TJ Holmes And Driving While Black Opportunism.

Let's keep it one hunned here: yes, racial profiling by cops exists. I'm sure most of the black folks on the board here can relay their own experiences with having been pulled over for no apparent reason by the police. I sure as hell have my own to share. This happens, and there's little dispute about that.

This, however, raises my Grand Hu$tle antennae though.

Former CNN anchor T.J. Holmes was pulled over a mile away from his Atlanta home Monday morning and quickly took to Twitter to document the entire ordeal.

The television personality tweeted a picture of a cop car in his side mirror with the caption "Driving while black ain't no joke."

Holmes did not mention that one of the officers who pulled him over was black.

The 34-year-old did say, however, that one of the officers, though he did not specify which, struggled to give an explanation for why he was pulled over.

"This is a damn shame. Officer is literally stumbling over his words trying to explain why he stopped me," Holmes tweeted.

Holmes returned to the micro-blogging site minutes later, telling his nearly 50,000 followers that the officer said he "wanted to make sure [Holmes] had insurance on the car."

"Still pissed beyond words right now," Holmes concluded. "But Lord knows I'm not the only this will happen to today."

Holmes, who left CNN in December 2011, will launch his new show, "Don't Sleep!" on BET this October.

The show will feature "smart, biting social commentary on significant issues important to African Americans" that "mainstream media tends to disregard," according to BET.

Here's Holmes on The Michael Eric Dyson Intellectual Masturbation Hour The Ed Show, explaining the ordeal.



Something about Holmes' story just doesn't come across as totally genuine. Note: I didn't say factual, just genuine.

I can't help but wonder if maybe he's taking a routine traffic stop and turning it into a promotional vehicle/free PR for his upcoming BET news show that surely nobody will bother watching. I mean, seriously, BET News? F'real?[1]

His unwillingness to 1) name the location where this occurred 2) name the officers 3) point out that one of the officers was a black woman 4) mention the make/model of the car and 5) make a huge deal out of something that he says has happened to him repeatedly in the past just all smells of opportunism.

$10,000 bet says TJ Holmes' first episode of his new show is going to milk this incident for all its worth. And sorry for being so jaded about this, but if Holmes really cared about informing the masses about this critical issue of public safety, wouldn't he have done so before he got canned from CNN instead of preaching to the choir on BET?

I'm just sayin'.

Question: Is Holmes' exploiting a routine traffic stop for free pub (which I just gave him)? Do you have your own DWB experience?

[1] #sarcasm