People say dumb things on cable news all of the time. Wednesday morning was no exception.
In the midst of the outrage surrounding the racist, pro-lynching Sigma Alpha Epsilon chant, panelists on MSNBC’s Morning Joe decided it was time to blame vulgar lyrics in rap music, not, well… anything else.
“The kids that are buying hip hop or gangster rap…It’s a white audience, and they hear [the N-word] over and over again,” host Joe Scarborough said. “So do they hear this at home? Well, chances are good, no, they heard a lot of this from guys like [rapper Waka Flocka Flame] who are now acting shocked.”
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Waka Flocka Flame canceled his April gig at the University of Oklahoma in response to the video of the frat’s chant.
Co-host Mika Brzezinski and Iraq War enthusiast/Flavor Flav fan Bill Kristol also finger-wagged.
“Popular culture becomes a cesspool, a lot of corporations profit off it, and then people are surprised that some drunk 19-year-old kids repeat what they’ve been hearing on the radio,” Kristol remarked.
Waka Flocka Flame—as you could probably guess—doesn’t quite see it that way.
“There’s a national discussion now, as a result of this leaked video. But nothing should be used to divert attention from the heart of the problem,” the rapper said in a statement to The Daily Beast. “Racism is still prevalent, and won’t go away without awareness and consequences.”
His rep emphasized that he was making a general follow-up statement to his cancellation, and that he was not calling anyone out, or directing the sentiment at anybody in particular.
His seeming desire to stay out of the cable-news fray was evident. “At the end of the day we all need to be educated on racism,” he tweeted earlier.
