Monday, January 31, 2011

Is Flav?s Fried Chicken Unsavory?

“Honestly with Flavor Flav, if you know anything about Flavor Flav?s history, you never know what he?s going to do next. You?ll be surprised what he?s going to do next,”� Flavor Flav tells the Clinton Herald regarding the opening of his new fast-food joint, Flav’s Fried Chicken (opening today in Clinton, Iowa). While some might agree that the move from rapper to reality star to restaurateur is unlikely, others might argue that the move is wholly predictable and rooted in stereotypes. For someone who’s been accused of minstrelsy, aligning himself with a brand of fried chicken (or any other stereotypically African American cuisine) is, to put it lightly, not the best look.
But what this really comes down to is a struggle between principle and practice: Flav’s love affair with fried chicken has been well documented (check out the screen shot above from Flavor of Love 2, and think back to when he took Krazy on a date to KFC during that same season). And fried chicken tastes good! People of all colors of the rainbow adore it! But perhaps no amount of tastiness is worth the bitter sensation of racial-stereotype perpetuation. Sometimes you have to think outside the box society puts you in.
It’s a tough call, really. My knee-jerk reaction was second-hand embarrassment, but you know, Flav’s gotta do what he’s gotta do to earn a living. And at least he plans on being a hands-on partner: “I don?t want to be just known to have a spot. You?re going to find me in here working. You?re going to be catching me seasoning my chicken, flouring my chicken, frying up my chicken, and not only that, but serving my chicken to my people,” he says. A celebrity who takes an active role in his business instead of merely assigning his name and forgetting about it? That is anything but stereotypical. [Clinton Herald]

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