Everything Jazzy

The tiny BET host doesn’t engage in the whirl of activity surrounding her. As her hair stylist and make-up artist go to work, and the fashion assistants bullet past her for last-minute adjustments, Rocsi Diaz — in a voice barely above a whisper — reminds the room that she has to be out of the Brooklyn studio in less than two hours for a meeting. She’s about her business. Her glass of Redbull and vodka remains untouched, still posted up next to a posse of eye shadows, blushes and glosses on the table.

The 25-year-old doesn’t crack her first smile until the pre-shoot convo shifts to Halloween and costumes — she’ll be Lady Gaga. The TV host is perfectly aware that her demeanor comes off a bit cold. She admits it took her BET producers months to realize that she didn’t hate them; she’s just quiet.

“Rocsi the personality and Rocsi the person are two different people,” she says.

And Rocsi the personality gets a lot of shit. She’s been called out of her name on blogs and trashed by commenters. It seems that everything about her is scrutinized — her wardrobe choices on 106th & Park, her ears when she pulls her hair back, and her alleged affair with Michael Misick, the former Premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands and LisaRaye’s current husband.

“I think a lot of these Web sites need a story.” Rocsi says. “They need to find somebody to pick on, and I just so happen to be one of those girls. I’ve always had that coming up against Free on a black network and not being black.”

I spent time doing radio so anybody that came on that [106th & Park] couch, I had already interviewed. I had weight to my name already. So Queen Latifah, Ludacris, Lil’ Wayne, Baby, all these people respected me. They know me; they know I’m a hardworker. I just went out last night, and I had a genuine good time. I hardly ever really go out,”  Rocsi says. “And the next day its ‘Rocsi’s dating … popping bottles with Trey Songz … tryna get with …’ I was like ‘What?! No, I wasn’t even sitting at his table!’” If I take a picture with somebody, I make it a point not even to put my arm around them. And it’s so hard because people just want to pick on you. I’m like ‘Dude, you don’t sleep with everyone you take a picture with.’ Like, come on. I think it’s getting to an ignorant stage.”

“I got where I’m at because of my work,” Rocsi insists. “I never had to lay on my back to get where I was. I come from a Latino background where family and the way we were brought up was very important. That’s how we conducted ourselves as ladies. And that’s a very important thing to my family, so yeah, when these blogs come out and they start talking shit — you’re messing with what my parents instilled in me. And I know it isn’t true. But I’m glad I have great family members who know that I wasn’t brought up that way, to not be blinded by this industry.” [read more]