Showing posts with label BET. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BET. Show all posts

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Hot 97fm & BET 106th & Park Host DJ Megatron Shot & Killed In Staten Island NY




May he rest in peace

Family members, friends and fans are mourning the murder of DJ Megatron, who was gunned down early Sunday morning on the streets of Staten Island.

The rising TV and radio star, whose given name was Corey McGriff, was shot in Clifton at about 2 a.m. and pronounced dead on the scene a short time later.

The Staten Island resident had just moved to a new house and his girlfriend recently gave birth to his third child.

"Everybody is shocked," said a close friend who asked not be identified. "He just had a new baby. He wasn't feuding with anybody. Everybody liked him."

His buddy said it was normal for Megatron to get back to Staten Island around 2 or 3 in the morning after working at a club or music event.

"I'm still shocked that somebody killed him," he said. "I can't even understand why. It could be somebody that he didn't even know. At that time of the night people do all kinds of crazy things."

"I can't see it being a personal thing because I don't know of anybody who had a personal issue with him," he added. "But at the same time, when you start getting success you have people who don't necessarily like that."

Law enforcement officials would not immediately confirm McGriff's identity. A police source said detectives have thus far not been able to track down an eyewitness to the murder.

Keith Robinson, who identified himself as Megatron's father-in-law, said his family was distraught.

"He was a good person," Robinson said, visibly upset, "Everyone's just shocked."

The Staten Island performer was a regular on BET's "106th and Park," and worked on HOT 97 two years ago.

A friend who arrived at the scene at about 4 a.m. said she talked to him a few hours earlier.

"He just called me," Lisa Torres said, "He asked me if I was going to [A FRIEND'S]party."

She became inconsolable as the news sank in.

"He's right there on the ground. I can't believe this," she screamed as she broke down in tears. "You're lying, you're lying! That's not Megatron right there!"

mkolodner@nydailynews.com

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Has Reality TV Become Black Women's Enemy?

From ''The Real Housewives of Atlanta'' to ''What Chilli Wants,'' these days, reality TV is fixated on black women. But only when we act the fool.


Remember the ''real'' housewife named Sheree? Whose only claim to fame is that she was once married to a professional football player? Remember how she yanked housewife Kim's blond wig and called her white trash outside of a fashionable Atlanta restaurant? (Kim, the sole Caucasian Atlanta ''housewife'' whose married lover's checks allows her to pay $3,000 on a regular basis to get the fat rolled from her thighs.)




Across the reality-television spectrum, there have always been women like Sheree and her ''friends'' on Bravo TV's The Real Housewives of Atlanta: catty, materialistic, self-absorbed. But are television executives really only interested in black women when we're acting a fool? And more importantly, are we really only interested in seeing ourselves portrayed in this light?



Apparently so: Last month, VH1 dominated the list of top 25 cable shows in black households for reality original programming, returning with the all new Basketball Wives ranked at No. 5. (Like Housewives and Tiny & Toya, the show features ex-girlfriends and wives trying to make names for themselves on the heels of relationships with famous men.) What Chili Wants followed in popularity at No. 7, and Brandy & Ray J came in at No. 11. Executives say that their channel has had a 9 percent increase in black women prime-time viewers ages 18-49 in this past year alone with the success of their reality shows.



TV One also made its first showing on the top 25 list for original programming last month when LisaRaye: The Real McCoy came in at No. 16 and delivered the biggest audience in the network's six-year history. (TV One will roll out two more original reality shows in 2010: one starring reality-show villain Omarosa as a bachelorette and the other spotlighting R&B entertainers K-Ci and JoJo as they struggle with sobriety.)


BET's Tiny & Toya has consistently ranked high in black homes--so much so that a new show featuring Toya is in the planning stages for 2011.

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