MODERN FAIRYTALE

Beauty & The Beat Makes Light Of ‘Street’ Stereotypes

By Trisha B.

I AM NOT A FAN OF TALKING MIRRORS, TALKING FISH OR TALKING PENGUINS. But as a parent I saw a lot of Disney movies because, unfortunately, they won’t let little kids in alone.

Eventually I found a favorite: Beauty and the Beast. My daughter and I saw it least four times in the movie theater, 1,000 times on tape and twice in IMAX. So I was intrigued when a friend sent me a link to a video that was blowing up on Facebook — a parody of the movie’s opening scene titled “Beauty and the Beat.”

If this video shows anything it’s that former American Idol contestant Todrick Hall is on the rise.

As his ‘bougie Belle’ makes her way through the hood to the weave store, she’s met by basically every black stereotype. They’re all there — the jealous girls, the hair salon, the guy on the down low, the young girl with too many kids, the white woman with the black baby, the angry black woman, Beyoncé, BET, gunshots, the rapper who hasn’t left his momma’s house but wanna holler at you, the fat ass, your boo, Antoine Dobson, the hard to spell/prounce name.

A friend called it was offensive. Basketball Wives is offensive; this felt like home to me. I loved it.

Trisha B. covers the Real Housewives of New York for Crabby Golightly. Follow her on Twitter at TrishaBTV.