned on me the danger of letting these images and words into my sacred space. Lester and the Duke lawyer seemed larger than life as they sat on the Today Show couch, and I pulled my bathrobe a little tighter.

The juxtaposition of the next two segments sent me from angry to disgusted. In the days since, it has weighed heavily on my mind, as my disgust has morphed into an unsettling fear. Of what exactly I do not yet know. But it has been seven days and I can’t seem to shake the disturbing sequence of the next two segments.

First, they showed a clip of Marian Jones’ press conference: her tearful apology for using steroids and her intentions to give back all the medals she had won in Sydney. Significantly, this beautiful Black woman stood in front of the world – crying – to admit that she had done wrong. “…it is with a great amount of shame, that I stand before you and tell you that I have betrayed your trust…I want you to know that I have been dishonest, and you have the right to be angry with me,” she said firmly. Instantly, I thought about the many ways that our president and other leaders have made dishonesty an official foreign and domestic policy, and heard myself saying, “Bush would never admit his lies.” Jones went on. “I am responsible for my actions…I have let [my fans] down, I have let my country down, and I have let myself down.”



As she talked on, tearfully, about the sincerity of her apology and her awareness that her apology might not be enough, I tried to picture Bush, standing at a podium, crying and speaking of his own shame, his acts of betrayal, his dishonesty, our right to be angry with him. I thought about the necessarily national rhetoric Jones was using, and the historical ties between Black American Olympiads and the country to which they are tied.

Just as I was about to call my homegirl to express my outrage, the footage of Jones zoomed out and in came our president, talking about his intolerance of any form of terrorism. “We will not stand for (pause… smirk) any form of terrorism (pause… grin) here or abroad.” Blah Blah Blah…

It occurred to me for a second that someone on the Today Show team was feelin me. They had to have done that on purpose, right? Whoever decided to juxtapose Jones and Bush was displaying clearly the audacity of those in our country that can – in the same breath – denigrate Jones and support Bush. I felt tied to the person that had faded one story into the next, and I strangely needed to believe they had done it on purpose.

When the lady behind the news desk laughingly reported that the Rolex that O.J. had given to officials was fake, and followed up by asking Lester and Natalie if they had any fake watches or jewelry, I realized I had seen enough. And as I walked across to turn off the TV, I caught a glimpse of all that is deemed right and good: Jessica and Cody’s Today Show Wedding. Beautiful and blond. Young and able-bodied. Heterosexual and happy… the list goes on and on.

Cee-Lo, please help us.

Oh, and I wrote to the folks at the Today Show, too. I requested a transcript or a tape or on-line access to see the show again, because I wanted to analyze it. I wanted to hold it so I could show racism-deniers that it is being screamed at us, in our bedrooms, from the friendly folks at Studio One-A in Rockefeller Plaza. I need these things, so that my anger doesn’t consume me; so that I can continue to balance righteous indignation and authentic joy. Yea, I realized that I didn’t just want it, I needed it. But when I wrote the e-mail and hit send, I heard a ding in my inbox, signifying a new message had arrived. Clicking on the message, my heart dropped: “Failure delivery. No such e-mail address.” Really? MS.NBC has the wrong e-mail address posted on their website for feedback/questions about their shows??

I suppose lying is easier when you believe that those to whom you are lying don’t wanna hear the truth.