TV & VIDEO - Jan. 18, 1989

The NAACP reiterated charges Tuesday that comedian Arsenio Hall is “insultingly” remiss in not hiring blacks as producers, directors or writers for his two-week-old nationally syndicated talk show. Neither Hall nor a Paramount spokesman was available by deadline Tuesday to respond to the criticism. In the past, Hall, the host and executive producer, has insisted that blacks do occupy key positions on the show and that the NAACP has no right to tell him how to do his work. Two white women produce and direct Paramount’s “The Arsenio Hall Show,” but Hall does employ a black talent coordinator, a black show manager, two black musicians and he has instituted a minority intern program. Willis Edwards, president of the local chapter of the NAACP, said Tuesday that out of the show’s 66 staff members only six are black.