Longtime sports columnist Phil Mushnick has about had it with the rank hypocrisy he sees on ESPN, especially when he sees host Jemele Hill embracing a rapper who spews hate for women and constantly uses the “N” word.
In a December 23 article, Mushnick, a columnist for the New York Post, slammed Hill and ESPN for the excitement over the choice of rap singer Kendrick Lamar to entertain viewers during its broadcast of the national championship football game.
“‘The powers that be finally got something right — Kendrick Lamar!’ she squealed, pumping her arms in delight. ‘Kendrick Lamar!'” Mushnick wrote sarcastically of Jemele Hill’s reaction to the news.
Mushnick went on to point out just what sort of “entertainer” this Kendrick Lamar really is:
Given Hill’s race-based activism, one logically wonders why she’d so openly favor Lamar, a rapper who has grown fabulously wealthy through lyrics that consistently refer to
black men as “N—-s”.I’d be glad to provide Hill examples of his lyrical artistry so she can recite them on ESPN. She could start with “Money Trees.”
Mushnick contrasts Jemele Hill’s excitement over the “N” word-spewing rapper with the decades of racial epithets that African American athletes endured for so long in the 40s, 50s, and 60s and they strove to be accepted into the nation’s professional sports leagues.
With the abuse past players experienced as they struggled for equality, Mushnick finds Hill’s glee over Kendrick Lamar more than a little disgusting.
Mushnick also wonders just how using the “N” word is justifiable in any situation.
Or perhaps she can identify the proper context in which African-Americans should be called “N—-s,” and those logical instances when the vulgar degradation of women should be recorded, sold, performed, applauded.
Does Hill know that 12-year-old black kids now effortlessly, reflexively call one another “n—-s”? She’s good with that?
Odd, but not surprising, how it works. ESPN, a sports network, decries racism and sexism from within and beyond, yet eagerly seizes the cross-promotional (perceived) value in embracing such rappers. Still, not one ESPN exec would dare publicly repeat their lyrics.
The sports columnist then noted ESPN’s hypocrisy on how it treats “violations” of comportment.
Yet, ESPN fired tennis analyst Doug Adler as a racist for accurately describing a poach of the net by Venus Williams as “a guerrilla” tactic. ESPN impossibly chose to hear that he called her, out of nowhere, “a gorilla.”
Mushnick also criticized former President Barack Obama for embracing rap artists who constantly spew hate, racism, and anti-woman lyrics.
The writer ended his piece criticizing the NCAA, as well.
The College Football Playoff and NCAA aren’t officially connected, but as NCAA boss Dr. Mark Emmert should know, that distinction is not clear in the public eye. Whatever the playoff represents also fully reflects on the NCAA. Would Emmert certify his approval of Lamar, then, on behalf of student-athletics, everywhere, publicly recite his lyrics.
Not a chance? Why not? Is there something wrong with them?
Mushnick certainly has a point, especially where it concerns the “N” word. It should never be acceptable to use it, yet the word regularly gets used by rappers. Mushnick, for one, wonders why.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.
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