Not that you need another reason to hate the conservatives at Fox News, but here’s one to add to the list. Apparently, Geraldo Rivera was offended by Kendrick Lamar‘s performance of Alright at the BET awards where, atop a police car, he rapped, “we hate the po-po, wanna kill us dead in the street fo sho.” Rivera then accused hip hop as being “the real oppressor of black people” and doing “more damage to young African-Americans than racism in recent years.”
“This is exactly the wrong message. And then to conflate what happened in the church in Charleston, South Carolina with these tragic incidents involving excessive use of force by cops is to equate that racist killer with these cops, it is so wrong, it is so counterproductive, it gives exactly the wrong the message,” he continued.
…Where is the logic in that?
The track is more focused on getting through these issues, such as racism-fueled violence, not encouraging it. Even an idiot should be able to see that.
This isn’t the first time Rivera has claimed hip hop has a role in inflicting racism. In a HuffPost Live appearance in February, he tarnished the name of hip hop with his ridiculous, unsupported beliefs.
“At some point those guys have to cop to the fact that, by encouraging this distinctive culture that is removed from the mainstream, they have encouraged people to be so different from the mainstream that they can’t participate other than in the racks, and the garment centers, and those other entry-level jobs. I lament it. I really do. I think that it has been very destructive culturally.”
Many rappers and Hip Hop artists have been actively campaigning against racism for years. Run The Jewels‘ Killer Mike has spoken publicly about the topic many times. He has appearance on TV talk shows, such as Real Time with Bill Maher and The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, and given a talk at MIT. There have been countless rap lyrics, which have shed some light on this controversial subject in the best way possible.
Given the fact that even his son is “ashamed of” him, we probably shouldn’t take any notice of anything Rivera says. If you’re interested, you can watch Rivera’s rant below.