KUDOS?

NBC’s “The Golden Girls” and the film “Mississippi Burning” have been given Golden Pit Awards for negative stereotyping by a coalition of ethnic groups in New York City. “We want the producers of this material to be more sensitive. In their quest to entertain, they often contribute to negative stereotyping,” said William Fugazy, honorary chairman of the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations. “Mississippi Burning,” a drama about the 1964 slayings of three civil rights workers, was cited for “downplaying the role of blacks . . . and portraying them as helpless during the civil rights struggle.” “The Golden Girls” was selected for the “constant barrage of negative Italian and Sicilian diatribes” spoken by the Italian character Sofia Petrillo. Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing” received a special Platinum Pit Award for “advocating violence as a way to resolve conflict”.