Gothamist: Nas Protests Fox News Over Racist Coverage

driftwood

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:32:41 -0500

"are you fucking kidding me" baby hitler?. I don't even know what you're trying to argue. Are you arguing that it hasn't been a derogatory word that whites used against African Americans? Or are you also trying to argue that if a person tries to use this word casually to diffuse that inherent degradation, that it isn't reclaiming? I mean words change meanings and connotations all the time. Yes you can also use the word asshole enough to make it's meaning less offensive over time, but who cares? Just a weird comparison. Let me actually give you an apt one, "In some cases, this reappropriation is so successful as to turn a previously disparaging word into the preferred term: for example, gay, previously an insult, is now strongly preferred to homosexual, both as an adjective and a noun." - Wikipedia

pk4l

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 00:52:51 -0500

LOL ... There are white people in the pictures, just standing around. =)

jnguy

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 20:35:20 -0500

I really hate it when celebrities suddenly become political and moral people. Its usually right in time for a big release promotion of some sort. I think Nas has a point, but the fact that I know this is a publicity stunt just takes away from it.

nik13

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 20:33:25 -0500

#20 = hypocrisy much? Nas & Kelis wore Ni*ger t-shirts to Grammy Awards, but since they're both black it's perfectly OK. ( though I found Kelis' tight yellow pants far more offensive).

NannyState

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:51:51 -0500

There's just no moral outrage over whether Fox news is racist or anything else. We're inured to all the charges and countercharges. At this stage of the game, you either like them, warts and all, or you don't. What is really interesting here is watching Fox News become so self-parodying that every twist and turn on that channel reads like a bad SNL script.

TK

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:05:15 -0500

@babyhitler: Wazzup Asshole? ;)

babyhitler

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:52:44 -0500

#20 - are you fucking kidding me? I know you are trying to say that blacks are trying to re-appropriate that word and take away it's meaning by doing so but it doesn't make a lick of sense. For example, Let's replace "N*gger" with "Asshole" and have two dudes in a conversation go at it "Hey asshole!" "Wazzup asshole?" "Nothing Asshole. Just chillaxin'" You see? that doesn't reclaim the word, it just makes it funnier to bystanders.

The Edge

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:46:13 -0500

#20- Which is why there are more than a few blacks who would prefer that other blacks not use the word? Let's keep goin' round-and-a-round-and-a-round...

driftwood

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:31:00 -0500

@babyhitler African Americans using that term isn't racism, but a response to it. Look up "reclaiming". But looking at your name I'm assuming you're a troll.

TK

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:29:23 -0500

Check that, the album is untitled, not called Untitled

babyhitler

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:25:16 -0500

Fox is racist. They used their Hypnotoad and used it on Nas so he would call his album "N*gger" and make him like the people calling him "N*gger". Nas loves that word now. Even wears it on T-shirts. Foxnews is evil. And why is CNN constantly harping about the Black Experience in America? sounds like someone wants white guilt apologists to vote for Obama come the fall. Go to CNN's homepage for the last 3 months and it's always "Black this", "Obama that" so it's definitely not Foxnews that's bias.

TK

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:25:06 -0500

This publicity stunt has nothing to do with his recent album called Untitled does it?? (Yes!) Oh and what was the original name of that album? (Nigg3r) And why did he change it? (for sales @ places like Wal-Mart) Let get honest with ourselves and see what this is all really about: $$ oh, and Nas is a MC great btw.

PBRK

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:02:12 -0500

Its about time people realize where the racists went after that whole civil rights thing.

smokedgouda

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:36:01 -0500

eyekantspel: They certainly are responsible. As is everyone who voted for it, and anyone who voted for Bush and the other idiots who got us in that mess. The other media was only slightly less damaging than Fox. You see, Fox had a choice of whether to use their "news" organization (with an obvious conservative viewership) to do real reporting on the most important decision a nation can make, or to be a megaphone for Bush. They chose to be Bush-puppets. Thus, they are responsible. The only people who had the cojones to speak the truth were (among others) Richard Clarke, Paul O'Neill, and Barack Obama.

MJG

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:20:21 -0500

eyekantspel, you buried the lead on the O'Reilly comment re: Michelle Obama. Try this: "And I don't want to go on a lynching party against Michelle Obama unless there's evidence, hard facts, that say this is how the woman really feels. If that's how she really feels -- that America is a bad country or a flawed nation, whatever -- then that's legit. We'll track it down. " So, O'Reilly really said a "lynching party" is "legit" if there is "evidence" or "facts" that she thinks America is a "flawed nation". Calling that insensitive is an understatement. O'Reilly is too smart to not know that using a word like "lynching" will stir things up. He used it on purpose.

chris lee

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:11:07 -0500

Rap artists complaining about "racist statements"? Rap artists lecturing on "civility"? Does ANYONE see the irony here?

eyekantspel

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:11:01 -0500

I don't know if Fox is racist, but they certainly are culpable for the Iraq war. Their blind cheerleading, which still continues today, is directly responsible for dis-informing millions of ignorant people. Fox News is at fault? Because that's where our Congress and Senate turned to for information? I suppose Fox News was encouraging Saddam Hussein not to cooperate with UN inspections in the years before and after 9/11? Fox News was to blame for Hillary's voting in support of the war? Fox News was responsible for the passage of the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002, or the Joint Resolution to Authorize the Use of United States Armed Forces Against Iraq? What were all the other news programs and sources doing while Fox News was wielding such amazing power?

Alex

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 11:58:01 -0500

just postin to say how awesome nas is and how im eagerly awaiting his new album

eyekantspel

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 11:57:36 -0500

People seem to have lost the ability to distinguish between racism and opinions they don't agree with. We just shout names at each other, and it's ridiculous. Fox News "poisons the country with racist propaganda"? I suppose Nas knows this from the countless hours he spends watching Fox News? According to http://mediamatters.org/items/200802200001 in context of responding to comments about Michelle Obama not being proud to be an American, Bill O'Reilly said: You know, I have a lot of sympathy for Michelle Obama, for Bill Clinton, for all of these people. Bill Clinton, I have sympathy for him, because they're thrown into a hopper where everybody is waiting for them to make a mistake, so that they can just go and bludgeon them. And, you know, Bill Clinton and I don't agree on a lot of things, and I think I've made that clear over the years, but he's trying to stick up for his wife, and every time the guy turns around, there's another demagogue or another ideologue in his face trying to humiliate him because they're rooting for Obama. That's wrong. And I don't want to go on a lynching party against Michelle Obama unless there's evidence, hard facts, that say this is how the woman really feels. If that's how she really feels -- that America is a bad country or a flawed nation, whatever -- then that's legit. We'll track it down. Now I'm not a fan of Bill O'Reilly, don't watch his show. I've got better things to do with my time, and he generally comes off as smug and full of himself. I doubt that he really feels a lot of sympathy for Michelle Obama or Bill Clinton. His calling going after Michelle Obama a "lynching party" was probably not a good idea, and might be considered racially insensitive. But for Nas to suggest that's the worst thing he's ever heard to disrespect a woman is pretty laughable. I wish people would find something real to protest about, or just go to work or stay home.

Steven

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 11:50:29 -0500

FOX should be called out for it's "fair and balance coverage". Everyone knows it's a conservative channel.

JacqueMehoff

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 11:35:18 -0500

google Gothamist/racist/racism. whine whine whine, pc pc pc.

takethecanoli

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 11:34:46 -0500

In other news, water is wet.

smokedgouda

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 11:33:49 -0500

robingee

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 11:30:45 -0500

Why is this race-baiting? It's a news story. Bitch bitch bitch...

bjornsaucey

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 11:29:08 -0500

Dead video links, Jen Chung! I only caught one confirmed typo though, so that's good for 11 AM, init?

JacqueMehoff

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 11:24:24 -0500

sittin here eatin ma popcorn....

fakenewyorker

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 11:20:27 -0500

More race-baiting on Gothamist. Very clever. Let the ignorant comments commence now.