Los Angeles Times
December 4, 1999

Universal's The Best Man, a romantic comedy about a group of black yuppies who experience love and conflict as they prepare for a wedding, and WB's comedy "The Steve Harvey Show" were the leaders Wednesday in nominations for  the 30th annual NAACP Image Awards.

The Best Man, which marked the debut of writer-director Malcolm Lee and was a hit with crossover audiences, scored nine nominations, including best actor nods for Taye Diggs and Morris Chestnut, best actress nominations for Nia Long and Monica Calhoun, and acting nominations for co-stars Harold Perrineau Jr., Terrence Howard, Melissa de Soussa and Sanaa Lathan. The film was also nominated for best picture.

"The Steve Harvey Show," about a 1970s R&B star turned high school music teacher and now vice principal, collected five nominations, including a best actor citation for star Steve Harvey, co-starring nominations for Cedric the Entertainer, Terri J. Vaughn and Wendy Raquel Robinson, and a nomination for best comedy series.

Among networks and cable channels, CBS has the most nominations with 19, followed by ABC with 15, HBO with 14, WB with 12 and NBC with 10. Fox and UPN both have five nominations.

Other nominees for best picture include Life, The Hurricane, The Matrix and The Wood.

The awards, which honor the best in black entertainment in the fields of film, television, music and literature, will be handed out Feb. 11 and 12 at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in California. A shortened version of the ceremony will be broadcast April 9 on Fox .

The ceremony may take on added significance in light of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's recent protest against the lack of racial diversity on television. NAACP President Kweisi Mfume has threatened to stage boycotts and demonstrations against at least one of the four major networks if they do not take measures to increase diversity in front of and behind the camera.