Video: VH1 Show ‘Sorority Sisters’ Sparks Outrage Among African American Greek Sororities

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COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – The VH1 cable network is known for producing cutting edge, often controversial reality shows. Their latest show, Sorority Sisters, chronicles the lives of African American sorority members in Atlanta. The show has caused an uproar and now the network is being pressured to drop the show.

VH1’s latest show, Sorority Sisters, has sparked outrage amongst the African American Greek sororities: Alpha Kappa Alpha, Delta Sigma Theta, Zeta Phi Beta, and Sigma Gamma Rho. Members and their supporters say the network is making a mockery of the true meaning of sisterhood.

“I’m not really a fan of it. It’s demeaning to women, the way that they’re acting and they’re supposed to be sorority sisters?,” says Neosha Mosley, who has watched the show.

“I think they could do a little bit better with some of the scenes they chose to play. I know it’s reality and they want to keep it filled with drama but it’s not that positive,” says Teyha Collier, who watched the show’s premiere.

Despite the criticism, the show debuted last month with 1.3 million viewers. Sponsors like McDonald’s, the NBA and Victoria Secret’s have all pulled their advertisements from the show. Still, VH1 says the ratings prove the show has an audience.

“I like the show. It’s full of drama and you learn a lot about the sororities if you didn’t know it,” says Alexusia Jones, a fan of the show.

Many sorority members believe the show perpetuates negative stereotypes of black women and doesn’t represent black Greek life. It’s so controversial that two of the shows cast members have been suspended from the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. A member of one of the sororities in Columbus did address the controversy but did not want to identify herself or her organization.

“It seems like the reputation is going down the drain. For some people who don’t know anything about black Greek organizations, they see that one clip on VH1 and that sums their whole idea of what the organizations stand for. I think that’s not fair to the legacy of all of these organizations.”

VH1 released a statement saying they’ve heard the concerns of the sororities however the show will go on. A petition against Sorority Sisters now has 78,000 signatures on Move On dot org.