If you're keeping score at home, The Shirley Sherrod Media Redemption Tour™ Sponored By Luster's Pink Oil Moisturizer© is now in Day Three. We've seen this lady on CNN (repeatedly), The Early Show, The Today Show, 106th & Park[1], MSNBC (repeatedly), heard her on Sirius XM, and read interviews with her in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, as well as Media Matters. I think I even just saw her on World Star Hip Hop, right beside one of those WSHH Honey videos.[1]
I'mma just cut to the chase and keep it one hunned: Somebody needs to get Shirley off the d@mn TV, pronto.
Seriously, what's the point of going around and continually giving interviews to anyone with a camera and mic? Mrs. Sherrod is apparently (and rightfully) not happy with the patronizing diversity awareness position the USDA offered her to return. She's also on record as (thankfully) stating that she's considering all litigation options against everyone who so willingly threw her under the bus. Thus, anything she's saying in these interviews could be used against her efforts to get her old job back, or in a civil suit. So why in the ham sammich is she up there on Morning Joe doing some dimestore Oprah routine?
Come on, Miss Shirley, you were wronged. You need to look like you were wronged. The victim narrative, and make no mistake Sherrod is actually a victim, can only go on for so long before folks question just how much you've been victimized. Right about now, you look like you're enjoying the attention waaay too much. You got some new pantsuits. You went to the MAC counter. Your hair is fried, dyed, and laid to the side. You are clearly stuntin' a lil' too hard. I'mma need you to dial it back a few notches, and disappear from my TV right about, uhhhmmmm, yesterday.
It's entirely possible Sherrod is using this media tour to position herself for something far greater career-wise in the future. Maybe a motivational speaker. Perhaps a talk show. Definitely a book deal and WifeTime™ movie. I wouldn't really fault her for this any more than I'd fault people like Sarah Palin and Joe The Plumber for cashing in on their 15 minutes. But if that's what's up, then something about her whole story of being falsely accused of racism when she was actually talking about racial unity is definitely gonna be cheapened in the process.
And Shirley, you know how the media is. They hated you. Then they loved you. If you keep making the rounds, eventually they'll find a way to hate you again. I don't want that for you. I want your story locked in a glass case and preserved as-is. I don't want any more chapters.
I dunno, this whole thing just feels a little uneasy to me.
I wouldn't dare issue a Go. Sit. Down. to a woman who's done something this courageous, but I'mma defintely have to tell Shirley to Get. Off. My. TV.
Question: Does The Shirley Sherrod Media Redemption Tour™ Sponored By Luster's Pink Oil Moisturizer© seem to be a bit over the top to you, or is she simply using every available avenue to clear her good name? What do you think her next move will be?
[1] Okay, not really, but she's definitely overexposed.
