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Jenice Armstrong: OXYGEN CUT TO 'BABIES' MAMAS'

THERE'S NO WAY that a reality TV show called "All My Babies' Mamas" was going to be anything but a hot mess.

In this Monday, June 23, 2008 photo, Shawty Lo arrives at the 21st annual ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Music Awards in Beverly Hills, Calif. Oxygen Media has pulled the plug on ìAll My Babiesí Mamas,î a reality special the network was developing about the musician who has fathered 11 children with 10 different mothers. The network offered no reason for curtailing the project in a statement issued Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles)
In this Monday, June 23, 2008 photo, Shawty Lo arrives at the 21st annual ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Music Awards in Beverly Hills, Calif. Oxygen Media has pulled the plug on ìAll My Babiesí Mamas,î a reality special the network was developing about the musician who has fathered 11 children with 10 different mothers. The network offered no reason for curtailing the project in a statement issued Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles)Read moreASSOCIATED PRESS

THERE'S NO WAY that a reality TV show called "All My Babies' Mamas" was going to be anything but a hot mess.

Especially if Atlanta rapper Shawty Lo (a/k/a Carlos Walker) was starring in it.

And get this: All 11 of his children by 10 different mothers also were going to be featured on the program on Oxygen.

Yeah, you read that right.

Thankfully, someone at Oxygen apparently realized what a colossal mistake that would have been. The network announced Tuesday it had dropped "All My Babies' Mamas."

Thank goodness.

Walkers' nine daughters and two sons don't need that.

Oxygen's canceling the show is a refreshing reminder of what can be accomplished when everyday people band together and holler, "Hell to the no!"

"If this didn't have children involved, it would have just been another 'Flavor of Love,' " said Ulysses "Butch" Slaughter, founder of the locally-based Odyssey Project that helps children reconcile with their fathers.

" The sizzle reel [promoting the show] was disgusting," said Slaughter, who lives in Aston, Delaware County. "When I saw the babies crying, the moms screaming at each other ... It was disrespectful to black women and extremely disrespectful to black children and extremely disrespectful to righteous black fatherhood."

Sabrina Lamb, an author, clicked on an Internet link to a clip from the show on Dec. 27 and got fired up.

"Anybody could do what I did. I called the CEO," said Lamb, who started a petition drive to remove the show from the air. "After they didn't return my phone call, I sent an open letter. Then I reached out to the CEOs of NBC Universal and Comcast," parent companies of Oxygen.

Eventually, she, Slaughter and the rest collected signatures from 37,000 people who were concerned about the show.

"I was hearing from single mothers saying, 'I was that girl in that show that got pregnant," Lamb said. "In the video, they're fighting each other and ... saying things like, 'Do you like her because she's skinny?' And the children are watching."

And learning.

I guess no one on "All My Babies' Mamas" ever heard of condoms, or how HIV and AIDS is continuing to make inroads into the black community. Nor do they have a clue about responsible parenting.

I'm sorry, but I'm old school when it comes to having babies out of wedlock, especially when the father has a bunch of other children already.

But as I pointed out earlier, Oxygen got the message. Walker, though, still hasn't. He's pushed back by launching his own petition drive to get the show aired.

Blog: philly.com/HeyJen