REV. AL SHARPTON: In Defense of Beyonce

By Karu F. Daniels, AOL Black Voices

Rev. Al Sharpton and TMZ.com are having a war of words ... over, of all things, Beyonce.

Yesterday, the celebrated civil rights activist took umbrage of the wildly popular media website's usage of the term "roboho" in reference to the bootylicious beauty's much-buzzed about '2007 BET Awards.'

"Calling any woman a "ho" is demeaning and abusive and it should not be tolerated on any level," Sharpton fired off, bringing new light to his decency initiative -- which was sparked by Don Imus's controversial 'Nappy Head Hos' remark about the Rutgers University women's basketball team.

"It is intolerable to think that TMZ.com would find humor in calling Beyonce-someone who symbolizes the strength, dignity and uplifting of Black women---a "Roboho," and they should be denounced by the entire community for glorifying the continued oppression of women with this derogatory term," he continued, adding "Racism in America is perpetuated by ignorance and hate and using one's airwaves or media entity to promote it is a blatant setback to civil rights and the advancement of equality."

TMZ, which is co-owned by AOL, LLC Inc -- AOL Black Voices' parent company, issued its own missive to Sharpton and his allegations that the site is racially prejudiced, later yesterday afternoon.

"First and foremost, please note that we called Beyonce's performance outfit "roboho" not Ms. Knowles herself," TMZ posted on its site. "There is a difference. One need not know a celebrity personally to have an opinion on their wardrobe. Joan Rivers created an entire industry based on this fact."

The post continued: "As to accusations that our comment was racially motivated, TMZ has humorously called into question many celebs for wearing racy outfits -- regardless of their race. In the past, TMZ referred to Victoria Beckham, aka Posh Spice, as "poshtitute," Hulk Hogan's daughter a "working girl" and called Lindsay Lohan's trashy ensemble a "HO-rror." A tight mini-dress is a tight mini-dress! Even Kid Rock got a humorous "ho" reference in a December 2006 story, and last we checked, he was neither Black nor a woman."

Touche.

Considering themselves "an equal opportunity offender when it comes to the snarky fashion policing of Hollywood," TMZ posed the question: "Should the word "ho" be banned? Or only in reference to Black women?"

Ironically, all of this goes down as the NAACP had a Detroit funeral service for "The N Word."

You gotta love it, I tell ya.

No one in Beyonce's camp responded to this query about Rev. Sharpton or TMZ.com.

See Beyonce's 2007 BET Awards performance for yourself below ...