Slur Swap

I guess I couldn't really call myself a reality show junkie if I didn't admit to being equally as hooked to the Super Nanny/Nanny 911 and Trading Spouses/Wife Swap series. Quite frequently the spouse swapping shows feature a black couple and a white couple, and quite often you have a "bougie" black family trading spots with a less educated, working class white family.
Last week's episode was prefaced by the black wife reading the "household manual" left by the other wife and learning that the family frequently uses foul language and racial slurs - including the word nigger (I hate that "n-word" business) so you know there were going to be a few issues. In the end I think the white husband may have learned a few things and the white wife ... well, let's just say the black husband had to keep his wife from snatching the other wife baldheaded. It made for entertaining TV but, in seriousness, the unapologetic stance on having the right to call blacks, niggers in the confines of their own home has led to the white family suffering some consequences from fellow citizens in their hometown.

The Felix family of Syracuse, New York has received a steady stream of threatening phone calls and a number of cars driving by with blaring horns after their episode of "Wife Swap" aired, exposing husband Jeremy’s admission that he used the N-word on a regular basis.

'It's a nightmare. There's been nothing positive about this,' Wilma Felix told The Associated Press, adding her son Jeremy and daughter-in-law Vicki now deeply regret their decision to appear on the ABC show, which netted the family $5,000 for their appearance.

In the episode, Vicki, 27, who is white, traded places for two weeks with Neicey Wiggins, a 40-year-old black woman from North Carolina. During the show, Jeremy Felix, 29, admitted that he used racial slurs, specifically the 'N-word,' at home. On the show, Wiggins challenged Jeremy about his racist language. Eventually, Felix promised to drop the N-word from his vocabulary.

Immediately after the episode aired, Wilma Felix said the family began receiving threatening phone calls and horn-blaring drive-bys.

Although ABC has reportedly provided private security for the family, the couple tells the Syracuse Post-Standard that they have considered moving out of the area.

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Syracuse Post Standard
TV Rules