The Truth about the Rumor of Tommy Hilfiger
A big controversy happened, the well-known Fashion Designer Tommy Hilfiger was on the Oprah show. She asked him if it was true if he said he did not make clothes for Blacks and Asians, his clothes were intended for upper class White people. When he admitted he said those things, she asked him to leave. This E-Mail is an Urban Legend. Juicy Emails like these are simply for entertainment purposes only and should not be taken seriously. Like junk mail it should be emptied into the recycle bin.
People assume if an E-mail is sent to them or if a friend mentioned the incident then it must be true. How could someone write something so mean and cruel and spread it through emails? Thomas Craughwell explains that “fear, paranoia, envy and suspicion of unfamiliar” are reasons why urban legends such as Tommy Hilfiger are passed around (Craughwell 10). People read newspapers such as the Inquirer and read junk E-mails at work to make the day go by. Richard Roeper describes people as “today’s information consumer”, who are “savvy, jaded and cynical” (Roeper 10). It’s no secret that people can be gullible when it comes to interesting news. Roper states that people are as “willing as ever to believe stories that happened to best friend’s brother’s accountant” (Roper 11). People have gotten too lazy to look up information for themselves and look for quick fixes, instead of facts. The Tommy Hilfiger Rumor has all of the signs of the urban legend. As Defined by Craughwell “urban legends are usually passed by word of mouth and by E-mail”. Urban legends have many variations (Craughwell 9,13). David Emery from About.com has two of the most common variations of the E-mail in his article. Before there were any rumors of him on the Oprah Show, It was a “news article” in a “Philippian tabloid in 1996” as Barbara Mikkelson explains in her article.
According to Barbara Mikkelson, the rumor was altered again with him being on the CNN style show with Elsa Klensch . In this rumor he did not comment on black people. He commented about “Asian people not looking right in the clothes” (Barbara Mikkelson). Although the rumors are being shown to be not true, they are still being passed around to this day (David Emery). People who are in the know about rumors made inquiries to the Anti Defamation League.
If you visit http://www.cc.com/shows/chappelle-s-show, there is a listing of Dave Chappelle’s shows. You will notice by the titles e.g. The Niggar Family, that Chappelle is not just being funny but is attempting to make his audience consider the effects of certain social practices in our society. The Black White Supremacist is one of his skits; Clayton Bigsby is the name of the main character. Bigsby is blind. He was brought up in an all-white school for blind children. The director said it was easier to tell him that he was white like everyone else. He absorbed the white racist dogma he was around his whole life and as an adult, he marries a white woman, spouts racist views publically, and writes books containing racist sentiments. His downfall comes when he is found by Ted Wallace, a reporter for Frontline, and goes on a book writing tour where his identity is unwittingly revealed. Wallace’s supposed serious interview of Clayton Bigsby is laughable. Ted Wallace is the instrument used to expose the stupidity of the white power movement.
...propelled the case further. Rich talks about how Peter Jackson, a famous director money was used in the DNA test that secured evidence that the Memphis Three were not involved in the murders of the little boys. Rich also highlights the name-dropping used by one of the victims in his book. The book itself was another form of gaining publicity. By writing the memoir, Echols was profiting from his understandable horrific experience. This speaks to the commodification and commercialization of experience exemplified in society today through Internet celebrities and reality television shows.
After reading the article, “Why 62,000 Abercrombie & Fitch Employees Are Suing The Company,” there were two different problems that were brought to attention regarding Abercrombie & Fitch’s business ethics. The two problems were the mistreatment of their employees, and how their business marketing strategy is not well developed throughout their company. Abercrombie & Fitch is a company that has always been concerned about their image, which leads us to their, “look policy.” A “look policy” is a policy that relates to a certain look every employee has to follow to be eligible to work there. The company is facing a high-profile lawsuit over its, “look policy” (Greenhouse, 2015). Each employee is forced to purchase the company’s clothes to wear to work, each time a new sales guide comes out (Greenhouse, 2015). This is known as compelled purchases, which is a violation of the state’s labor codes (Greenhouse, 2015). They force the “look policy,” way too strong upon their employees, which developed into a huge problem. The company is facing a high-profile lawsuit
When Donald Sterling said that, he was not thinking about the fact that he has players on his team that are black. Most of the players in the NBA are predominately black. One of his superstar players is black and is the president of the NBA Players Association, Chris Paul. Chris Paul spoke out and stated that they would take action aggressively and immediately, and because of everyone speaking up the end result was Donald Sterling getting banned and fined 2.5 million dollars.
Jeffry Masson filed a suit for defamation against New Yorker Magazine, claiming that publishing the so called fabrications had hurt his reputation. Defamation is defined as “a false communication that harms another’s reputation and subjects him to ridicule and scorn” (Trager, 2010, p. 52). The quotations that Masson was the most upset about were being called an “intellectual gigolo” as well as being called “the greatest analyst who ever lived” (Masson v. New Yorker Magazine, 1991). In court Masson was declared a public figure and had to ...
During a morning air of DJ Greasman’s radio show he made a racist comment. Approaching the 1999 Grammys, Greaseman played a snippet of a song by Lauryn Hill, who at the time was nominated for 10 Grammys. He followed with the remark “No wonder people drag them behind trucks”. The remark was made in reference of the brutal torture and murder of a black man by the name of James Byrd Jr in Texas. Byrd was decapitated while he was being dragged behind the pickup truck of white
He states that Black life still does not seem to matter in America to the point that at time it feels as if the mere existence of Blacks is ignored. He claims that blacks are still readily denied decent education, employment, and opportunities available to their white counterparts and they are harassed, criminalized, incarcerated, animalized and killed due to the color of their skin. There have been several recent incidents strengthening the fact that even in the year 2015, America is still plagued by the evil of racism, presumed racial superiority and
I feel that my need to study this topic is because everyone seems to assume that all of tabloids are false. However I believe that maybe not 100% of the tabloids are false....maybe just 95%. Tabloids are believed to all be fraudulent pieces of work used to give more publicity to the magazine. People are known to listen and believe rumors, and that's what most of tabloids are believed to produce...rumors. My theory is that the people (reporters) who work to get the story for the magazine embellish on the facts that they get from their sources. Or it could be that the sources may be just trying to sell a made-up story so they could make a profit which only benefit th...
person went on to say that he was Native American but he passes for white, her response was
had its place. He was deemed “A white man that can sing like a black
his friends who were making racist comments about the negros that she and Howard were part
...he will always be black. No matter how much he, or any of his Brothers attempt to
In the film Bamboozled by Spike Lee, he creates a show within the movie. The show is basically Black actors who paint themselves Blacker and their lips redder than they really are. This is to show the current audience how Whites saw Blacks during the Jim Crow era. W.E.B. Dubois states in all of his pieces that the White man see all Black people the same way. W.E.B. Dubois and Spike Lee are two Black men that have accepted the facts of White America but overcame the prejudice remarks. Dubois and Lee both in writing and film showed perceptions of the Blackness within the Black community by showing segregation, and racism.
This movie does provoke a dialogue on race that, according to author and journalist Jeff Chang, "has been anathema to Hollywood after 9/11." During the first viewing of
To those who are easily influenced on issues without definite proof of the legitimacy of the issue, this Facebook chain message would be viewed as factual. In all actuality, this message is false (Snopes). The article in all its falsity rings true because there is a possibility that it could actually occur. Has it happened already? No, at least there has yet to be a case reported. The piece persuades its audience to share the post by conveying mass hysteria and extreme caution brought up by the story being retold.