'The Real' co-hosts sound off on cultural appropriation, overcoming obstacles as women of color in talk TV

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The wait is over… The Real returns for a second season September 15.

The season promises to be more authentic, emotional and “turnt up” than the inaugural season for the daytime talk show, whose hosts include Tamar Braxton, Tamera Mowry, Lonie Love, Jeannie Mai and Adrienne Baillon.

Last year, The Real shattered records in talk TV, quickly becoming the #1 new syndicated talk show of the 2014–15 television season among the key advertiser demographics of women 18–34, 18–49 and 25–54. The show’s panel includes some of the youngest women on daytime, thus killing the competition on social media, with more than 88 million total video views on the show’s YouTube page after just one season on the air.

The ladies of The Real opened up to theGrio about being a panel comprised of women of color, and some of the obstacles they had to overcome in season one.

“When we first started The Real, a lot of people didn’t think we were gonna make it,” Love recalled. “They have thrown a lot of stuff to us in season 1… budget wise… the way we were taped… the schedule. We had a person having a baby. We had a person filming three or ten reality shows.”

“Through all of that, we still survived. We really want to thank the fans. Believe me, when they say you’re a person of color and you’ve gotta work 150 times harder, we had to work a 150 times harder.”

This week, the topic of cultural appropriation was front and center after Miley Cyrus rocked a ponytail of dreadlocks and called Snoop Dogg “my real mammy” while hosting the MTV VMA’s.

The ladies of The Real sounded off about the excessive amount cultural appropriation that has taken place over the past year in Hollywood.

“I think we have to get to a point where we respect the cultures first. You can’t just go around and copy things and say it’s cool. Oh, and it’s gonna work for me and I’m gonna make money off of this because it happens to be cool for one culture, so I’m gonna adopt that. You can’t do that. You have to educate yourself first and give it praise. If you like dreadlocks, if you like braids, if you like to be this color, don’t be afraid to say, ‘Hey, it’s gorgeous, it’s beautiful and this culture made it beautiful.'”

Be sure to check your local listings for tune-in details for the premiere of The Real season 2, September 15.