Snoop Dogg Weighs In on Don Imus Controversy
In case you haven’t picked up a newspaper, read an elevator news ticker or watched TV in multiple days, know this: Radio DJ Don Imus made a scandalous comment on his morning show about the Rutgers women’s basketball team, in which he referred to the girls as “nappy-headed hos.” This has started a firestorm of national drama. And today, in a statement released to MTV News, Snoop Dogg made his position on this national scandal clear.
“Kick him off the air forever,” he said. Snoop went on to educate us all on the difference between Imus’ blatantly inexcusable racist comments and the vicious, arguably misogynist lyrics that permeate hip-hop. “It’s a completely different scenario,” said Snoop.
[Rappers] are not talking about no collegiate basketball girls who have made it to the next level in education and sports. We’re talking about ho’s that’s in the ‘hood that ain’t doing sh–, that’s trying to get a n—a for his money. These are two separate things. First of all, we ain’t no old-ass white men that sit up on MSNBC going hard on black girls. We are rappers that have these songs coming from our minds and our souls that are relevant to what we feel. I will not let them mutha—-as say we in the same league as him.
Thoughts? Is there a difference between the self-expressive if offensive lyrics in rap music and Imus’ statements? And even if there is, does that make rap-delivered racism/sexism okay?
Update: CBS has fired Don Imus. The MSNBC simulcast of Imus’ morning show was already killed, and this next step was probably inevitable.