Mediatrip's 'Lil' Pimp' takes flak for content

Cyberbiz Brief

By TIM SWANSON

Lil Pimp

Just as Icebox's "Mr. Wong" has inspired ire from the Asian American community, Mediatrip's "Lil' Pimp" has fallen under fire for its racially charged content.

Picked up by Joe Roth's Revolution Studios to be made into a feature film that will likely be distributed by Columbia, the animated Web series about a freckle-faced 9-year-old pimp was the focus of a Nov. 9 article in "The Black World Today" by pundit Earl Ofari Hutchinson.

Calling the show "sexually and racially insulting" to women, children and African-Americans, Hutchinson, who heads the Inglewood-based advocacy group the National Alliance for Positive Action, launched a "national challenge" against the show on Friday, encouraging people to contact Col prexy Peter Schlessel and voice concern.

A studio spokeswoman said she was unaware of the challenge and hadn't received any complaints about the show. "It's meant to be absurd and silly and not to offend anyone" "Pimp" co-creator Mark Brooks said.