Pop Culture

God bless the laborer who decided to leak this video to the internet. The quality of this footage is top-notch. Fully mic'd, perfectly framed, well lit, undeniable evidence of extremely casual racism. HGTV is effectively the rehabilitative network for the property owning and trading subsection of the American capitalist class. It is no shock to me that sitting on the cutting room floor lay gems like this one.

HGTV had this to say about the clip in a statement to Huffpost:

HGTV was recently made aware of an offensive racial comment made during the filming of Rehab Addict. We understand that language like this is hurtful and disappointing to our viewers, partners, and employees, and it does not align with the values of HGTV [...] We remain dedicated to fostering a culture of respect and inclusion across our content and our workplace.

Nicole Curtis, had this to say on Instagram:

“There is more to this, but my family comes first and I need to be mom right now more than anything else. I will take the time to be as I’ve always been with you, transparent and honest. TMZ called me as I had just turned my phone on after being at school — I said this briefly — but there is more.”

Not sure what else there is to say that could make sense of such an unforced error. HGTV, and home renovation shows in many cases are simply advertising for the hosts own real estate businesses and ventures. Many of these shows know the outcomes before the episode is produced. A house is already selected, and two other houses are simply tossed into the mix for the sake of producing an episode with some kind of story and drama. It's a far cry from the "This Old House" era of home renovation shows.