Group asks MTV to cancel ‘Jersey Shore’ reality show, saying it slurs Italian-Americans
By APTuesday, November 24, 2009
Italian group asks MTV to cancel ‘Jersey Shore’
FAIRFIELD, N.J. — A national Italian-American organization based in New Jersey says an MTV reality show that depicts Italian-American beachgoers as the “hottest, tannest, craziest Guidos” is offensive and should be scrapped before it airs.
UNICO National said Tuesday that “Jersey Shore” relies on crude stereotypes and highlights cursing, bad behavior and violence in depicting renters at a New Jersey beach house.
An MTV promo says the participants “keep their hair high, their muscles juiced and their fists pumping all summer long!”
UNICO President Andre DiMino calls the show “trash television.”
It’s scheduled to debut Dec. 3.
MTV spokeswoman Emily Yeomans says the show continues the channel’s history of documenting various subcultures and young people’s rites of passage. She says the Italian-American cast “takes pride in their ethnicity.”
