[UPDATED below]
ABC24 This Week is going for the gold with their Sunday show this week.
In a Facebook item promoting the show, host Pepper Baker posts as follows:
“Ouuu yall are gonna learn something with this one!! You DO NOT want to miss ABC24 This Week this Sunday! I Promise! Deidre Malone is spilling all the [emoji of a cup of tea] on the Shelby County Mayoral race.”
As it happens, this is the week that fired Memphis-Shelby County Schools superintendent Marie Feagins has capitalized on her own notoriety by formally announcing for county mayor.
[Fun Fact: Deidre Malone was the consultant for the school board contingent that ousted Feagins. Hmmmm. Is that relevant?]
Advance rumor has it that the tea being spilled is the name of a well-known — notorious, even — public official: One Wanda Halbert, Shelby County Clerk.
How better, if you’re a Feagins antagonist, than to take some of the gloss off that run by coupling Feagins in the mind’s eye with the sorely troubled county clerk by putting forth news of a mayoral candidacy by Miss Wanda!
In one sense, the coupling undermines Feagins. But the trolling action works another way as well. An undeniable part of the rumors concerning a Halbert bid is the suggestion that she has high name recognition — a sword which cuts two ways, of course.
Asked about the show and the prospect of her running, Halbert neither confirms nor denies anything, but she maintains there’s been a lot of buzz about her alleged campaign plans.
The promo goes on to advertise that Otis Sanford will find fault with a county commissioner — Edmund Ford Jr. — for throwing a slur at commission chair Shante Avant. And Daily Memphian reporter Sam Hardiman is likely to reveal some troubling things about the Memphis Safe Task Force.
Looks like a cool show — already in the can. And a possibly telling detail is noted by Gale Jones Carson who reposted Baker’s post but tagged Halbert’s name.
Can’t say we didn’t tell ya!
[Postscript: The show has now come and gone. Malone’s reference to Halbert’s projected mayoral race did not engender prolonged discussion, but it did prompt Otis Sanford to admit to being stunned and temporarily speechless.]