A joke about Beyonce and Jay Z's two-year-old daughter, Blue Ivy, aired on 106 & Park and resulted in a producer from BET being suspended.
According to the Associated Press, an anonymous source at BET said the producer was suspended because of the joke about the child’s hair. Karrueche Tran, who was the guest host on the show I06 & Park, read the scripted joke.
“I really did wake up like this, because my parents never comb my hair,” Tran, 26, said.
After she received backlash, Tran apologized on Twitter and said that she “didn’t write this script.” BET’s president of music programming and specials, Stephen Hill, also apologized on Twitter.
(2/4)We apologize publically to the child’s parents (and have done so privately) and we have taken punitive actions with those responsible.
— Stephen Hill (@StephenGHill) August 26, 2014
Hill went on to say Tran was not at fault, and that “we also apologize to her for putting her in that position.” He also said Beyoncé and Jay Z received a private apology from the network.
According to the Daily Mail, Tran did not see the joke beforehand and read it verbatim off the teleprompter. Tran and the manager felt the comment was in “poor taste.”
Blue Ivy was in the spotlight after she and her father joined Beyoncé onstage at the VMAs. After Beyonce’s 16 minute performance, she was awarded the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award.
BET did not respond when contacted for comment.
Image courtesy of INFphoto.com