Was Arsenio Ended Over Farrakhan?
Lies and Misconceptions Used to Distract You From the Real Issues.
Everyone needs a boogie man.
And when I say everyone I mean the white media. For little over thirty years, the white media has had Minister Farrakhan as their go to litmus test, whipping boy, and source of division. Get in a place of power and watch them hurl Minister Farrakhan at you. “Where do you stand on — enter issue here — because Fare-a-can says…” This is usually where Black folk retreat into their, “I agree with some of what he says stance.” It’s a make or break question which will decide if you have greater white acceptance.
Up until that fateful Friday, February 25, 1994, Arsenio Hall had been on the air for over five years, had aired 1,000+ shows, he was the (white) media’s darling…but now he had booked Minister Farrakhan. Shortly thereafter, his show was off the air and articles and barbershops erupted with theories that having Minister Farrakhan on was the reason for his shows demise. But how true was that?
We’re going to address those questions and several others in this writing like who benefits from the Farrakhan as Boogie Man Narrative, how this particular episode was different from Arsenio Hall’s other 1, 406 shows, and why it matters today?
The Boogie Man
This story doesn’t begin in 1994. In order to understand The Boogie Man, you have to first come to the realization that everything that you heard or read prior could possibly be wrong. In this case, I can almost promise you — it is (wrong).
Most of the information that people have on Farrakhan is info that has been disseminated to them circa 1983–4.
But from September of 1977 until February of 1984, Minister Farrakhan had been silently traveling throughout the U.S. speaking to large Black crowds, rebuilding the work of His Spiritual Father, The Honorable Elijah Muhammad. This work was being done with a coalition of Black organizations — Afrocentrics to Christian, Black Hebrew to former Nation of Islam members, all under the radar of mainstream media. When he was among Black folk and Black folk only, there was no talk of him being a pariah.
It was when Jesse Jackson decided to run for President that all of that changed. Unlike most candidates, Jackson had no protection and unlike other candidates, Jackson was receiving death threats. Minister Farrakhan, after tough deliberation, agreed to help. Soon, the once feared, and to white mainstream media, mysterious, Fruit of Islam became the security detail for Jesse Jackson. And all hell broke loose.
Beginning in November of 1983, the Anti-Defamation League and other organizations such as the group calling itself Jews Against Jackson set out to disrupt Jackson’s Campaign. In a February 1984 rally Minister Farrakhan spoke in defense of Jackson against the vehement attacks that were constantly be leveled at him. This defense earned him the title, “Black Hitler” from the head of the ADL, Nathan Pearlmutter.
The media from that moment on went through Farrakhan’s lectures with a fine tooth comb from that they gleaned Minister Farrakhan’s critique of people who use Judaism to promote their own agenda. They translated it as Farrakhan saying that Judaism was a “Gutter Religion.” When Farrakhan spoke of Hitler’s lasting impression, the headline was, “Farrakhan says Hitler is a Great Man.” “Mysteriously” claims resurfaced that Farrakhan played a role in the death of Malcolm X — never mind the fact that Minister Farrakhan was able to take over the role of Minister in New York’s Harlem Mosque where Malcolm once served and not only win the trust of the community but grow the mosque to numbers that exceeded even the membership during Malcolm’s tenure.
Barely a week went by that Farrakhan’s name wasn’t mentioned in some form of media. Whether it was the New York Times, Time Magazine, Washington Post, ABC News — you name it, Farrakhan was spoken of in it; with each outlet repeating the same ADL backed propaganda. The year of 1985 was the year that the topic of discussion was “how to stop the influence of Farrakhan;” a discussion that went into overdrive after Minister Farrakhan’s October 10th 1985, sold-out lecture at the world famous Madison Square Garden. They agreed — the best way to fight against Farrakhan was to not cover him at all.
As Minister Farrakhan embarked on his ‘Stop The Killing’ Tour, his tour addressing the escalating violence caused by the rise of Crack Cocaine, there was little to no media coverage and it continued this way for the next nine years.
A trip to your local library’s periodicals will confirm all of the above; beginning, first with coverage in The Amsterdam News then from 1984 on, every damn periodical that has been preserved on microfilm.
The Rising Star
While Minister Farrakhan was taking those first steps in the process of rebuilding the Nation of Islam, Arsenio Hall was taking some first steps of his own. Having just graduated from Kent State in Ohio in 1977, Hall moved up to, surprisingly, Chicago and started plying his trade at the Jay Berk run Comedy Cottage located at 6350 North River Road in Rosemont, Illinois.
For the next two years, Hall built up his chops finally landing a gig opening up for Nancy Wilson. He so impressed her, that Wilson recommended him to the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin. Hall then spent the better part of eight years opening up for R&B acts, a stint on Solid Gold, and other comedy gigs, but his big break came in 1987 when Hall began opening for Patti Labelle.
Unlike the other people Arsenio opened for, Labelle set him free and that freedom is what impressed the Hollywood types who brought him in to take over the ailing Late Night with Joan Rivers.
Here’s where it was confusing for me. As a teen, I saw Arsenio as the host, assumed it was the Arsenio Hall Show — I’m now learning that my earliest memories of the Arsenio Hall Show were actually a part of his 13 week The Late Night Show run.
So before when I stated that LL Cool J performed on the Arsenio Hall show — that was wrong. When I said Whodini rocked the house on Arsenio Hall…..nope. Both of those took place in 1987. These had to be two of the 65 episodes that he did under the banner of The Late Night Show. And that makes perfect sense while my next Arsenio Hall memories don’t occur until 1989.
And those memories are not that succinct — they revolve around the segments of the shows that I taped. I recall the May 29, 1989 show where Take 6 called on the heavens with “Mary,” or that October 26, 1989 episode where Heavy D & the Boyz tore the joint down with “Somebody for Me.” Those are the two that come to mind. But watching Arsenio was just a part of our nightly ritual, something, in retrospect, that we took for granted. We watched the monologue and depending on who the musical guest was, prepared our video tape.
The thing is — when I read retrospectives of it, the writers tend to downplay the significance of The Arsenio Show, but if you were Black, if someone was of importance, if we were talking about them, they sat on Arsenio’s grey couch: Michael & Janet Jackson, Eddie Murphy (his close friend, a gimme), Stevie Wonder, 2Pac, remember the Sugar Ray Leonard, Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson episode, he even had the full cast of Living Single on, you name them, Arsenio had them.
So it goes without saying that Hall would attempt to book Minister Farrakhan.
Contest/Context
On January 24, 1994, Minister Farrakhan held a Man’s Only meeting at the 369th Street Armory titled, “Let Us Make Man.” This meeting would be the springboard for the Million Man March to be held October 16, 1995.
The press went ballistic. Practically M.I.A. to whites for over five years, the mainstream press rehashed old accusations, and were falling over themselves to land a juicy Farrakhan interview. Time Magazine gave him a slanted, racist headlined, February 28, 1994 cover and in that spirit, Arsenio Hall booked Minister Farrakhan for Episode 105 of the show’s Sixth Season to air on February 25, 1994. And the controversy began.
Somehow Farrakhan being booked to appear in a 20/20 interview with Barbara Walters (which aired April 22, 1994 — read about the interruption of that show → here) was not controversial. Farrakhan’s April interview with BET’s Ed Gordon the same year didn’t generate the same type of headlines. One has to ask why? For clues into this, we have to view the show.
First off, this episode was handled totally different than other shows. The tone, serious. The introduction alone was a little over three minutes, highlighting different lectures with sound bites that focused more on the state of Black people rather than the tailored “anti-semite”clips that one was accustomed to seeing when Farrakhan was presented in the media.
Clips that deal with: Blacks losing their shame, the murder of leaders like MLK, white Jesus, the roles that Blacks are given in Hollywood, etc. Maybe it was this more even slant that was a problem.
It was a typical evening for Hall. As a worshipful patsy, he was brilliant. As an interviewer, he stunk.
The critics detected blood in the water and had remarks like the LA Times’ Howard Rosenberg who quipped, “It was a typical evening for Hall. As a worshipful patsy, he was brilliant. As an interviewer, he stunk.”
The Chicago Tribune’s Ken Parish Perkins offered up these choice words, saying Arsenio Hall was “-once the prince of late night and now its pauper-did himself in by being a lousy interviewer, a world-class fawner and by letting Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan yak along without so much as a rebuttal.”
And Gregory P. Kane of the Baltimore Sun echoed the same sentiment by saying that “Hall — an infuriatingly uninquisitive man — asked few questions, while the good minister expressed his love for humanity and insisted he had no ill will toward Jews, whites or anyone else.”
Three months later, to the day, May 27, 1994, Arsenio Hall would be hosting his last episode. Strange coincidence? Deliberate retaliation for Arsenio Hall’s defiance in allowing Minister Farrakhan a platform? Something else entirely?
Nothing Greater Than Fatherhood
I go home and make the kids some integrity sandwiches. [. . .] It makes no sense at all. There’s nothing anyone can say. It’s just you do what you feel like you need to do. It’s a very complicated answer, because I felt a variety of ways over the last years. Whenever there’s something I’d like to have that I could have afforded but I can’t now afford, then I’m upset about it. But then when I see a guy who goes to a job that’s time consuming and he doesn’t have free time to do things I get to do, then I feel good about it. . . . Money is the fuel for choices. Money gives me choices. It’s not nothing. It’s something . . . there are other things in my life that I do not purchase with money that are very valuable.
One of the biggest stories of 2005 (and still in the top 10 of entertainment wtf moments) was Dave Chappelle’s leaving $50 mil on the table and the way the story was told, running off to “Africa,” that many-nationed continent reduced to one word in a way made famous by Nas in ‘Belly.’
Nine years later, Chappelle went on record as saying that the money, while great, wasn’t enough. That there was something more important — family.
A year earlier, 2013, a similar story was being told; the story of the pressures of being a top Black executive, the imbalance that it creates, and a desire to be more than an entertainer.
Arsenio Hall returned to late night in 2013. Before the show even hit the air, the main question was put before Hall — ”What happened before? Was his show cancelled because of Farrakhan?” In interviews that ranged from Vlad TV to Oprah’s Next Chapter, Hall explained that before he even booked Minister Farrakhan, he had one foot out the door. That, he may not have known exactly why he was ready to step down, but that he did know he wanted a family.
“Well, First of all I didn’t know why I walked away. Turns out, I needed balance.”
Hall’s quick response when asked why he walked away focused on his then 14 year old son — a response that brought him to tears on Oprah’s Next Chapter. For Arsenio, the money he acquired from over 17 years of heavy dues allowed him the luxury of being a so-called stay at home dad, helping his son with his homework, taking him to school, being an active, daily presence — something he himself lacked while growing up.
Whether one believes Hall’s yarn or not, it certainly stands in stark contrast to the conspiracy like barbershop and media tale of Minister Farrakhan’s appearance ending his storied late night run. So why The Boogie Man Narrative and who benefits from it?
Who Controls What
The beauty of the The Boogie Man Narrative is it is a gift that keeps on giving. Without having to spin a new tale, without much effort put forth, any successful Black man or woman thinking to align themselves with Minister Farrakhan, simply can look back at the demise of one the greatest late night show hosts in the history of late night.
When Minister Farrakhan made a surprise announcement that he would like to bring a Million men and women back to Washington D.C. for the 20th Anniversary of the Million Man March, mainstream media hardly had any time to evoke the Boogie Man. Before they knew it, Minister Farrakhan had appeared on various Black-focused outlets from The Breakfast Club to Roland Martin.
Farrakhan, 82, criss-crossed the nation like he did in his younger days, speaking in churches and colleges. All the while the media raced to find a new angle to The Boogie Man Narrative.
They all failed. Approximately 1.5 million men, women and children showed up for the “Justice or Else” themed 20th Anniversary of the Million Man March — all without any major network push.
Arsenio Hall’s valiant return had been cut short after only one year, but I’m willing to bet that if his show had of still been on the air, he would have booked Minister Farrakhan again; Boogie Man be damned.
The Real Issues
You can only be one type of Black man in America. The safe one. Safe implies controlled. Whether that control is monetary or image-wise, Black men are seen best in the role of athlete, entertainer, smiling, laughing.
Go beyond what is approved, don’t bow, and either the label ‘crazy’ will be thrown on you, or some sort of scandal of yours will be introduced to diminish whatever good that you’ve done.
The tale of Arsenio Hall/Farrakhan is a tale of two Black men who refused to bow amidst immense pressure. The Boogie Man Narrative distracts from that very real fact. The Boogie Man Narrative prevents one from looking at WHY it was even important for Arsenio to have Minister Farrakhan on his show, why Minister Farrakhan was doing what he was doing in the first place.
And the Boogie Man Narrative robs us of the very human, touching reality — Black men love their families and their people. That despite the common rap refrain, family is more important than money….and so is integrity. Boogie Man be damned.
