VH1 Promises Peace on 'Basketball Wives'

By: Jenée Desmond-Harris | Posted: May 15, 2012 at 10:36 AM

VH1

Madame Noire is reporting on Tuesday on the "day late and several dollars short" response to the public backlash against the violent antics that have come to define VH1's Basketball Wives reality series. (A Change.org petition calling for a boycott of the show and its spinoff reportedly has tens of thousands of signatures, and Summer's Eve has pulled out as an advertiser.) On VH1's blog, the network and its parent company have made a commitment to put a stop to the "excessive physical confrontations."

From Madame Noire:

From Shed:

“Shed Media US is fully committed to telling the compelling stories of the Basketball Wives in a balanced way. Our producing partner Shaunie O’Neal feels strongly about this, and we fully agree with this stance. We support her as she encourages the cast members to work out issues in a non-violent fashion. We look forward to working with her and the rest of the cast on conveying more balance in the next season.”

From VH1:

“Our viewers opinions always matter a great deal to us at VH1. Lately, there has been a lot of conversation about Basketball Wives, a series featuring strong, intelligent women with very passionate viewpoints which can sometimes escalate.

“We at VH1 agree with and support Shaunie and the show producers’ “no excessive physical confrontations” policy on the series moving forward. We are all committed to balancing the candid, bold excitement that the viewers have come to love in the series with storylines and representations they can be proud of. Shaunie has been a strong advocate for a more balanced approach to the show and we, along with our producing partners at Shed Media, are all in agreement about moving forward with that goal.”

But, wait ... when you're a "strong, intelligent" woman, isn't any physical confrontation with your so-called friends kind of considered excessive? We'll be interested to see how the network defines this new self-imposed limit, and would venture to guess that ratings will have everything to do with it -- because so far, it seems the only violence that crosses a line in the network's view is the type that threatens its bottom line.

Read more at Madame Noire.

Like The Root on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.