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Careless Costume

OutKast apparel offensive to American Indians; CBS should pay closer attention to performers

Shaking it like a Polaroid picture at the Grammy Awards has turned sour for OutKast and CBS.

The final act of Sunday's Grammy telecast featured OutKast's Andre "3000" Benjamin singing "Hey Ya!" while he and other dancers moved around a green tepee while wearing war paint, feathers and fringe. The opening to the song featured a sample of a Navajo drum beat.

It's the second strike for the broadcaster in the past two weeks - a racist perpetuation of American Indian traditions and customs coming on the heels of Janet Jackson's exposed breast during the Super Bowl halftime show on Feb. 1.

The San Francisco-based Native American Cultural Center has called for a boycott of CBS, OutKast, Arista Records and the awards-show sponsor - the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. The center also has created a Web site urging viewers to "turn off CBS" and urge 10 friends to do the same.

The Andre "3000" performance should not be tolerated because it perpetuated racial stereotypes of American Indian groups.

CBS was right to apologize on Friday to people offended.

Benjamin's wardrobe choice during his performance should have been regulated by CBS. They have a responsibility to control situations like these that promote racial stereotypes before they make it to the airwaves.

Shrugging it off as an innocent wardrobe choice fails to address that these actions were offensive and shouldn't be tolerated in the future.

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