How Baddies Is Reinforcing Harmful Stereotypes in the Black Community
Content Warning: This article contains discussions of racism, repeated use of the N-word, physical violence, firearm-related incidents, exploitation in reality TV, and references to traumatic historical events.
Since its debut in 2021 on Zeus Network, Baddies has gained massive attention for its viral moments and tense drama. The series, which follows a group of women living together, traveling, performing and doing club appearances, markets itself around the idea of “getting to the bag.”
However, beyond the entertainment, Baddies has sparked ongoing criticism for the way it portrays Black women and the Black community.
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While reality television thrives on conflict, Baddies centers itself around substance use, violence and drama in many ways viewers say reinforce stereotypes. As the show continues to trend online, questions about whether the show's impact goes beyond entertainment and contributes to harmful perceptions of Black identity start to emerge.
Reality TV can often expose ignorance, both among the cast and within the viewers. This can be said about the conversation surrounding cast member, Gretchen, and her use of the N word. During Baddies Caribbean, Gretchen, a light-skinned Puerto Rican woman, said the N word during a heated exchange with another castmate, a Black woman. Some of the cast expressed their discomfort with Gretchen saying the word, but she still continued to say it.
This led to a season-long rivalry between Gretchen and castmember Jela tying back to the long conversation about Hispanic people using the N word.
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Jela would receive backlash from some fans saying that she’s dragging the situation out and how she needs a storyline to stay on the show.
Zeus brought Gretchen back for their newest season Baddies USA, the cast would travel across the nation and perform concerts for fans. Gretchen performed her song and got booed at every stop due to her saying the N word in her song. Castmate Suki said the reason why Gretchen’s getting booed is because she’s saying the N word to an audience full of Black people.
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Fan reactions were divided.
It’s been two seasons where people told Gretchen to stop using the N word and she’s dismissed it every time. With the explanation being “I’m not racist” or “I grew up saying it.” With some of the cast excusing a non-Black person saying the N word, that gives leeway for people outside of the Black community to say it because someone they watch on TV says they don’t mind.
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The cast has their fair share of ignorant moments including using the death of a young Black boy to mock a castmate, which is very concerning. During Baddies Africa, cast member Summer finished a physical altercation with another castmate and described the castmate’s face as Emmett Till. Emmet Till was a 14-year old boy who was falsely accused of whistling at a white woman, he would later be found lynched with his face unrecognizable.
His death became a pivotal moment in exposing the brutality of racism in America.
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Fans were outraged at Summers’ insensitive comment and urged the network to remove her from the show entirely for her repeated inappropriate behavior. Some fans say that Summer has shown what type of person she is, but will still continue to be supported by fans.
Even though the show is supported by the drama between the cast, what draws the line is when that drama escalates to using actual weapons. On Baddies West, castmembers Tommie Lee and Stunna Girl were at odds with each other all season. They’d previously gotten into physical and verbal altercations, until after one club appearance, allegedly, Tommie’s associates jumped Stunna Girl.
The night ended allegedly with the two getting in a shootout with each other, bringing their associates along with them. Tommie had multiple incidents with using weapons while on the show.
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These incidents fall underneath the stereotypes of how society views the Black community. From drinking to the usage of guns, all TV makes good TV even at the expense of their own cast. This caused a bigger conversation about what production wanted the audience to see. According to fans, the production team’s decision usually leans towards alleged exploitation of cast members.
During Baddies Midwest, sisters Tesehki and Chrisean, had a sit down conversation for the first on camera after Chrisean alleged that Tesehki sexually assaulted her when they were kids. The two weren’t on speaking terms previously due to Chrisean having Tesehki jumped during Baddies East.
The decision to air deeply personal and serious allegations raised ethical concerns among viewers about exploitation and boundaries surrounding reality television.
This situation made its way onto Baddies USA when Summer spoke on the allegations. Tesehki and Summer got into multiple physical altercations with each other when they met on set.
Something that I noticed with this show is how some of the cast gets accused of sleeping with each other or employees of the show.
It’s upsetting to hear how some people in the cast are doing this and the narrative is being shaped into cast members “sleeping their way to the top.” According to viewers, this narrative is often directed at cast member Scotty, reinforcing harmful stereotypes about Black women and their success.
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This show has been criticized for contributing to the humiliation and misrepresentation of the Black community. There’s been multiple versions of Baddies such as Baddies Gone Wild and Bad Boys. The discussion surrounding the audition process isn’t good, those who audition have to wait in lines for hours to only be seen for less than a minute and do what the judges ask on command.
There’s been rumors that there’s pre-selected cast members every season and for those who attend the auditions only have a slim chance of getting casted.
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As Baddies continues to grow in popularity, it raises concerns about what’s being normalized as entertainment.
