By RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com, filed January 20, 2015
Five members of Delta Sigma Theta were expelled permanently from the sorority for their participation on the reviled VH1 reality show set in Atlanta "Sorority Sisters." (You can see the list here.)
- MeToya Monroe, State University of West Georgia, Carrollton
- Adrene Ashford from Marietta
- Shanna McCormick from Nashville
Their expulsion date of January 13 coincided with the day VH1 changed its schedule and dumped the show's final three episodes unceremoniously this past Friday. It came a day after it was reported two others - April McRae and Joy Hammond - were suspended for 18 months from Alpha Kappa Alpha. If more than half the cast of nine was no longer technically part of a sorority, that more or less negated the whole concept of the show.
Now you know that little light Will Smith uses in "Men in Black"? VH1 would like you to stare at it for just a moment.
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
"Sorority Sisters" was not an actual Atlanta-based reality show that aired for a month on VH1 and caused widespread protest and angst among black sororities. It was a figment of your imagination, a weather balloon, a meteor shower. Nothing more to see here! Let's move on! There are episodes of "Love and Hip Hop" to watch!
VH1 provides a list of its shows on its website, past and present here. The list links to pages about current shows such as "Basketball Wives" and "T.I. & Tiny" and those long gone such as "Scott Baio is 45 and Single" from 2008 and "Jessica Simpson's Price of Beauty" from 2010.
But already, "Sorority Sisters" has been wiped off the site, as if it never existed. I get a sense many VH1 executives would have preferred the show had never aired in the first place after all the headaches it caused. Why leave that blemish on their collective memory when we can all reminisce about Scott Baio's day in the reality show sun or the craziness that was Flava Flav?
Some of the "Sorority Sister" cast pages have survived the purge as of today but the main page where full episodes could be viewed are gone.
This disappearance happened less than four days after VH1 quietly aired the last three episodes of "Sorority Sisters" last Friday night in a move that clearly indicated the network's desire to kill it in the most innocuous way possible. The final episode aired at 11:10 p.m. ending just after midnight with no repeats. And no second season forthcoming.
Otherwise, the show would have aired on its scheduled Monday, which would have fallen on MLK's holiday.
A very aggressive boycott campaign targeting VH1 advertisers was apparently very effective because the show's ratings were certainly strong enough to keep the show alive in and of itself.
"There's power in numbers," said Vickee Gray Syes, a PR liaison for the boycott group D9ForChange. "It was organized. It was structured. People came from all around the world."
VH1 has not commented about the expulsions and suspensions or provided an official cancellation of the show.
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