Jada Pinkett Smith’s Red Table Talk is becoming an apologist platform for misogynists

And I am so disappointed!

I was so excited when I discovered the Red Table Talk. The idea of three generations of women discussing issues to a mainly non-male audience intrigued me. Good talk shows that feature Black women are are hard to come by and overall I like Jada and the Smith’s so it was a no-brainer for me to watch and support. I enjoy Willow’s energy and Grammy’s perspectives at times. I wasn’t expecting perfection so let me be clear about that. I assumed already out the gate there would be some unpacking with the guests and hosts themselves and that is why I anticipated the show. The show looked promising and I felt it would encourage great conversations which would allow the viewers like myself an opportunity to self-reflect and the hosts to reflect and challenge themselves. Besides, who doesn’t love a good girl talk in the middle of the day?

Jada has had some good topics and some eye-raising ones especially the ones on race. But again, I didn’t put too much thought into it because I am aware of the Red Table Talk group on Facebook and it’s not as diverse as the hosts so I figured they were just tailoring their content to accommodate their viewers. I mean, it’s problematic of course but it’s not the worse thing in the world and I can overlook that for the good content the RTT usually has. But I won’t lie to you. I was a bit annoyed when Jada had rapper T.I. on. I felt like she was doing her supporters and viewers a real disservice but trying to rationalize his behavior.

If you aren’t aware, T.I. bragged about his 18-year-old daughter still being a virgin and on his podcast, boasted about verifying her staus by accompanying her to the gynecologist. He claims it was a joke, however his daughter wasn’t laughing and she started getting harassed online by strange men who proclaimed they wanted to break her virginity. She ended up disabling all her social media and her father was being dragged on social media but unfortunately some people still caped for him. When he appeared on RTT with his wife Tiny Harris, the rapper thesaurus claimed he had no idea what the word patriarchy and misogyny were. He also revealed ( which was obvious) that he has a control issue especially when it comes to the women in his life. The way he values his daughter’s virginity is uncomfortable and instead of Jada calling it out without the smoke and mirrors she just kinda held his hand in the conversation. I mean, ok whatever.

But now there is a new episode of RTT coming out and this time it’s with Snoop Dogg. Snoop recently threaten Gayle King for speaking about Kobe Bryant’s rape case. According to some, asking about his rape case is disrespectful. However, nobody had any smoke for Charles Barkley who I believed was far more critical than Gayle King was. Snoop took to his Instagram to call Gayle all kinds of names and call her ugly. None of that was called for and should I remind yall Snoop is damn nearly 50 years old? The same Snoop who blows air kisses at Martha Stewart is threatening Gayle King of Kobe. It doesn’t make sense to me. Snoop eventually got back on Instagram to give a dry ass apology because allegedly his momma made him do it. He didn’t mean it of course but now he’s going to have the opportunity to talk to women about his ugly tangent on social media.

This bothers me because so many women watch RTT. By giving him and men like him the grace it gives the impression that actions like that are redeemable. And let’s say you feel those actions are redeemable, why is it up to Black women to allow their platforms to be used as a sympathetic press tour? When are we going to accept actions and changed behavior over empty words?

I feel like Jada is trying to be a bridge of healing for people but she’s especially gracious to men and I am undecided if that is because she feels men can not take criticism or if she feels responsible for educating them and helping them unpack their misogyny. It’s hard to read but it makes me feel uncomfortable.