Last night, I sat through a mini-marathon session of MTV’s latest hit show “Yo Momma.” Essentially, the show draws on the Black vernacular tradition of “the dozens,” in which two or more people engage in a rhetorical duel based on insults.

In its modern form, the dozens (also known as “snappin” “bustin” or “jawnin”) is reduced to short quips that often begin with “Yo’ momma so…”. A classic example is “Yo momma so poor, I saw her walking down the street with one shoe. I asked her if she lost a shoe and she said, ‘Hell naw. I FOUND ONE!!’”

The show is highly problematic to me for several reasons.

First, the show is simply not that funny. Most of the participants are amateur comedians who lack timing and strong comedic sensibilities. As such, many more jokes miss their mark than hit.

Although the jokes extend beyond “mommas,” the primary focus of the show is still on insulting women. The matter-of-fact use of the word “Bitch” by contestants, most of whom are male, is a perfect example of the show’s sexist and patriarchal ethos. 

The thing that troubles me the most (surprise!) is the level of unmediated access to Black culture that  the show provides White America. Like most forms of Black culture, the dozens began as an inside practice with complex rules and rituals. Although the focus was often on the participants’ mothers, the jokes were always dripping with irony, given the pedastal on which Black mothers have been historically positioned.

To be clear, I do not mean to romanticize Black culture and suggest that the dozens weren’t also informed by sexism, homophobia, and various forms of self-hate. Still, we strip the cultural practice of any redemptive complexity by refashioning, commodifying, and distributing it within the global marketplace. Additionally, we give outsiders license to participate in the practice without fully understanding the rules and limitations. For example, a racially ambiguous female contestant said to a very dark-skinned Black contestant, “You so BLACK and your teeth so yellow that when you smile you look like a Pittsburgh Steelers helmet”.

Ignorant? Yes. Funny? Perhaps. But not from her.

If she had made the same comment in the middle of Compton or North Philadelphia, the woman may have been in serious physical danger. (Un)Fortunately, on MTV everyone and everything is fair game.

I’ll pass.