Diddy’s got a brand new bag

Diddy gonna have to issue some sort of response to this Ciroc vodka no dark butts controversy, right?

Last night, I saw the email when it was posted to The YBF. It's a casting call for a promotion for Ciroc. It didn't say what it was for; it just said they were looking for models, and that they had to have a certain look. My guess is that it might have been some fancy party where smoking hot chicks go around and give you free vodka, i.e. my idea of heaven.

In terms of looks, it said they need to be at least 5'6, which is understandable (if you're shorter than 5'10, you're not really a model anyway - some perv just told you that), they need to be smaller than a size 7, whatever that means (something tells me they were being a bit generous with the size requirement, but hey, they're targeting the black community), and they need to be either white, hispanic, or light-skinted African-American.

Of course, it was the latter that sent shockwaves through a certain wing of the blogosphere. I'm not sure if the girls who write these black gossip blogs are all dark-skinned or what. I've seen pictures of a few of them, and they were absolute beasts. Some of the other ones aren't that bad-looking. A little bit buttery in the face, but what are you gonna do? I wouldn't kick Necole Bitchie out of my bed for crackers.

If I had to guess, I'd say the controversy had less to do with the people writing these blogs and more to do with their target audience. The girls who read these sites are probably pretty hurt, and the editors know it. I've seen before on these sites where they'll post a picture of a black guy out on the town with a white chick just to upset the rabble. In all likelihood, most of the girls who read these sites wouldn't meet Diddy's height or size requirements, either. That's why they're so into gossip.

But it's one thing to discriminate against a woman on the basis of her height or her size. Short, fat women come in all shades of the rainbow, and they're equally unworthy of being loved. But a woman can't very well help her skin tone, now can she? Hence, it's wrong for Diddy to only want white, hispanic, and light skinted black chicks for his Ciroc vodka fantasy party. Or is it?

Keep in mind, Diddy hardly has anything to do with this. The casting call doesn't mention Diddy by name. It just says it's a promotion for Ciroc vodka. However, Diddy is their head celebrity shill. He often refers to Ciroc as his brand of vodka, though it isn't clear to me what stake he has in the company, if any. And Sandra Rose turned up a copy of the casting call on one of these model listing sites, and it's got a big picture of Diddy next to it.

Anyhoo, I'm not so convinced Diddy is in the wrong here. I happen to have read up on the issue of race in modeling a while back, because I'm amused by contentious race issues, and I was surprised to find out that modeling is basically the only industry where you're allowed to discriminate in hiring - the reason being that it's considered a sort of art, and the government can't be dictating people's artistic expression. It's like Tom Morello once said, back when Eminem was beefing with the teh ghey community, you're either for free speech, or you're against it.

What if this just so happened to be a party with a lot of guys who only like white women, hispanic women, and light skinted black women, i.e. a party with a buncha black dudes? Ciroc wouldn't want to send out a bunch of dark butts to serve their product, and then have that be what the crowd that would go on to associate with Ciroc vodka. Then the next time they're in a store, they'll probably reach for a bottle of Stoli or some shit. As Elliott Wilson would say, that wouldn't be good for their brand.

Ciroc vodka should be allowed to employ light butts if they want to. The question is: should dark butts be up in arms over this? I'm gonna say no, and here's why. Let's say there was gonna be a part with nothing but guys who like dark skinted black women. I might even show up myself. You guys know I like nothing more than a woman with pale skin, long, flowing hair, and a positive outlook. But if I'm gonna get myself a black chick, I'm gonna get me a real black chick. Fuck a light skinted black woman. Anyway, for a party like that, Ciroc might put out a call for nothing but dark butts. Which wouldn't be any more racist than a call excluding dark butts.

It remains to be seen whether or not Diddy will issue a response to this controversy, or whether or not this controversy will rise to the level that it even merits a response from Diddy. If I was Diddy, I'd tell these dark butts to know their roles and shut their rudy poo-ass mouths. But then I'd never be that popular in the first place.