*During an episode of Fox News’ “The Five,” Geraldo Rivera criticized Kendrick Lamar’s BET awards performance – in which he rapped about police brutality in “Alright” – saying that his lyrics are “not helpful, to say the least” to the national dialogue on race and police brutality.
You may recall that Geraldo blamed Trayvon Martin’s death on his hoodie, now he believes Lamar is responsible for the country’s racial divide.
“This is why I say that hip-hop has done more damage to young African-Americans than racism in recent years,” Geraldo said, who made similar comments in an appearance on HuffPost Live.
Geraldo and the hosts were feeling a certain way about Lamar’s line: “We hate the po-po/Wanna kill us dead in the street fo sho.”
According to Geraldo, “This is exactly the wrong message. Then to conflate what happened in the Charleston church in South Carolina with the tragic incidents involving excessive use of force by cops is to equate that racist killer with these cops. It’s so wrong. It’s so counterproductive,” he said.
“It is so wrong,” he emphasized, “so counterproductive — it gives exactly the wrong message. It doesn’t recognize that a city like Baltimore, which is just 7 percent the size of New York, has just as many murders as New York.”
To no one’s surprise, the Fox News produced show’s hosts agreed that Lamar’s lyrics incite violence. “It incites violence,” said one pundit, whose face wasn’t pictured when she made the comment.
Kendrick opened up the BET Awards on Sunday night with a performance of “Alright.” He stood on a cop car covered in graffiti and the American flag flew behind him as he rapped to the crowd, “We gon’ be alright.” Click here to watch it.
Watch the The Five and Geraldo discuss the issue below:
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