Blaming Black People for White People Using the N-Word
According to Lemon, Black people are not only responsible for the oppression they endure at the hands of white people, but they are also responsible for white people’s actions — specifically their use of the N-word. When a video of Justin Bieber hit the Web and revealed the pop star using the N-word, Lemon’s response was unbelievable for many. Lemon insisted that Black people were at fault. “Clearly Justin Bieber, a young man who by the way, has immersed himself in Black, Hip Hop culture should not be saying the n-word,” Lemon wrote in an article for BlackAmericaWeb. “So the question is, if you want people like Justin Bieber to stop using it and to stop making excuses for using it, shouldn’t you do the same?” Twitter users reacted quickly with sarcastic questions for Lemon: “Wasn’t slavery just an unpaid internship? Shouldn’t we change our perspective?” “Isn’t the death of children a small price to pay for the profits made off gun sales?” “Should reparations include a service charge for that free boat ride from Africa.”
The Root also slammed the news anchor writing, “Here’s the truth of the matter: The usage of the n-word existed long before hip-hop and rap music. Black people didn’t invent the word, so if all of a sudden black people stopped using the n-word among themselves, guess what? Racist white people would still use it.”
Defending KTLA Reporter Who Didn’t Really Know Who Samuel L. Jackson Was
There were many problems with the fact that KTLA reporter Sam Rubin mistook Samuel L. Jackson for Laurence Fishburne during a live interview. After explaining that he had no problem telling people who mistook him for journalist and former CNN anchor T.J. Holmes that he’s “the other Black guy,” Lemon suggested that Rubin wasn’t in the wrong because “people really do look alike.” Many people pointed out that the problem isn’t just about the debate over their similarities but the simple fact that Rubin didn’t seem to have enough respect for an iconic Black actor to do his homework and figure out that it was Fishburne in a particular Super Bowl ad, not Jackson.
