Does Tamron Hall have a problem with Black people or is it about staying on the air and appealing to a white audience?
Tamron Hall has been making the news rounds after her Black exec producer, Candi Carter, abruptly quit the show because of a “toxic work environment.” Turns out she is not the only black person that has had a problem with Tamron’s show. This past May, Dr. Ian Smith talked about how a black female host with a (now former) black executive producer doesn’t want black guests pitched for her show because she is not a black show?
Tamron Hall (Photo by Paul Archuleta/Getty Images) 
Ian Smith (credit Getty Images) 
Candi Carter (Credit Getty Images)
Smith starts the video by thanking Karen Hunter for having him on the show and he explains that Hunter, a media professional, knows how hard it is for black talent to get booked for many shows unless they do something salacious.
“I want to thank you for giving a platform for [black] professionals. I get on all the shows, I’m lucky that way, but there are a lot of people who look like me who are equally educated who are not given a platform on major shows and you know they won’t bring on African-American or Latin X people to talk about things like education, sociology or medicine or law. They will only bring us on when we’re an entertainer or an athlete.
Smith is absolutely right and we have noticed this with many white-owned media outlets but there is an additional sting when the person in power is Black. Hunter explains that these Black hosts and executive producers understand the price of taking that million-dollar check. They have to make white people feel “comfortable.” They reference Oprah Winfrey as an example.
Smith then states… There is a talk show with an African-American host who has specifically said to her publicist to tell pitchers do not promote your black clients we are not a black show. Please promote your white clients we don’t wanna be looked at as a black show. It would be great if we could get a copy of that letter.
Ian wants to put the show on blast (without mentioning it’s Tamron but Hunter does say it) because he says when white hosts and shows do the same thing we expose them and black hosts must also be held accountable. Then they make reference to Oprah, not a fan favorite of black folks as of late, who catered to white women for her show for 25 years but 80% of the people watching her show were black women.
