• The Hollywood Reporter, Tuesday, July 10, 2007 11:30 AM

Concerns that a new BET series is guilty of racial stereotyping has led at least two advertisers to yank their spots from the show. State Farm Insurance and Home Depot have both pulled ads from "Hot Ghetto Mess." BET declines to name names; it says "a few of our clients have asked to move to other programming dayparts, and we simply accommodated their request."

Critics have attacked the show for things such as having a logo of an animated blackface character with a red slash through it. A mix of viewer-submitted videos and man-on-the-street segments that show African-Americans in an unflattering light, the program is set to premiere July 25. The net maintains it is meant to spur black America to look at its community standards.

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