With the end of The Sopranos in 2007, many in the Italian American community breathed a sigh of relief that a program dedicated to the worst stereotype of their heritage was off the air. Now MTV is producing a new show that runs a close second. Jersey Shore follows a group of Italian-Americans living together in a summer house.

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Unfortunately the show features a cast of self-described "guidos" and "guidettes" with exaggerated New Jersey accents and attitudes such as housemate Paulie D explains in the premiere, "I was born a guido. It's just a lifestyle. It's being Italian. It's representing family, friends." (source)

Italian-American interest group Unico National has called for its members to boycott advertisers of Jersey Shore (Domino's PIzza and American Family Insurance have already pulled their ads). Unico president Andre' DiMino has written a letter to MTV which reads in part:

The show is a direct, deliberate and disgraceful attack on the Italian American community that openly slurs and features racial epithets to describe Italian Americans as well as violence, cursing, poor behavior and negative stereotyping. This type of programming represents a direct affront and attack by MTV on the character, culture and heritage of Italian Americans, the fourth-largest ethnic group in America. (source)

As an American of Italian descent, I remember watching the first few episodes of Everybody Loves Raymond and thinking that finally Italian Americans were being portrayed as the honest, hard working, family oriented people we are. Of course like every ethnic group, we have our traditions and quirks that a talented entertainer can exaggerate for humorous purposes. But there were no cheap jokes in that show. No mobsters or molls, no guidos or guidettes. It was nice to finally see an honest depiction of Italian-Americans on prime time television.

Too bad the producers and cast of Jersey Shore are trying to drag us all back to the days of cultural ridicule.