Mandingo party on Nip/Tuck
by Carmen Van Kerckhove
Did anyone catch Nip/Tuck this week?
I was amused to find that the episode included a faithful reproduction of the “Mandingo party” that was the topic of a much-discussed Details magazine article in April 2007. I swear, they even recreated this exact photo, with two actors who looked exactly like this black man and white woman, and made it a point to show one scene where some revelers get it on in a kid’s room.
The episode even included a cameo by the ultimate Mandingo, Mr. Lexington Steele himself!
Was the episode racially problematic? Well yeah. But for some reason I just can’t take it that seriously - especially since that original article was such a joke. And the show totally played it for laughs.
Also, I was too busy cracking up at the fact that the head Mandingo was played by Boris Kodjoe, who just happens to be the celebrity crush of a certain former New Demographic co-director! *cough*jenchau*cough*
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of 
Niki wrote:
I was thinking about that article as I watched that part of the episode last night–Ryan Murphy must read Details or be a Racialicious lurker perhaps?
BTW, there is never a problem when Boris Kodjoe is involved!
Posted 29 Nov 2007 at 11:45 am ¶
gandalf mantooth wrote:
I never watch this show but when flipping through channels I noticed Kodjoe on the table so I wanted to see what kind of role he was playing. Since I only caught part of the conversation I couldn’t sort it out, I guessed some kind of swingers thing. I was more interested in what kind of procedure he was having. What was it?
Posted 29 Nov 2007 at 11:56 am ¶
merq wrote:
Gandalf,
He was getting some crazy-deep, ultra-symmetrical scratches in his back concealed.
Yeah, Niki and CVK, as I watched this, I couldn’t stop laughing at the faithul Details reproduction.
Posted 29 Nov 2007 at 12:32 pm ¶
Carmen Van Kerckhove wrote:
“BIG WHEEL!”
LOL!
Posted 29 Nov 2007 at 12:37 pm ¶
Jasmine wrote:
Carmen, I was going to e-mail you about this but then I figured you’d have it covered. I somehow missed the Details article, which I must now read. I can’t take the episode seriously, as it’s “Nip/Tuck”, and it’s a drama the way Tila Tequila is a serious actress.
Posted 29 Nov 2007 at 1:01 pm ¶
KXB wrote:
While I agree with Jasmine that a show like Nip/Tuck is too absurd to be taken seriously, what can be taken seriously is men’s insecurities. The Mandingo party was just a plot device to go into how Sean is not sure in his abilities to please a woman. He is an old-school romantic, and may not be cut out for the no-strings sex that is satirized on the show.
I was a bit surprised the writers chose not to go deeper into Christian’s objections. His character is normally the type that would find ancient Rome to be too staid, yet he voiced his disgust early on. Since he is the father to a black son, and briefly married to a black woman, it would have been a neat storyline.
Posted 29 Nov 2007 at 2:04 pm ¶
Girlfriends wrote:
Nip/Tuck is my guilty pleasure, I must admit. I was intrigued to see the episode, being familiar with the article. I too wished Christian would have pushed the race angle a bit more — he called it exploitation early on, which the black character dismissed, and that was that.
This show is the soapiest of soaps, so we have to grant that much. Still, as a black woman, I admit: the party scenes irritated me. The writers made a point of making all of the white women far beyond the norms of attractiveness, and yet the black men were all over that stuff.
Lot there beneath the surface, whether the brothers who participate in such things (is this stuff really real or does Details exaggerate?) want to admit it or not.
Posted 29 Nov 2007 at 3:09 pm ¶
hadji wrote:
I’m so mixed over Nip/Tuck. It’s “just a show” (and aren’t they all?), but I think the show always misses opportunities to really skewer and challenge so many constructs as opposed to treating them in such an acceptable/part of the environment, sort of way.
but that’s just me.
as for the whole mandingo thing, it’s nothing new. it’s only new because a predominately white mag decided to openly cover it.
the parties are old, they go on in every city in america. have for decades. and depending on how much you want to extrapolate the definition of said party, they’ve been going on even longer than that.
hit your typical college campus, city nightclub on a weekend and you can find variations on the “hey, i’m horny–where’s a black guy/that’s all they’re good for anyway” vibe. these parties are just a little more honest, if not crass embodiment of that attitude.
no need to rehash whose at fault or why black men go along with it—some of the reasons are obvious, some aren’t.
it’s just yet another layer that makes america the most racialicious place in the world.
Posted 29 Nov 2007 at 4:09 pm ¶
Orville wrote:
I remember the Detalis article and I cringed big time. It upsets me. No I am not straight but I am still a black man and I know exactly what the article was trying to say. The same thing the Nip/Tuck episode is trying to do say that all black men think about is sex all the time. Society has a love/hate relationship with young black men. On the one hand society hates black men and treats us as the ultimate other. On the other hand society is attracted to black men but often for all the wrong reasons due to racism, sexism, and misandry. I also want to point out the guy behind Nip/Tuck the creator of the show is a white male homosexual. And its well known in the gay community that white gay men also have these racist beliefs and foster and promote racism against black male sexuality.
There is a book called “Hung” by a young black writer named Scott Poulson Bryant it is available in your local public library. Bryant writes about Lexington Steele. Although Steele believes he has “control” over his product. I still believe Mr. Steele is fostering and maintaining the same racist stereotypes against black men. Yes Mr. Steele is hung great for him. However, is that all Mr. Steele is his penis? Scott Poulson Bryant’s book peels beneath the surface a bit. But I wonder if Mr. Steele has conflict or has a problem with what he is doing? There
Posted 29 Nov 2007 at 6:26 pm ¶
Carmen Van Kerckhove wrote:
Well, since Orville brought up the book “Hung,” I thought I’d mention that I interviewed the author on way back episode of Addicted to Race:
http://www.addictedtorace.com/?p=17
Posted 29 Nov 2007 at 6:30 pm ¶
Orville wrote:
Ryan Murphy is also a white gay man and anybody that knows anything about the gay male community knows about white gay racism. White gay men view black men as sex objects. For gay newspapers, magazines, you will see advertisements of dark skinned, young, and of course hung black men. Black men we are just treated as window dressing not as three dimensional people. Murphy is a racist and also a hypocrite. White gay culture through porn, through the gay media and through racist TV shows such as Nip/Tuck and Queer As Folk continue to promote these racist negative images of black male sexuality. There is a hell lot more to black men then being “hung” and “sex.” There was a TV program that was on the gay TV channel LOGO called “Noah’s Arc” its a great tv show. Noah’s Arc was created by a young black gay man Patrik Ian Polk. Of course, the white gay channel LOGO cancelled the show. For once, on TV black male sexuality was presented honestly and in a positive manner. And the reason why is because Noah’s Arc was written,produced, and created by black men. Shows like Nip/Tuck will continue to foster and promote these racist images of black male sexuality because whites are behind these representations.
Posted 29 Nov 2007 at 6:31 pm ¶
KXB wrote:
While I do not agree with everything Orville wrote, he does have a valid point about the prominence of gay white men in the media and how some of them have gotten away with some ugly behavior that would not be tolerated if done by a different demographic.
Writers like Alan Ball and Tony Kushner seem to be text-book definition heterophobes. “American Beauty” - the Oscar winning film of 1999 which Ball wrote, looks laughably bad now. Tony Kushner’s screenplay for “Munich” nearly sank under the weight of a scene that switch between a husband and wife having sex and scenes of athletes getting gunned down. You get it? Violence is inherent in straight people.
When women complain about how women’s magazines give a distorted view of women - guess what, it’s not straight men that read Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar with their stick-thin girls. Straight men read lad mags like Maxim, FHM, King, or Smooth - with very different looking women. Straight men like fit women, which is not the same as skinny.
In that same episode of Nip/Tuck, the scheming Eden’s “best gay friend” is the one pressuring her to get lipo.
The last gay black character on TV that was 3-dimensional was Carter on the old sitcom Spin City.
While black rappers get criticized for the way portray women in their videos, white gay magazine editors remain safe from criticism. And if there is any criticism, it is directed at the magazines in general, not their specific demographics. Unlike the misogynist black rapper, the wife-beating Asian male, the machismo Latino, or the caveman straight white guy.
More enlightened gay men, like David Geffen, understand you can be successful in show business without recycling tired old stereotypes. For Ryan Murphy, such stereotypes appear to be his stock in trade.
Posted 29 Nov 2007 at 10:16 pm ¶
merq wrote:
Orville,
While I don’t claim to have a window into the gay male community as you do, I must ask you to back up your claim that “Ryan Murphy is a racist.”
That’s a serious allegation, and it would be nice if you could explain further why you believe so.
Regarding Christian’s objections:
Here’s the thing. While I’m all for a deeper exploration of race on the show, I found myself cringing after he made his “exploitation” statement. Not because I necessarily disagreed, but because it just seeemed to follow a standard TV convention.
I remember noting in a piece I wrote a while ago that in many of these productions, race is only brought up by black characters (i.e., “left to us Good White Folk, we’d have a colorblind society in a heartbeat”). I remember noting this a few times on Nip/Tuck, most absurdly with Sanaa Lathan’s character (Lord knows I never want to see her again… “tedious” is the only way I can describe her entire story arc).
A heated debate between Christian and his lover (played by Lathan) can be summarized as:
X: I love you.
Y: I love you too, but I have a child. Will you still marry me?
X: A child? No way. I’m not raising someone else’s brat.
Y: But he’s so adorable. You have to meet him before you decide.
X: Oogay.
they go to his apartment, where child is
X: He’s so adorable! [direct quote] Why didn’t you tell me he was black?
I just about shit myself, watching that scene. And I felt that Christian’s objections were more in the same vein.
However, I did like that they at least attempted to explain what’s in it for the young black men attending/hosting these parties. It wasn’t a particularly believable explanation, but hey…
Posted 29 Nov 2007 at 11:22 pm ¶
gatamala wrote:
Interesting posts Orville & KXB. Food for thought.
I miss Noah’s Arc & I’ve always wondered about the motivations behind women’s fashion mags.
Posted 30 Nov 2007 at 1:14 pm ¶
eric daniels wrote:
Hey, considering I hangout in alternative music and art circles, I can attest to Orville’s claims of white gay male racism when it comes to Black Males. It is even more replusive than your standard variety white frat boys yelling “Nigger’ from a car, because I have seen many of these dudes spew even worst B.S. and many of them were my bosses. Remember homophobia amongst Black Males (and extension black folks) doesn’t just rise up for religious purposes.
And Sanaa Lathan is becoming like Aisha Tyler the dark- skinned middle - class black woman who can date the whiteboys in the movies like Rae Dawn Chong. Chong and Bonet were angry at Lee and Singleton in the early 90’s when they collectively backballed them from their movies because of their sexualized scenes with white men in movies.
I saw Nip/Tuck for 5 minutes and realized how stupid it was, but it’s from Newscrop Inc .. should I be surpised these are the same idiots who employ “journalists” like Bill O’ Reilly, Sean Hannity and Neal Cavuto so intelligence is not on the menu. Now for the Mandingo episode folks are very comfortable even a great deal of brothas of having the Big Penis and being “Gifted” . Black Pathology sells in media like Ishmael Reed wrote almost 20 years ago.
Just like that Details article Americans love seeing Black Men endorse the most vile of sterotypes thinking they can turn it into a postive but like Blood Diamond “the great white savior’ to reason with the noble black savage and give him values because he is too stupid to have any morals.The Christian character seems to be doing the same thing.
But that’s gay white men for you in Hollywood, who write about black american men they either fetishize sexually them or totally criminalize them in their so- called liberal paternalism.
Posted 30 Nov 2007 at 7:43 pm ¶
Carmen Van Kerckhove wrote:
Everyone, please read our comment moderation policy, particularly this point:
7. Try not to speak in generalizations. Don’t attribute characteristics to entire ethnic or racial groups. Adding modifiers like “some” or talking specifically about your personal experiences help reduce the likelihood that you’re stereotyping entire communities.
Not all white gay males are racists. Let’s use some modifiers please. Thank you.
Posted 30 Nov 2007 at 7:51 pm ¶
Mike wrote:
I stopped watching Nip/Tuck a while ago felt it was just to over the top. Wish I had seen the Mandigo episode though just for laughs.
Those parties are very much for real. I had a dude try to hook me up with his wife on my ESPN blog. ESPN! I thought the dude was joking till he sent me pics of his wife.
I was kind of shooked, just was not expecting that.
But I can not really tell how much of this is innocent sexual exploration or if there is a more “sinister” satisfaction being taken,
Posted 01 Dec 2007 at 7:25 pm ¶
michelle wrote:
If you are really into Boris, check out his new movie “All About Us”….warning, he is not a Mandingo type at all, but certaintly very nice to look at….you can find out more info about showtimes at Faith Filmworks.com.
Nip/Tuck is a fun show, a great show, revealing the very ugly parts of us with glimpses and glimmers of the oh so beautiful parts of humanity. No one show gets it right, but they seem to take genuine stabs at creating a good show dealing with all kinds of issues. By the way, did you see the episode of I Love New York where she has a cameo on Nip/Tuck…very interesting…comedy, y’all!
Posted 02 Dec 2007 at 12:28 am ¶