It’s the only late-night show on air hosted by a woman of color and it won’t be returning. But that doesn’t mean we have seen the last of its host, Robin Thede

BET has canceled The Rundown With Robin Thede. Not only was Thede the only woman of color on late-night TV, she also only employed female producers. The late-night show ran for one season and had a 100 percent certified-fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

“At this time BET Networks has decided not to renew The Rundown With Robin Thede. We have so much love and respect for our Unicorn and look forward to finding ways to continue in partnership with Robin,” the network said in a statement.

The former host, Robin Thede posted news about the cancellation to her 72K  Twitter followers on Wednesday

“News: won’t be returning to . Classic “High critical praise/low ratings,” she tweeted . “Thanks to my staff/crew for being so dedicated, funny & brilliant. I’m so proud of what we made. And thanks for watching! We did it for all of YOU. Except Ben Carson. *body roll*.

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But she was also quick to reassure everyone that the cancellation of her show was not the end of the world and that we had bigger fish to fry.   Thede tweeted on Thursday morning, “thank you all for your kind words about my show getting canceled but it’s not as big of a deal as getting the current president canceled, I’ll be fine but the country won’t.”

 

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The 30-minute, weekly show featured the comedian’s raw commentary on the week’s top news headlines in entertainment and politics.

Photo Credit: BET

The late-night show was originally under the  leadership of former CEO and Chairman of BET, Debra Lee. But when Lee left BET in May, Scott M. Mills took over and is pushing for scripted programming and television series. A television reboot of Boomerang and a Will Packer series is already in development.

News of the cancellation isn’t rolling over too easy with fans, including some celebrities.

Roland Martin tweeted, “I really hate to see cancel ‘s late night show. Even though it was considered entertainment, it did tackle news and information topics. This means that there are NO news/public affairs/issue-driven shows on any Black cable networks. Folks, we MUST be informed!”

HBO’s “Insecure” star Natasha Rothwell said BET has it wrong and Thede was a gift to late-night.

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Other fans are calling for Netflix to pick up the show.

 

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Nevertheless, Thede is looking toward the future and says she is thankful for the chance BET took on her and the show. She’s scheduled to host the Television Critics Association’s 34th annual TCA Awards on Aug. 4 in Beverly Hills and is developing other projects.  Thede is the former head writer and contributor of The Nightly Show With Larry Wilmore.

 

Source: Michael Baisden Live (a paid partnership)

 

BY:

alexia1.mckay@gmail.com

Alexia is the publisher and editor-in-chief of RoyalTee Magazine and the founder of RoyalTee Enterprises.