The media has and will continue to play a significant role in how African American women/men are represented. When you watch a television show that features people of color, how are they perceived? These are usually the ones who are violent, use or sell illegal substances, or just commit illegal crimes in general. The media created a bad reputation for African Americans by broadcasting “stereotypical behavior” of black people on television. Black people have come a long way to gain some respect in the world; and what these reality TV shows are doing to us is destroying everything we have earned. According to the article “Images of Black Men in Popular Media” by Darren Smith, he described that black men are characterized by many terms. They are described as violent, rude, lazy, angry, abusive and "undead". On the “Maury and Jerry Springer” talk shows. According to the article cited above, the Maury show is the perfect example of shows that depict negative images of Africa. American men because it shows that black men cannot commit to one woman, cannot pay child support because they believe they are not the father of the child and present themselves as a sort of “gangster”. Not only are they embarrassing black men who work hard for what they have and take care of the children they create, but they are embarrassing themselves and proving the "stereotypes" of black men to be true on national television . a show that portrays men as they should without having to think deserves an award. It's difficult to come up with a show that is strictly about and/or features well-educated, athletic, or financially stable black men. reality TV ...... middle of paper ......r on television playing the character of the "loud ghetto girl". Based on recent popular TV shows like "Bad girls Club, Love and Hip Hop, Mob Wives". , and Basketball Wives,” it’s hard for people not to believe stereotypes about African American women or just women in general. Bad Girls Club is a popular television show on Oxygen where about 7 girls sign up for a living. a mansion together and all they do is fight, drink, party and engage in sexual activities. Then you have Basketball Wives, which is about a group of girls who are married or previously married to basketball stars. On Basketball Wives, each episode involves arguments over "troubleshooters" and shows fights between them all. This doesn't set good examples for children, they make it seem like it's okay to fight, smoke and drink, and have many sexual partners..