By Jonathan Landrum Jr.
ATLANTA (AP) --Legendary TV producer Norman Lear believes there is still a place for shows to explore race relations issues in the same manner as his famed sitcoms "All in the Family" and "Good Times."
Lear, a champion of television diversity, took part in a panel discussion about race and American culture on Monday night at Morehouse College to celebrate the 40th anniversary of another one of his classic sitcoms, "The Jeffersons." The show's 10-year run ended in 1985. It starred the late Sherman Hemsley as George Jefferson, a feisty, bigoted owner of a chain of dry-cleaning businesses.
Several joined Lear in the discussion, from Marla Gibbs, who played the wise-cracking maid Florence on the show, to actresses Kim Fields and Keisha Knight-Pulliam, as well with veteran casting director Reuben Cannon and Usher.
Usher wasn't old enough to watch the "The Jeffersons," ''Sanford and Sons" or "All in the Family" when they were on the air. But the singer said watching the reruns of those shows filled a major void for him.
"Realistic television and sitcoms became very valuable to me, because I was raised without a father," Usher said. "So I looked to these shows for an idea of a family structure. … I found a connection there with those shows."
Throughout his career, Lear confronted war, sexuality, abortion and poverty with topical humor on many of his shows. The 93-year-old Lear, who also read from his memoir "Even This I Get to Experience," is working on a Hispanic version of his single-parent comedy "One Day at a Time." But he said there are more stories that should be told by a new generation of writers and filmmakers to spark more conversations.
"The problems are still there to be talked about," Lear said in an interview with The Associated Press. "We still have problems. We still have a long way to go. I kept hearing about my shows from people that 'We watched as a family and talked when it was over. We always had conversations when it was over.'
"That's what the whole American experiment is all about: Talking together. Finding the solution to the problem, being helped by literature, theater and so forth."
Lear said current shows like "Black-ish" have followed suit, commending the sitcom for tackling the N-word controversy head on. He said that one particular episode created a series of dialogue between many, which needs to happen more.
"We're crazy not to talk about it, and get rid of it once and for all," he said.
He recalled how "The Jeffersons" helped Russell Simmons at a young age before he became a well-known music mogul.
"He talked about how he saw George Jefferson writing a check," Lear said. "At that time, he didn't know a Black man could write a check. It was a big moment in his young life. It wasn't the glitz of a hit TV show. It was the moments that made them feel whole."
South Korea fines Meta $15 million for illegally collecting information on Facebook users
South Korea's privacy watchdog on Tuesday fined social media company Meta 21.6 billion won ($15 million) for illegally collecting sensitive personal information from Facebook users, including data about their political views and sexual orientation, and sharing it with thousands of advertisers.
It was the latest in a series of penalties against Meta by South Korean authorities in recent years as they increase their scrutiny of how the company, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, handles private information.
Following a four-year investigation, South Korea's Personal Information Protection Commission concluded that Meta unlawfully collected sensitive information about around 980,000 Facebook users, including their religion, political views and whether they were in same-sex unions, from July 2018 to March 2022.
It said the company shared the data with around 4,000 advertisers.
South Korea's privacy law provides strict protection for information related to personal beliefs, political views and sexual behavior, and bars companies from processing or using such data without the specific consent of the person involved.
The commission said Meta amassed sensitive information by analyzing the pages the Facebook users liked or the advertisements they clicked on.
The company categorized ads to identify users interested in themes such as specific religions, same-sex and transgender issues, and issues related to North Korean escapees, said Lee Eun Jung, a director at the commission who led the investigation on Meta.
"While Meta collected this sensitive information and used it for individualized services, they made only vague mentions of this use in their data policy and did not obtain specific consent," Lee said.
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