DAILY DOSE OF HOPE – BLOG – NAIMA LETT
REJECTION, HOWARD STERN & 7 YEAR OLD

Did you see this last night?
7 year old rapper Amir Palmer aka Mir Money fell apart when Howard Stern explained why he X’ed him on NBC’s America’s Got Talent. Even I cried.

And I don’t even watch the show. How I ended up on NBC at that exact moment when the first grader walked on stage is still a mystery to me. But I saw this little pint-sized child rapping about money and thought, “There’s got to be other things for children to talk about…”

Amir is cute.
He has charisma.
But the refrain of “Get money” wasn’t the best fit.

Then Howard Stern hit the big “X” buzzer.
Followed by Sharon Osbourne.
Howie Mandel was the only one who had the decency to not destroy the child.
Nick Cannon rushed out to be supportive.
But by then, it was all tears.

Look, I’m not saying Amir should’ve been put through the next rounds. But X’ing a child on international TV is just cruel.

WHO’S TO BLAME?

And I don’t blame Howard Stern. He’s a figure head. I blame the producers. Everything that we see on reality TV is produced. There are thousands of contestants that producers wade through to get to the ones that they allow us to actually see during prime time. It’s all calculated. So, this is no mistake.

According to an article in the New York Post, Amir’s mother Regine Palmer says that Amir was told that he had actually made it to the next rounds and was going to Vegas. Nick Cannon instructed him to say to the cameras, “I’m going to Vegas!” Amir prepared. Regine received a call the day they were supposed to leave from the producers that Amir would not be going on after all. Hot mess!

The decisions about the show are not made by the 3 judges that you see sitting there every week. The decisions are made by producers based on what they can edit together as a show that will keep people watching and advertisers buying.

Nobody cared to explain this to Amir.
So, I hold the producers and NBC responsible for this fiasco.
Stop the madness.

REJECTION

The reason this hit home is that I felt Amir’s pain – the awful sting of rejection.

As actors, we live through this scenario every day. Thank God it gets better over time, but something about seeing and hearing those X buzzers on that child hit a raw nerve.

I not only cried for Amir.
I cried for every actor I know who is X’d in LA every day.
I cried for the rejection that we feel.
I cried for an industry that would think it’s okay to exploit our children for financial gain.
At what point do we say, “Enough!”

This was my first and last time tuning in to America’s Got Talent.
I will not support this circus or the advertisers who under-gird it.
That might seem like an over-reaction, but is it?

What happens to Amir now?
What does this do for him as the rapper who cried on national TV?
How can I help educate parents about what really happens with reality shows?

I pray that Amir will bounce back, I do.
I hope that he knows that beyond this, he truly is accepted and loved.

ACCEPTANCE

For every artist and person who reads my blog, please be encouraged today.
Your value as a person is not derived from how well you perform.
You can have an off day, an off performance, and still retain the truth that you are most precious in the eyes of a Heavenly Father who created you.

You may or may not get the audition.
You may or may not book the job.
You may or may not work this year as an actor.
You may or may not pay your bills as a singer/songwriter.
It doesn’t matter. You are still loved and cherished.

Here is PSALM 139: 13-18
I hope that it will encourage you.

13 For you (God) created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. 17 How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! 18 Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand — when I awake, I am still with you.

We are not alone.
No matter what, God is still with us.

I send love to Amir today. Maybe I’ll meet him at some point and give him a big hug. Maybe I’ll find a way to employ him in one of our projects. You never know.

I send love to each of you.
And when people start throwing up X’s and spewing out rejection, let’s remember that they don’t define us. We are wonderful. God says so,
Naima

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