A Black male-to-female (MtF) transgender activist called out BET for pulling a trans ad at the last minute.
At the conclusion of BET’s first virtual BET Awards telecast on Sunday, trans activist Imara Jones, founder of Translash Media, took to Twitter to call out the network for pulling an advertisement that raised awareness of murdered Black MtF trans.
Jones tweeted:
“@bet pulled my ad at the last minute last night from the #BETAwards. It’s hard to conclude anything other than that the platform is transphobic as @angelicaross & @lovebscott unfailingly point out. @citeblackwomen intentional invisibility is why our thoughts aren’t heard.”
In the ad, which was sponsored by McDonald’s, Jones says, “Black trans women have a very simple message: stop killing us.”
. @bet pulled my ad at the last minute last night from the #BETAwards. It’s hard to conclude anything other than that the platform is transphobic as @angelicaross & @lovebscott unfailingly point out. @citeblackwomen intentional invisibility is why our thoughts aren’t heard. https://t.co/2EjeqobUr3
— imarajones (@imarajones) June 29, 2020
In a follow-up tweet, Jones wrote “And it’s the incredible gap between what @bet said last night about being pro Black on air and what it does. But as I have written before “#BlackLivesMatter except [if] your’re trans.”
And it’s the incredible gap between what @bet said last night about being pro Black on air and what it does. But as I have written before “ #BlackLivesMatter except is your’re trans.” #translash @translashmedia
— imarajones (@imarajones) June 29, 2020
Moreover my message was intended for a Black audience but now as an online ad (a consolation I guess) it’s being used to propel anti- Blackness and anti-transness. So what @bet did is even more irresponsible. #TransLash @translashmedia
— imarajones (@imarajones) June 29, 2020
And one way that we know that @BET is transphobic is that when asked about transphobia,or called out on it, by major Hollywood talent, they are silent. Which means that they don’t care because anti-transness is just culturally acceptable there.
— imarajones (@imarajones) June 29, 2020
I don’t want to say that #BETIsTransphobic but a pattern is a pattern.
— imarajones (@imarajones) June 29, 2020