Transformers 2 offends with racial stereotypes

I think anybody that got a problem with these two is just being petty and stupid. I mean how are u going to say that there black, unless your that paranoid and lets not forget stupid.

They are talking "urban" why do you have to be "black" to be urban or street. White kids do this all the time... they must be "black"

How about everyone just chills out

i finally saw this film and witnessed these hilariously stereotypical characters that served no purpose for the advancement for the plot. they did serve one purpose: the little kids behind me cracked up at anything that came out of their mouths.

hearing about this i boycotted the film. not because i necessarily think it's racist, more like a stereotype. A really bad one, seriously i just thought the twins are dumb i facepalmed at jazz but this just sounded worse and i thought i would save some money. I wish Moon was playing at my local cine :(

All I know is that there was hardly any laughter when those two came on screen. . . despite those two being comic relief characters.

I was wondering when the Red Neck Autobots would show up.

The problem with the Twin Bots begins with the deceiving images of mainstream youth marketing. The Twin Bots caricatures, including the Don Imus "nappy headed hoes" comment, is an ancillary reflection with what is truly wrong with youth marketing in pop-culture. These stereotypes are amplified through the heavy rotation of mindless music videos and buffoonish television programming. I personally have issues with today's rappers who claim to be Hip Hop when they are not. I myself have issues with clowns like Lil Wayne and Rick Ross because the image they promote is a stereotype of the Hip Hop culture. I can say this because I am from the Hip Hop culture since the late 1970s, yet I am happy to say they do not represent me as an individual.

Lack of culture is the initial problem in popular media. The "corporate suits" say what they produce is what people want which is one of the biggest cop outs in business. An example is: If you raise a whole generation on Olive Garden how the hell will they ever know real Italian cuisine? Italian cuisine comes from real Italian culture in general. Simple math right?

Let's not continue to complain. Let's act responsibly. Let's understand mainstream marketing and promotion:

"The more dumbed down the information is for merchandising, the wider the audience to garner appeal."

With the absence of culture and humanism, that is the formula. I ask all of you to look at the largest corporations that make this the most acceptable: Viacom and Clear Channel. They are the rivers who allow this form of pop-culture marketing to grab a larger audience for advertising dollars.They make revenue off of corporate sponsors to satisfy the profitable promises made to every pocket who invests in them; the shareholder To be responsible we must not support their advertising sponsors.

All we have to do is boycott and protest the brands that advertise on their outlets. If Burger King is advertising on a Viacom outlet then do not buy a Whopper, AND write a letter to the corporation's executive marketing department, CEO, and CFO of Burger King's corporate entity. They will begin to tell Viacom, Clear Channel, and the Recording Industry what to do because they are their customers. That is it.

Channel your anger by not buying merchandise, food, and products from their sponsors. Companies make money from their brand image and spend as much to keep it clean. Denny's is still trying to shake off its history of racial discrimination to customers. Tell why you refuse to buy their products in lettes and emails.

For starters, Viacom owns the following networks, studios, and media outlets. I will not look up Clear Channel because you need to make this effort. But for starters, one of Viacom's companies is Paramount Pictures who are the makers of Transformers 1 and 2.

BET Networks
MTV Networks
MTV Films
VH1
Spike TV
ATOM Films
Addicting Games
CMT
Comedy Central
Game Trailers
Harmonix
LOGO
Neo Pets
Nickelodeon
Nick at Nite
Nickolodeon Movies
Noggin
Parents Connect
Quizilla
Rhapsody
Shockwave
The N
TV Land
Virtual Worlds
X Fire
Home Entertainment
Paramount Pictures

People who say its racist is racist themselves.

I've seen the movie,it all depends on what you see people as,if you see people that act like those robots as black people or white people.

Personally all i saw was 2 smart cars 1 Green 1 Red.

I don't see why Bay has to be the bad guy because he add some personality to some robots.

P.S/I'm black.

frankly, its a sci fi movie and a huge over the top pro military commercial. life is by nature a little racist but from what it sounds like it is not done in a way that would call for outrage or NBA Championship style riots. people need to step back and look at the underlying theme that this is a movie about 30 foot alien robots that transform into American cars, with the more ridiculous notion that Meghan Fox is a high school age girl. simmer down folks, Dr. King isnt rolling in his grave for this one.

The portrayal of Jazz in the first of bay's Transformers was nothing but a stereotype.
In 1986, in the cartoon movie (and throughout most of the show), Jazz is voiced by Scatman Crothers, a black actor.
Only Jazz isn't a breakdancing, jive talking robot just looking for a cool place to kick it.
Jazz is later voiced by MadTV douchebag Phil LaMarr, and now by Darius McCrary, both black.
It's only in 2007 that Jazz is reduced to nothing but a stereotype.

As for these two new stoner bots, seeing as to how they're voiced by a white guy, I doubt they're as much black stereotypes as much as pothead stereotypes. But I still haven't seen it, so I'm just assuming.

This is simple... Everyone who believes that this is racist is an idiot for being hypocritical to the fact that they themselves are placing these machines into a sterotype. These people were just trying to make other people laugh get over it

I haven't seen the second transformers, but judging from the portrayal of Jazz in the last film, and his unsanctimonious disposal (We lost a good comrade *throws body behind shoulder* But gained new ones) I can only imagine the color Bay is trying to throw into the bots.
Oh Bay, what are you trying to accomplish?
There can be humor value in jokes not pertaining to stereotypes.

Bay insults his audience with his lame, overtly stereotypical character portrayals. Look at the first installment: The hispanic character was, I swear, Ricky Ricardo 2k. The black characters (robots included) talked jive slang, danced, and made the obligatory snappy one liners. The white characters.........wait a minute........ where wholesome good family guys! Hmmmmmmmmmm.... Yet white movie goers see nothing objectionable about the movie. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm... I wonder why?

Watching a Bay movie is seriously like watching one of those Keenon Ivory Wayan spoof movies with all the typical, corny, tired, LAME stereotypes. The only difference is Keenon is making fun of the industry and Bay is making fun of us!

I have not seen this movie. I never will. But we have to make fun of stereotypes. It is ok to point out to the sheeple in this world that they are going though life acting. Life is not a stage. It is ok to express yourself any way YOU want. NOT the way a media outlet tells you. If you are a walking, talking imitation, then you my friend are fodder for a joke or two. If you have to hold your pants up because you like to wear them 4 sizes to large (holding your groin is not a very good way to hold up your pants) you should be lampooned. This robot looks green to me. Color does not matter. I do not owe anything extra to people that are similar in skin color to myself. I am not a raciest. I dislike everybody equally. Hey Bobby do you Remember: "Pork chops and Applesauce.”?

Am I the only one who thinks its ironic that the majority of the people finding no offense from Michael Bay's characters, happen to be White? If you're not the butt of the joke, what puts you at authority to say whether or not its offensive? Has anyone asked anyone Black if they were offended? Or is that too grandiose? I don't mean the Black actors getting paid to star in the flick, either.

I read the article and honestly, I won't be seeing the Transformer sequel. Not that I ever had faith in Michael Bay doing the series justice. I saw the animated movie as an 8 year old and that, to me, is the true movie.

Its a shame that big name Hollywood movies continue to Sambo up flicks even as an African-American sits in the most powerful post in the world. Couldn't they have made some POSITIVE stereotypes? I guess they figured all the negativity was more relative to a younger audience.

MICHAEL BAY, YOU FAIL.

im offended by michael bay's reality stereotype.

Its ok, to be fair they will make a transformers 3 with a very "Irish" bot. Its going to get drunk all the time off gasoline, its metal will burn easily in the light, and it will always want to fight. See, I'm 100% irish and I wouldn't give a rats ass if that was in a movie.

Even if they were intended to be "black", the african american stereotype itself is not "racist". For, it neither promotes, nor denigrates the race itself. Nor does it that of any other "race". Therefore, under the current definition of the word, the transformer characters themselves are without racism.

1. a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule others.

2. a policy, system of government, etc., based upon or fostering such a doctrine; discrimination.

3. hatred or intolerance of another race or other races.

The important thing here is that Michael’s Bay horribly filmmaking can offend people of all races and religions, even putting stereotypes aside

And I also thought it was good. What are you expecting from the storyline and trying to implicate giant transforming robots? Try it and let me know.

i think that they are just robots in a fictional movie that was made to entertain people.
and frankly i think that box of office number tell a different story.
i thought it was awesome.

Michael Bay's true offence lies in his inability to tell a coherent story. The amazing thing to me is that he keeps making movies and people keep seeing them. He's at 7% fresh on rottentomatoes.com for a reason.

And yes. I saw it on Saturday. I didn't even wait for Orange Wednesday.

this is ridiculous, plain stupid are the words I would use to describe people who think robots are racist because of how they talk and look. Are they meant to have blunt slow personality with no particular characteristics to make sure they dont offend ANYONE.

If this is the case, Megatron is clearly Male. Thats sexist. Why can't the leader be female? Cue a column in heat about sexism in Transformers 2 ......

What a joke of a society we live in.

The characters are obviously a parody of an urban black persona. Or at least a persona that originated in urban black culture.

Another character in the movie is Robert Epps played by Tyrese Gibson. He's a Chief Master Sergeant which is the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force. He's also black.

What's the problem?

What makes racial stereotyping in movies wrong is when there is only ONE view of a race presented in a movie. Long Duck Dong in "16 Candles" for example. He was the only Asian guy in that movie and he was a complete stereotype. That's racism.

In "Transformers," black culture is made fun of, but a black person is also shown in a position of power and prestige. White culture is made fun of in movies all the time, but it's OK because white people are shown in positive rolls too. That isn't racism, it's comedy.

Complaining about these characters only distracts us from the real racism that's out there.

i think it's mommy smokes crack or maybe meth

yep their stoned well that one there is stoned anyway

@EdBrock on twitter says "YOO AS AMPED AS I AM TO C TRANSFORMERS 2..PLS READ THIS ARTICLE MY TWIGGAS N TWIGGETTES!!"

I think it looks more like a retarded yoda then anything.

Couldn't it be that they gave them an "urban" personality, and then it just so happens that there is a large percentage of blacks that live in said urban areas?

Much like white people can be "urban", black people that live out in rural areas can be "country".

People of all races can have the properties that these characters hold. I think it's the viewpoint of society through mass media that makes people feel otherwise.

Kind of reminds me of when Hispanics accused taco bell of being racist with the Chihuahua.

"You are insulting our people."

...I'm pretty sure they have a dog speaking Spanish and English. Would it be better if it had just spoken English?

Racial stereotypes will always exist because people will always immediately categorize anything that fits the "marks" as being under that race.

AsqegoAsdego is a great example, that attitude of "obviously its black" is why racism will never die.

"OMG That cat robbed a man it must be a black stereotype."

"Or...it could be a cat that robs people...just a thought."

Its like the character "Jazz" from the first film, he was in all intentions to be the "black" robot. These characters, like that one, use stereotypes to make a character 'black' ( the big ears, the gold teeth, the stoned aspect, saying things like "bitchass", etc etc).

if anyone read the article attached or sees anything about the movie it is OBVIOUS that these characters are meant to be 'black' and are using racial stereotypes to convey that.

No the matter of it being racist and "wrong" is very much up for debate.

@TysonWHannah on twitter says "Check this out"

Why do they have to be black?? Isn't this assumption racist in itself?

to be honest, their really funny, so people should just get over their over-the-top political correctness..

Who says any of these are racial stereotypes? Frankly sounds more like K-Fed than anyone else. So I guess if a character is illiterate, high, poor, and generally trashy they MUST be black eh?