Tuning In

By | Monday, October 13, 2008

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It's a wrap for 'Rap'

Black Entertainment Television is canceling its long-running hip-hop video-music show "Rap City" after 19 years on the air, Multichannel.com reports.

The series, which features top rap and hip-hop music videos, will tape its last show after the network's Oct. 23 Hip Hop Awards event, according to a BET spokesman. It's not clear when the show will actually leave the air.

"Rap City" has come under criticism from conservative groups like the Parents Television Council for what they perceive as videos that demean women and glorify violence and drug use.

"We are heartened by the recent changes at BET, and we are gratified that our collective efforts were a catalyst for this positive change," the group said in a joint statement with the Enough Is Enough Campaign for Corporate Responsibility, the National Congress of Black Women, and Industry Ears.

"It is apparent that our voices were heard by the public, by the corporate sponsors who underwrite television programming and by BET network executives.

"Parents across this country want a cessation of marketing harmful, graphic and offensive images to children. But let us be clear about our goal: We are not trying to get a particular show cancelled or a particular executive fired.

"Rather, our goal is a reduction in the harmful and offensive messages on BET and MTV programming - especially when the programs are targeted at children. We have called for the networks to take responsibility for their products, and this program's cancellation is evidence of a step in the right direction."

On tap tonight ...

Section 60: Arlington National Cemetery (9 p.m. HBO) Award-winning filmmakers Jon Alpert and Matthew O'Neill offer an emotional documentary on a part of the hallowed burial ground that has been called "the saddest acre in America" - the final resting place for young men and women who died fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

• Compiled by Robyn-Denise Yourse from staff, Web and wire reports

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