UNICO vs. MTV

Everyone has heard all the jokes: “You know your Italian when; you bench press 325, everyone in your family is under 5’6, shave twice a day but still cry when your mother yells at you.” But these are simply jokes with little to no reliability to the reality of Italian- Americans. There is no doubt that you will certainly meet a tall skinny blonde Italian. This is why the Italian- American society is so furious with the new hit MTV show “Jersey Shore.”

Andre DiMino, national president of UNICO (the largest Italian American Service Organization in the USA), said he met with officials of MTV's parent company, Viacom Inc about the issue. DiMino explained that they promised to cut down on references to Italians, shots of the Italian flag and the use of terms such as guido, which some Italian-Americans find offensive.

Yet, DiMino is still wary about the show and it’s implications "I'm cautiously optimistic," DiMino said. "With a program like this it's still trash television, and it would be unfortunate if they don't de-Italianize the program."

Although this deal was struck between Italian-American activists and the MTV producers, it is hard to foretell the actual results. With most viewers already associating Italian with this show it is going to be hard to break the tie.