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David Bowie Criticizes MTV for Not Playing Videos by Black Artists | MTV News

MTV News · interview · Watch on YouTube

Music performance & songsSocial issues & cultureMedia, journalism & propaganda

What it is

A 1983 interview clip in which David Bowie questions MTV VJ Mark Goodman about why the channel played so few videos by black artists.

Why Hacker News recommends it

Cited as a famous, pointed example of Bowie challenging MTV's exclusion of black music, in threads on media gatekeeping.

  • 2 people recommended it
  • 1 different months
  • 1 strong recommendations
  • first 2021, last 2025

What HN commenters said

  1. “It blew me away. He is so on point!”

    Bowie questions MTV about excluding black artists.

    throwaway2037, 2021-08 · Strong recommendation · in “Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people”

  2. “Worth watching”

    Bowie interview on MTV's lack of black artists.

    donohoe, 2021-08 · Recommendation · in “The first two hours of MTV (1981) [video]”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: david bowie, mtv, 1983, music industry, racism

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