Shawty LoDing dong, the wicked show is axed. Hoo-ray. Yesterday, Oxygen canceled plans to move forward with that detestable special, All My Babies’ Mamas, focusing on marginally talented rapper Shawty Lo’s circus of a life with his 11 children and the 10 women who birthed them.

It was fittin’ to be the baby mama of all reality shows, but classy as it sounds, a petition against it garnered some 37,000 signatures. Black leadership publicly decried it and a whole host of national organizations co-signed their outrage. You know you done went too far when the NAACP gets involved.

Oxygen higher-ups held out as long as they could against the backlash, pulling the executive equivalent of the ol’ hands-over-ears, blah-blah-I-can’t-hear-you trick to avoid taking ownership of the negativity their aspiring cash cow was causing. Everyone wants to come up with a great idea, but no one wants to take the heat from its backfire. But apparently, the protests got overwhelming and tipped the scales back onto the ethical high road.

"As part of our development process, we have reviewed casting and decided not to move forward with the special," a network representative said in a statement. "We will continue to develop compelling content that resonates with our young female viewers and drives the cultural conversation.”

Well, if they aspire to do that, the network should’ve never even entertained the thought about broadcasting that nonsense in the first place. Haven’t we suffered through enough grody-ness of other reality shows that have denigrated and made high-visibility stereotypes out of black folks, with an especially big bull's eye on women? But I can applaud them for conceding and pulling the plug on the All My Babies’ Mamas drama, for whatever reason they decided to do it. Inasmuch as some folks were protesting, best believe plenty more were going to watch that train wreck, just like they do all the others (though this one did set the bar just a little bit lower). So that’s money lost.

Speaking of which, Shawty Lo is also out a paycheck, so methinks he’s gonna have to support his 11 children in some other way—and I’m almost positive it’s not going to be from that rap career. In an effort to wage his own protest, bless his heart, he’s launched his own change.org petition to put it back on the air. That dude is scrambling and I would feel sorry for him, but here’s the thing: you don’t have 11 kids by accident. So you decide to have that many babies from unprotected sex with a whole sorority of random chicks, you need to have a plan to take care of them. And it shouldn’t hinge on a reality show or a fledgling stint in hip-hop.

At the time of this post, 123 don’t agree with me and signed on their agreement that he should be on air. Wonder how they would feel if they heard the rumor that, in the midst of all this, he’s expecting his 12th child? Word on the street is this polyamorous playboy has knocked up another foolish, foolish woman. 

Do you think Oxygen did the right thing by cancelling the show?


Image via Oxygen