02/09/2026
The cancellation of Sherri isn’t just about one show ending.
It’s about what that space represented and why it matters for Black women’s health
For decades, Black women daytime hosts, from Wendy Williams, Jennifer Hudson, Tamron Hall, Joy Reid, and now Sherri Shepherd, created rooms where Black women were seen, heard, and centered. These platforms made space for conversations that don’t always happen elsewhere: joy, vulnerability, culture, humor, and normalized conversations that directly impact our health.
Black women’s media spaces have historically:
• Talked openly about menopause, aging, weight, grief, and infertility
• Made space for humor around bodily changes
• Validated experiences often dismissed in clinical settings
That validation matters. It reduces isolation. It affirms lived experience. It helps Black women feel less alone in bodies and seasons that are too often medicalized or ignored. When those spaces disappear, so does that public validation.
As Ebony Magazine noted, the end of Sherri reflects a broader pattern: shrinking space for Black women’s voices across media. And when our voices are minimized culturally, our health experiences are more easily dismissed systemically.
Health equity isn’t built only in exam rooms or policy chambers.
It’s also built in culture and in visibility.
When Black women own the platforms, our stories (including our health stories) don’t disappear. And that, too, is a health issue.
https://www.ebony.com/sherri-cancellation-black-women-media-voices/