Protesters Say Fox’s ‘The PJs’ Is ‘a Slap in the Face’ to Blacks

Less than a week before its premiere, Fox’s “The PJs,” a comedy about an inner-city housing project, has been targeted by a coalition of grass-roots organizations who say the humor is offensive to blacks and makes fun of alcoholism among poor African Americans.

Najee Ali, an activist who is also head of Project Islamic H.O.P.E., a religious advocacy organization, announced during a Tuesday press conference that he and other community leaders were calling for a national boycott and protest of the comedy--the first stop-motion animation series in prime time. The public protest follows a letter Ali sent to Fox.

“The PJs” is a high-profile project for Fox in large part because of the involvement of actor-comic Eddie Murphy, who is one of the creators and executive producers of the series, in addition to supplying the voice for the lead character. The comedy is scheduled to premiere Sunday at 8:30 p.m. before moving into its regular time slot on Tuesdays at 8:30 p.m.

“This show is very unbalanced and does not have one positive character in it,” said Ali, who has also staged similar protests against recent feature films such as “How to Be a Player” and “The Players Club.”

“This series is a slap in the face and makes a joke out of people’s suffering and poverty,” Ali said. “It is offensive to anyone who has lived in the projects, in poverty or has had an alcohol or drug problem.”

“The PJs,” which is produced by Imagine Television, Touchstone Television and Will Vinton Studios, revolves around lead character Thurgood Stubbs, the superintendent of the building that is the main setting for “The PJs,” and the eccentric and colorful tenants who occupy his building.

In a statement, Fox said it looks “forward to ‘The PJs’ joining our schedule, and [we] believe the true measure of any show lies in its ability to raise important cultural issues rather than avoid them.”

During the press conference, Donald Bakeer, a teacher at Washington Prep High School, noted that the show “laughs at open sores in our projects. It’s laughing at things at which we are ashamed of.”

Ali and Bakeer said they were particularly offended by one scene in which a group of the black animated characters is shown sitting around a table, drinking 40-ounce bottles of beer. They said that alcohol abuse had been a leading factor of abuse and deterioration in housing projects, and that the sequence is an endorsement of drinking. They also complained about a female Haitian character who uses voodoo and “Rastafarian crackheads.”

Criticizing Murphy for being “ill-informed and insensitive,” Ali said he and other opponents of the series were demanding that Fox pull the show and rework it into a more positive look at life in inner-city projects. He said a protest of “The PJs” is planned for next Tuesday in front of 20th Century Studios in Century City.

Another opponent--Astenu Brown of the Coalition Against Black Exploitation, which examines media images of African Americans--downplayed the significance of animated characters consuming beer on “The Simpsons” and “King of the Hill.” He said the portrayal of black animated characters drinking beer could have a potentially “devastating impact on our community.”

The program is the second series this season to be targeted by black community organizations.

The Brotherhood Crusade, the Beverly Hills/Hollywood chapter of the NAACP and other groups last September launched an intense protest against UPN’s “The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer,” which revolved around a black butler and advisor to President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War. “Desmond Pfeiffer” was canceled in late November, with the network saying the axing was due to poor ratings and not to the protest.