Free and AJ Leave 106&Park
 

Stephen Hill, BET's Executive Vice President for Music and Entertainment Programming, issued this column a statement regarding the whereabouts of vee-jay Free that said, "We look forward to her return shortly as she is on vacation." Well it looks like Free's "vacation" is going to be a permanent one and her co-host A.J. Calloway is following suit.

Last Thursday, July 28, Calloway sported a t-shirt that said "Still Free" and announced that he and Free were leaving BET. "This is my last show over here at '106 & Park,' and me and Free will no longer be here at BET. It takes a bigger man to walk away from a situation," said a tearful Calloway. He even phoned Free on his cell phone so that she could hear the audience cheer for her.

BET's Hill says that the network learned of Calloway's plans to quit the day he announced it. "We knew he was going announce it on air [but] we didn't know how he was going to do it. We encouraged him to do it as he wanted. He didn't have to clear the method with us. We wanted him to do it the way his heart felt best doing so. After five years, he had earned that," he explained.

Rumors have been abuzz since the BET Awards that Free had bolted the network. Several reports had the Boston-bred part-time rapper having a verbal altercation with Hill during the ceremony that caused her to quit on the spot, thus explaining her absence from presenting the Viewer's Choice Award alongside Calloway.

Hill says the rumors are not true. "There was no argument and no quitting on the spot. Free was on vacation like I previously stated but apparently decided during her time off to move on," he clarified. So why didn't Free present the Viewer's Choice Award? "That's something I am not at liberty to discuss," Hill confessed.

It was just over a year ago that Calloway had problems with BET over moonlighting for the news magazine show 'Extra!' and skipping out on '106 & Park' tapings. Calloway was rumored to have been fired by '106 & Park,' while he was adamant that he quit the show and even gave an "I Quit" party in Los Angeles following last year's BET Awards. Whatever the situation was, it was reconciled, and Calloway returned to the show several months later.

"You never know when you're going to see the last of something," said Calloway during his final live broadcast. But Hill assures us that '106 & Park' will live on without its former hosts. Tigger ('BET Style') and Julissa ('The Center') will host this week, but Hill says that move is only temporary. "They are not the permanent hosts and people will have to stay tuned to see what happens next," he reminded.

Expect other BET personalities like Ray J ('BET.com Countdown'), Melissa Ford ('BET Style') and Mad Linx ('Rap City'); in addition to a bevy of celebrity guest hosts to hold down the show in the weeks to come.

BET family issues
 

Looks like Bob Johnson really has sold out....dang before you know it....they will all start sounding non-ethnic in tone and ....heck its a dang shame. He could have at least readied another black investor group to the take over ...but noooo. The things we do to be a $1,000,000,000 man.... :(

Interesting...

Tigga and Julissa are WACK.

Co-sign. I am not feeling them on that show.

Are you serious?! I've been wondering where Free was.

From AP...
 

NEW YORK - The hosts of "106 & Park" are both out after five years with BET's most popular series, with one suggesting he was pushed out the door.


A.J. and Free had their last shows last week, and their exits prompted an "overwhelming" number of calls and e-mails from fans, a network spokeswoman said Monday. The popular music video and interview show, which airs weekdays for 90 minutes at 6 p.m. EST, is a cousin to fellow Viacom network MTV's "Total Request Live."

A.J. Calloway said he was told by BET executive Stephen Hill that the network's new head of programming, Reginald Hudlin, was looking to change the face of the network.

With his contract up, Calloway said he was offered a very brief extension — no more than three months. He felt he was being given a message.

"After five years of growing the show to what it is today, it was basically a no-brainer situation," he said.

Hill, BET's executive vice president for music and entertainment programming, said Calloway was never told he wasn't wanted. He would not discuss specifics of contract talks.

"His announcement to leave was a surprise because we were in the process of negotiations to retain him, as we were with Free," Hill said.

Said Calloway: "If you're trying to aggressively keep someone, you don't offer them a month-to-month contract."

Free, whose given name is Marie Wright, did not immediately respond to an e-mail message for comment.

The move prompted an outcry from fans of "106 & Park," which is continuing and may soon audition replacement VJs.

"I assumed we were going to get a number of calls, but we've actually gotten an overwhelming amount of phone calls and e-mail," said BET spokeswoman Marcy Polanco. "A lot of them have been from parents."

Hill said the two hosts "gave an amazing face to our video programming and our programming in general. A.J. and Free are stars, absolutely are stars."

Calloway said he's looking to stay in show business. He's opening a restaurant in Brooklyn this fall.

"I love and respect them for the opportunity they have given me," he said. "It's just it's a hard exit. Nothing lasts forever."

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I don't blame AJ for not coming back...if they only offered you a 3-month contract, they wanted him out. The writing's on the wall in that case. Plus, they were on that show for 5 years...it's time for a change. How many of ya'll thought Carson was going to be on TRL forever?

And I loved seeing Free rock her boots and sandals...

Has Free rebounded already? (from BV Buzz)
 

Talk about a quick comeback. Former '106 & Park' host Free is rumored to have landed a job as a vee-jay at MTV2. No word on when her debut album will be dropped.

Looks like Free is still making moves....I wish her sucess....... who knows maybe we should be expecting Free to drop an album with a special guest apperance from AJ Im not sure Im feelin that but it could happen!

What is AJ a rapper now too?

TV Press Tour: New Reality for BET

BY DIANE WERTS
STAFF CORRESPONDENT

PASADENA, Calif. -- There's the reality of pre-prison life for rapper Lil' Kim. And the hard-working role models of the Grambling State University football program. New BET program chief Reginald Hudlin promises an "expanded scope of original programing" as the venerable black-focus cable channel rebrands itself "leader of the new school."

Hudlin made his first appearance before TV critics as their midseason press tour kicked off yesterday, trying to boost a channel most writers consider a chronic quality underachiever during its first 25 years.

The 44-year-old director of films ("House Party") and TV ("Everybody Hates Chris") insists "BET is the ultimate platform for what it is I do" in telling stories.

Among those getting Hudlin's nod is "Lil' Kim: Countdown to Lockdown," premiering March 9 as a six-part chronicle of the two weeks before Kimberly Jones (aka Lil' Kim) went behind bars to serve a year for perjury related to the 2001 shootout outside radio station Hot 97's offices. "Mouth shut, head held high, as she refuses to snitch" was the description in a video promo shown critics, but Hudlin says the show "takes a very serious look at her life and her choices, and the consequences of those choices. It's absurd, and it's tragic. It's a very Fellini-esque situation."

"Season of the Tiger," debuting May 4, takes a verite look at the lives of the world-renowned football players and marching band of Louisiana's Grambling State University.

On the Sunday noon news show "Meet the Faith" (debuting March 19), anchored by CNN political analyst Carlos Watson, religious leaders discuss current affairs in a new way. Hudlin says they'll eschew "insider-oriented" political language to instead examine "what is right and wrong, what makes better human beings, what connects to our spirituality."

I don't know if I'll be able to watch the LK show.....she's been so butchered by plastic surgeons that it's hard to watch.:(

Why in the Sam Hill are they giving Kimberly Denise Jones a reality TV show? :rolleyes: Who's next, Inga Marchant? On the other hand, Booby Beresford Burnt Brown and William Jonathan Drayton, BKA Flayva Flaaavvv!!!, can get shows, so there's no accounting for taste.

LIl Kim: Countdown to Lock Down

3/9/06
9:30 PM ET

I wonder if they are going to show her "transformation" on this show... Y'all know that she couldn't go to jail with all that weave, false nails, etc. However, I am sure that they saved that part for when she was behind bars. Kim probably would look like a something out of this world without all the "accessories."

Kim is going to come out like the Hip-Hop Martha Stewart! lol!