Is MTVs Jersey Shore racist?
STATEN ISLAND, NY — Vicki Hyman from Jersey’s Newark Star-Ledger reports that MTV is defending its upcoming reality show “Jersey Shore” against an Italian-American group that says the production, which follows eight self-proclaimed “Guidos” as they tan, work out and hook up during a Seaside Heights summer, is offensive bordering on racist. UNICO, the Fairfield-based Italian-American service organization that has previously protested the portrayal of Italians on “The Sopranos,” has a problem with the use of the term “Guido” and the vulgarity on display in the show’s teasers. “Jersey Shore” beings airing Dec. 3. “The show continues MTV’s history of documenting various subcultures, rites of passage of young people, and the ways they self-identify,” an MTV spokesperson says in a statement. “The Italian-American cast takes pride in their ethnicity. We understand that this show is not intended for every audience and depicts just one aspect of youth culture.
