OWN's Black Love Doc Accused Of Colorism

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OWN’s Black Love show is one of the more popular documentary series out there in terms of showcasing famous and not-so-famous Black couples. It’s your marriage ministry’s favorite TV show. Over the few seasons, they’ve had some really wild moments and controversies between couples that have mostly flown under the radar.

The new season of Black Love premieres on September 5th on OWN and will feature a cast filled with A-list celebrities and new comers to the seen. Actor Bill Bellamy and his wife Kristen will appear on this season. They have been married for 19 years now. Newlywed sports journalist Jemele Hill and sales execute Ian Wallace will give viewers an in-depth look into their relationship. Other members of the cast include, actor Deborah Joy Winans and Terrence Williams, actors Dulé Hill & Jazmyn Simon, Mr. “Nightmares” also known as Dana Dane & speaker/executive Tana M. Session. Some creators and influencers will share their rich and loved filled relationship journeys too like Glen & Yvette Henry and Angel Laketa Moore & Marcus Tanksley.

The trailer which dropped last Friday, teases moments from the highly anticipated fourth season.
It looks like this season, though, is going to be a bit different as Black Love is all over the internet thanks to this sneak peak:

However the new series is coming under fire already. Notice anything? Sure you do. All of the woman on the doc are light skinned. This has everyone up in arms over the idea that the trailer reinforces the stereotype that only light skinned women are deserving of love.

This has put the show under the microscope and now the internet is digging for some of the craziest moments in the show’s history. One of those moments comes courtesy of this couple: a guy who basically torched his marriage and his life and she stayed with him.

Now, we have to mention that previous seasons and episodes of the show have given us plenty of darker-skinned women in healthy marriages and relationships, like Viola Davis and Ryan Michelle Bathe, however the trailer seems to have social media in a tizzy over an issue that has for centuries plagued the Black community. Colorism. Some are saying the trailer feels tone deaf and has made folks question whether the new docu-series is reinforcing some racial and cultural issues that darker-skinned women in life are often subjected to. It sort of makes the fact they were omitted in this season worse, right?

Since then Black Love has issued a statement via Twitter in response to the outrage over the trailer:

However that didn’t stop the rest of the crowd from expressing their frustration with the new season. Hit the flip to see all the angst and controversy.

“Girl i didn’t want to watch that black love documentary because it reeked of colorism and black women lowering their standards to the sewer with the rats but goddamn that s*** looks like something I want to watch now.”

Y’ALL PLAY TOO MUCH

“I so badly desire for Black women to experience a very wholesome type of romantic love from their partners that don’t measure how much of a “good woman” they are through a lens of endurance.”

“still screaming at that man from ‘black love’ going “that infidelity….whew. you wouldn’t wish it on your worst enemy’ like he was a victim of his decision to cheat face man there are some devils in this earth”

“A doc called #BlackLove but full of struggle love stories?”

“…this is not Black love and I really wish we could talk about how much this framing normalizes the idea that in order to have a partner Black women have to be long suffering mules.”

“Chile that Black Love doc is a mess. Every time I’ve seen it the wife was always talking about dealing with cheating and how they got through it. No thanks, I’ll pass.”

“That Black Love Doc posts going around makes me so exhausted. The colorism. The women acting as therapists for their husbands (and for the entirety of their marriage). The husbands sitting around looking emotionless and useless. Whew, I can’t even watch the entire clip.”