'Barbershop' movie controversy resurrected at NAACP Image Award

LOS ANGELES -- Civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks shunned the NAACP Image Awards on Saturday over the ceremony's recognition for the film "Barbershop," which features a character making unflattering jokes about her and other black leaders.

"Barbershop" has five Image Award nominations, including best picture.

Representatives of the 90-year-old Parks said she was boycotting the ceremony.

Parks made history in December 1955 when she was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Ala., city bus. Her arrest led to court rulings desegregating public transportation nationwide.

In "Barbershop," Cedric the Entertainer plays a cranky old-timer trying to prove that no conversation is off-limits in the barbershop. He says other blacks also had refused to give up their seats, but Parks got the credit because she was connected to the NAACP.

The film's producers, director and screenwriter apologized, saying they didn't intend to offend anyone, but defended their right to poke fun.

Kweisi Mfume, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, has previously said the uproar was "overblown" and noted that the film does not endorse the remarks because other characters become outraged.

In a letter dated Thursday, Elaine Steele, a friend of Parks and co-founder of the Detroit-based Rosa & Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development, said: "We with many others do not understand the endorsement the NAACP gave to the hurtful jokes in the movie 'Barbershop,' about America's civil rights leaders."

With the awards, the NAACP honors people and companies that support positive change for blacks in arts and entertainment.

Cedric has had four consecutive Image Awards for comedic supporting TV actor for "The Steve Harvey Show." He also stars in his own Fox variety show, "Cedric the Entertainer Presents."

Show-business professionals and NAACP officials from across the country choose the Image Award winners. Actors Halle Berry, Denzel Washington, Meg Ryan and Bernie Mac are expected to attend the show scheduled to air March 13 on Fox.

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On the Net:

NAACP Image Awards Web site: http://www.naacpimageawards.org/