David Bowie Called MTV Out on Racism in 1983 Interview

David Bowie was ahead of his time. MTV caught flack when it first came out in the 1980s for not showing Black artists’ videos on their network. At one point in time, there were only 3 Black artists whose videos were shown, one being Michael Jackson. In 1988, MTV created Yo MTV Raps to quiet the complaints of their Black audiences, and eventually became more diverse. In this 2 minute clip, David Bowie asks an MTV rep why so few Black artists received airtime on the network during a 1983 interview: