Another wave of backlash has flooded the cast members of the VH1 reality show Sorority Sisters, several of the women were banned or suspended from their organization.
To crown the unfruitful stint that was Sorority Sisters, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. gave the boot to Priyanka Banks, Lydia Mitchell, MeToya Monroe, Shanna McCormick and Adrene Ashford; stripping them of their letters permanently— on the organization’s Founder’s Day, Jan. 13.
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., who announced their decision first, punished two cast members. April McRae and Rwanda Hammond were placed on suspension on Dec. 26 and will last until July 2016.
VH1’s Sorority Sisters was a short-lived, but controversial reality show depicting an integral part of black culture in an awfully grim light, as usual. The show was centered on nine Greek letter-wearing women living in Atlanta. The women were members of the Divine 9 sororities Alpha Kappa Alpha, Delta Sigma Theta, Sigma Gamma Rho, and Zeta Phi Beta. The show emphasizes the connections these women share with their sorority sisters, community and most prominently their other Greek counterparts.
Although the concept could have done wonders to shine light on the role of sorority women in the community and career force, many critics, Greek and non-Greek members, felt it did the opposite. The show displayed the women participating in petty arguments and exuding high levels of unprofessionalism. This spurred a massive backlash beginning with corporate sponsors removing their advertisements from the series’ time slot. Petitions with more than 75,000 signatures are in circulation to have the show removed. Then the hammer came down.
Despite continual prodding, VH1 never admitted its plans to cancel the show. However, the network did bury the remainder of the season last Friday, Jan 16. The station aired the remaining three episodes consecutively and quietly wiped the episodes archive and “Sorority Sisters” home page from the VH1 website.