Well, well, well. As many of you are aware of BET got itself in some seriously hot water when they hired gender bender B. Scott to be the red carpet fashion commentator for the recent edition of the BET Awards and publicly disrespected him. They approved the outfits he wanted to wear, but after one interview the show producers yanked him off the red carpet, demanded he tone down his makeup, pull back his hair and don male clothing.
After doing so he returned to find out he'd been replaced on the red carpet by actress Adrienne Bailon.
It was jacked up and after the outrage ensured over it from B.Scott's love muffins, the Blackosphere and amongst other peeps in the community BET put out a half-azzed spin filled apology that B. Scott rejected.
Now it's being reported by TMZ that B.Scott is filing a multimillion dollar lawsuit against BET and Viacom for what transpired on that jacked up evening. He's requesting $2.5 million dollars in damages and an apology for the damage the incident did to his reputation
In a post on his website yesterday he explained why he did so.
“I’m sure by now you’re aware of an unfortunate incident that occurred while I was serving as Style Stage Correspondent for the 2013 BET Awards Pre-Show. After sharing my open letter with the world I’ve received tons of support from family, friends and love muffins for which I’m truly grateful.
While I want nothing more than to put this incident behind me and move on with my life, I still wholeheartedly believe that I’m entitled to a true public apology. BET’s non-apology statement added more insult to injury. What happened to me was not a ‘miscommunication’ nor was it ‘unintentional’. It was wrong. I have been vehemently trying to come to a resolution with BET and Viacom behind the scenes
. After a few weeks of back and forth dialogue with no foreseeable resolution, I have filed a lawsuit against BET and its parent company Viacom for discrimination on the basis of gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation..
Over the years my love muffins and strangers alike have questioned me about my gender identity. What IS B. Scott? As a society we’ve been conditioned to believe that a person has to be ‘exactly’ this or ‘exactly’ that. Biologically, I am male — as my sex was determined at birth by my reproductive organs.
However, my spirit truly lies somewhere in between. It is that same spirit that has allowed me to become so comfortable in my skin, choose how I express myself, and contributes to how I live my day-to-day life.
It is by that definition that I accept and welcome the ‘transgender’ label with open arms.
It is also by that definition that BET and Viacom willingly and wrongfully discriminated against my gender identity during the 2013 BET Awards Pre-Show.
Let’s be clear — I’m suing BET and Viacom for a true public apology and to be fairly remunerated for the time lost, humiliation and emotional distress this entire situation has put me through.”
- See more at: http://madamenoire.com/290080/b-scott-stings-bet-and-viacom-with-multi-million-dollar-lawsuit-for-forcing-him-to-wear-mens-clothing/#sthash.Qu0U4GUp.dpuf
While I want nothing more than to put this incident behind me and move on with my life, I still wholeheartedly believe that I’m entitled to a true public apology. BET’s non-apology statement added more insult to injury. What happened to me was not a ‘miscommunication’ nor was it ‘unintentional’. It was wrong. I have been vehemently trying to come to a resolution with BET and Viacom behind the scenes
. After a few weeks of back and forth dialogue with no foreseeable resolution, I have filed a lawsuit against BET and its parent company Viacom for discrimination on the basis of gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation..Over the years my love muffins and strangers alike have questioned me about my gender identity. What IS B. Scott? As a society we’ve been conditioned to believe that a person has to be ‘exactly’ this or ‘exactly’ that. Biologically, I am male — as my sex was determined at birth by my reproductive organs.
However, my spirit truly lies somewhere in between. It is that same spirit that has allowed me to become so comfortable
in my skin, choose how I express myself, and contributes to how I live my day-to-day life.It is by that definition that I accept and welcome the ‘transgender’ label with open arms.
It is also by that definition that BET and Viacom willingly and wrongfully discriminated against my gender identity during the 2013 BET Awards Pre-Show.
Let’s be clear — I’m suing BET and Viacom for a true public apology and to be fairly remunerated for the time lost, humiliation and emotional distress this entire situation has put me through.”
- See more at: http://madamenoire.com/290080/b-scott-stings-bet-and-viacom-with-multi-million-dollar-lawsuit-for-forcing-him-to-wear-mens-clothing/#sthash.Qu0U4GUp.dpuf
I’m sure by now you’re aware of an unfortunate incident that occurred while I was serving as Style Stage Correspondent for the 2013 BET Awards Pre-Show. After sharing my open letter with the world I’ve received tons of support from family, friends and love muffins for which I’m truly grateful.
While I want nothing more than to put this incident behind me and move on with my life, I still wholeheartedly believe that I’m entitled to a true public apology. BET’s non-apology statement added more insult to injury.
What happened to me was not a ‘miscommunication’ nor was it ‘unintentional’. It was wrong. I have been vehemently trying to come to a resolution with BET and Viacom behind the scenes. After a few weeks of back and forth dialogue with no foreseeable resolution, I have filed a lawsuit against BET and its parent company Viacom for discrimination on the basis of gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation.
.
Over the years my love muffins and strangers alike have questioned me about my gender identity. What IS B. Scott? As a society we’ve been conditioned to believe that a person has to be ‘exactly’ this or ‘exactly’ that. Biologically, I am male — as my sex was determined at birth by my reproductive organs.
However, my spirit truly lies somewhere in between. It is that same spirit that has allowed me to become so comfortable in my skin, choose how I express myself, and contributes to how I live my day-to-day life.
Transgender is the state of one’s gender identity (self-identification as woman, man, neither or both) not matching one’s assigned sex (identification by others as male, female or intersex based on physical/genetic sex). [source]
It is by that definition that I accept and welcome the ‘transgender’ label with open arms.
It is also by that definition that BET and Viacom willingly and wrongfully discriminated against my gender identity during the 2013 BET Awards Pre-Show.
Let’s be clear — I’m suing BET and Viacom for a true public apology and to be fairly remunerated for the time lost, humiliation and emotional distress this entire situation has put me through.
It's the declaration that B. Scott is embracing the transgender umbrella after resisting it for years that is problematic for me and elements of the trans community. Many of us trans people have dealt with the slings, arrows, anti-trans hatred, crushing unemployment-underemployment and murderous anti-trans violence aimed our way as B Scott defined himself as a proud gay man.
Now it seems to elements of us in the African-American trans community that alter all the years of ducking and dodging the question of whether he was trans or not, it's now happening as a multimillion dollar lawsuit suit has been filed.
I'm quite aware of and know evolution and shifting along the gender line segment happens with people as they gain self-awareness and knowledge about where they fall under the trans umbrella. I'm also quite aware of the fact that sometimes it takes years to get comfortable with the spot you're in under the trans umbrella. But it's the timing of the 'I'm transgender' declaration that has my 'things that make you go hmm' antennae up.
The timing of this announcement also drove me to tweet this several hours ago after hearing the news about his justified suit.
When B Scott starts taking hormones and calling himself Brittany (or another femme name starting with 'B') and declares he's transitioning then I'll consider him part of Team Trans.
And I'll start using whatever pronouns B.Scott considers respectfully appropriate to his particular situation at this point in time.
Let me make it crystal clear, I have no beef with B.Scott. What BET did to him earlier this summer was seriously fracked up and pissed me off as someone who fights for the human rights of everyone inside and outside the trans and SGL community. But as a proud African descended trans person who has discussed and written about trans issues for over a decade and does seminars, speeches and collegiate level education on this subject, you can bet I'm going to be keeping an eye on this situation to ensure it doesn't drift into conflation territory or misrepresentation of a trans community that is still quite misunderstood in the African-American cis and SGL community.
Until I get and see more evidence that B.Scott's embrace of the transgender umbrella is genuine, permanent and not just related to this legal case, call me skeptical.
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