Wiz Khalifa has a candid solution for dealing with racism in Hollywood – stop caring. In a new interview, the rapper feels Black people should remain indifferent about getting recognized by the white-dominated Oscars. He also shares his “crazy” encounters with police brutality.
“Cops there are crazy,” he told Playboy. “I’ve never been pulled over without them having a gun to my head. Even with traffic stops, they’ll put a gun to your head and say, ‘Get the f—- out the car. What you got?’ Searching you, breaking s—, twisting your arm.”
His interactions with local authorities gave him insight into the Black Lives Matter movement. As protests mounted around the country in the wake of police killing several unarmed Black people like Michael Brown and Sandra Bland, there has been a push to require police to wear body cameras. But the military brat said those won’t do any good.
“Body cameras? That s— is just to make people think we’re safe. We ain’t safe,” he said. “It’s not about fighting the cops physically. You have to know how to outsmart them, and what they can and can’t do to you. That won’t make things all good, but it will help level the playing field.”
Something else that will help level the playing field is Black people’s attitudes about racism in Tinseltown and beyond.
The rapper tells the magazine he did not pay much attention to the controversy swirling around the Oscars ceremony, where no Black actors were nominated for each of the 24 categories. But he thinks the answer is for Black people to remain unbothered.
“I feel like black people are always being s— on,” he said. “They stand up and s— on us publicly at the Oscars, and when you put gas on it, then it becomes a thing. Black people should boss up and say ‘We don’t give a f—-,’ and then really not give a f—. If you nominate me and I get an award, cool. But if you don’t, I don’t give a f—.”
