EDITORIAL
Page: 8
HipHopWired Featured Video
Kanye West, also known as Ye, made heads turn after declaring his embrace of antisemitic tropes and expressing love for Nazis. Via a new report, it appears that Ye’s stances have caused an uptick in hate crimes against members of the Jewish community and raised several alarms in the process.
Kanye West has been keeping a lower profile than he normally does these days but according to a new report from the Anti-Defamation League, the Chicago superstar’s influence in stoking antisemitic sentiment reigns supreme. Centering on a so-called #YeIsRight movement, the ADL says that if found that the hashtag was seen by around 6 million users on Twitter alone since last October.
More from the ADL’s report:
Ye’s October 2022 antisemitic comments coincided with Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, at which time the ADL noted an increase in both antisemitic content on the platform and a decrease in the moderation of antisemitic posts.
Since October 1, 2022, there have been more than 10,000 Twitter mentions using or referencing the “Ye is Right” slogan. These posts have reached at least six million users on Twitter, garnering more than 22,000 likes and more than 5,000 retweets.
The report says the hashtag movement began at the top of the year via the Groypers white supremacist organization, using the slogan “Ye Is Right, Change My Mind” to coincide with Ye’s 2024 presidential campaign.
Other findings include an uptick in antisemitic vandalism at schools, college campuses, and Jewish institutions among other locations across the nation. Reports of harassment against members of the Jewish community are also on the rise along with the establishment of white supremacist groups.
Kanye West remains largely mum after cutting business ties with adidas and other brand partners in the wake of his comments against Jews, although last month he found himself in legal hot water after a woman filed a battery charge against him for snatching and throwing her phone.
—
Photo: MEGA / Getty
Written By D.L. Chandler , Senior Editor Posted 5 mins ago @dlchandler123 D.L. Chandler is a veteran of the Washington D.C. metro writing scene, working as a journalist, reporter, and culture critic. Initially freelancing at iOne Digital in 2010, he officially joined the iOne team in 2017 where he currently works as a Senior Editor […]
HipHopWired Featured Video
CLOSE
Maxine Waters, a battle-tested member of Congress, has long been a fierce champion for the American people while representing California and other members of the Democratic Party. During a House Rules Committee hearing, Waters handled the false accusations from Republican Party opponents that she embraces socialism, doing so with expert ease.
Rep. Maxine Waters of California was present at the Tuesday (Jan. 31) hearing for a debate to sign a resolution against socialism, a long-running crusade for conservative members of Congress still worshipping at the feet of McCarthyism and threats of the “Red Scare.”
Waters, who sits as a ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, pushed back at the charges of socialism levied against her by Rep. Nick Langworthy of New York, after the congressman asked Waters to address a 2019 declaration issued by former President Doandl Trump that America will never fall under socialist rule.
“One of the problems I have with this resolution is, I don’t know everything that you’re talking about when you talk about socialism,” Water fired back. “There are things that you embrace that fall within that so-called socialism definition.”
Rep. Guy Reschenthaler of Pennsylvania then went on a half-baked attack against Waters in demanding she condemns socialism, but it failed spectacularly.
“The American public is going to wonder why Republicans are wasting our time today with this divisive resolution instead of focusing on the real threats to our economy and democracy,” Waters said. “What is this all about? Is it about saying you want to cut Social Security? You want to cut Medicare? You don’t care about the debt ceiling? Please.”
Rep. Reschenthaler then stepped in a steaming pile of horse puckey of his party’s own doing.
“You can’t condemn socialism?” Reschenthaler asked. “In your opening remarks, you were talking about Putin, Kim Jong Un and Xi. You know what they all have in common, right?”
Waters simply fired back, “Trump.”
Classic Auntie Maxine.
Check out some of the reactions of Rep. Maxine Waters expertly PWNING the GOP MAGA Cultist Crew below from Twitter.
—
Photo: Tom Williams / Getty
HipHopWired Featured Video
Source: SETH HERALD / Getty
On Friday evening (Jan. 27), the Memphis police department shared the footage of Tyre Nichols being beaten so badly by its former police officers that the 29-year-old eventually succumbed to his injuries.
The five Black cops who beat Nichols to death have been arrested and indicted for charges including murder and kidnapping, and after much salivation for it by mainstream media, the footage is now out in the world. NewsOne reported on what can be seen (be warned the footage is graphic and disturbing, and you are under no obligation to watch):
The video, which was released on the city of Memphis’ Vimeo account, comes just a day after five Memphis police officers responsible for the beating death of the 29-year-old were charged with second-degree murder.
If you would like to watch the videos click here. The videos contain graphic content. Viewer discretion is advised.
Ahead of the release, Nichols’ mother RowVaughn Wells gave an emotional speech at a news conference Friday, where she said she was still processing the tragic death of her son.
Four videos were released in total. In the first clip, Nichols can be heard saying “I didn’t do anything” and complying with the seemingly aggressive officers. He can also be heard saying “I’m just trying to go home.”
The incident occurred on Jan. 7 when Nicholes was stopped on suspicion of reckless driving. So far, there is no evidence of reckless driving. He died several days later and an autopsy, ordered by his family, said the cause of death was due to internal bleeding.
Protests have already begun. If only the same energy being used to urge people to protest peacefully was used to urge cops not to kill people.
Pray for Trye Nichols and his family. May he rest in power and may justice be served.
HipHopWired Featured Video
Source: Cindy Ord / Getty
It seems like every month New York City Mayor Eric Adams finds a new way to frustrate and alienate his Big Apple constituents, and now he’s showing that he simply does not give a f*ck.
Over the weekend NYPD was criticized for taking videos of everyone attending Drake’s show at The Apollo Theater with fears that they’d be used for facial recognition. When asked about the practice, Mayor Eric Adams applauded the NYPD for the controversial tactic. Gothamist is reporting that Adams praised Police Captain Tarik Sheppard of the 28th Precinct saying “Thumbs up to that great captain,” before adding “And I encourage all of my commanding officers to be creative on how we engage with our residents,” he said, adding, “That was a safe event.”
That’s considered “engaging” with residents?! Feels more like a violation of our personal space. More and more it’s looking like Eric Adams is going to be a one-term Mayor.
A spokesperson for the 28th Precinct meanwhile said that the officer taking the videos of the people exiting the Drake concert is a part of their social media team and that “The officer was taking video for an upcoming twitter post that will highlight local community events. The video will not be utilized for any other reason.”
Yeah, ok.
Will Owen, of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, an anti-surveillance and privacy rights group, isn’t buying that explanation (neither are we) and feels that “This is yet another example of NYPD’s racist use of surveillance technology, following the department’s long legacy of targeting rap concerts. We’re deeply concerned facial recognition may have been involved, and demand the department destroy any footage it took. This is the latest proof that the city and state must ban its use at venues once and for all.”
We doubt that Eric Adams will hear the outcry from his constituents as he’s blatantly brushing off any criticism that’s come with this past weekend’s suspect practice.
“Those who are naysayers find reasons to complain about everything,” he said. “That’s not reality. Let them keep complaining.”
What’s the chances that Eric Adams is actually a MAGA Republican on the low? Just sayin.’
What do y’all think of the NYPD recording concertgoers this past weekend and Eric Adams response? Let us know in the comments section below.
HipHopWired Featured Video
CLOSE
Source: Chip Somodevilla / Getty
Donald Trump was a guest speaker at the memorial service for Diamond aka Lynette Hardaway of Diamond & Silk infamy. The appearance had all the signs of a grift, with Cheeto perplexing sentient humans when he said he didn’t know Silk all that well, despite like…reality
It was Trump who revealed that Diamond had passed away a couple of weeks ago. Although a cause of death was not revealed, it was widely reported that she had been recently hospitalized with COVID-19.
At the memorial service, her sister Silk aka Herneitha Rochelle Hardaway insinuated that she passed away due to complications from the vaccine.
[record scratch]
This is where we point out that the Diamond & Silk buffoons were fierce anti-vaxxers. So Silk’s commentary has many wondering if despite Diamond’s rhetoric, was she vaccinated anyway?
Of course, this is all conjecture. But what is a fact is that at the same memorial service, Trump said that he didn’t know Silk as well as Diamond. “I knew Diamond, but I didn’t know Silk at all. I just learned about Silk. You’re fantastic,” said Agent Orange. “You’re going to carry on beyond anybody’s wild imagination.”
This is the same Diamond & Silk who worked as a duo—and the latter even said Trump treated them like family, akin to his own children, just before he went on stage. .
You really can’t make this stuff up. Needless to say, Twitter is going in, and it’s glorious. Did we mention My Pillow guy Mike Lindell spoke?
See the best slander in the gallery.
HipHopWired Featured Video
Source: Eric Espada / Getty
Now, we all know that famed sports commentator Stephen A. Smith has a big mouth—big enough for him to occasionally stick his entire foot in it while using his other foot to walk things back a bit. Also, Smith is pretty old. So old, possibly, that he’s a little too detached from the popular music scene to understand that Rihanna arguably has as big of a “hive” as the Queen Bee herself, Beyoncé. (Can the “Rih-hive” be a thing, or is that a little too on the nose?)
From TMZ Sports:
Stephen A. Smith had a BOLD take this week, but it wasn’t about whether Dak Prescott is elite … it was his reaction to Rihanna performing the Super Bowl halftime show — simply saying, “she ain’t Beyoncé.”
Related Stories
The ESPN personality made the comment during his appearance on “The Sherri Show” Wednesday … claiming it’s no shade to RiRi, but will most certainly come across that way with the singer’s diehard fanbase.
“Rihanna’s music is fantastic,” SAS said during the interview. “She’s great. She’s a sister. I love her dearly, I listen to her music, I’m gonna support her ’til the cows come home.”
“I’m just telling you, for me, there’s Beyoncé and there’s everybody else. Just like there’s Michael Jackson and there’s everybody else.”
Smith says he isn’t NOT excited to see Rihanna do her thing … but makes it clear there’s only room for one at the top.
In the immortal words of Jill Scott: “Or maybe we can just be silent!” Sometimes I feel like Smith just enjoys getting himself dragged up and down by Black Twitter.
I mean what did Smith think, that the Beyhive would be any happier with him than Rihanna’s Navy while he’s arbitrarily pitting two beloved Black woman pop sensations against each other?
Anyway, in a rare humbling moment for the loud and proud sports journalist, Smith recorded a video apologizing to Rihanna for perceivably disrespecting her.
More from TMZ:
“I want Rihanna to know you’re a superstar, you’re sensational, you’re spectacular. You’re no joke and you are a worthy person to be doing Super Bowl halftime show,” Smith said on Wednesday.
Stephen A. clarified his words … saying he personally believes Beyoncé’s performance was so iconic, that anyone who gets the opportunity to do the halftime show will “have to measure up to that.”
“I meant it as no disrespect to Rihanna. I know she’s phenomenal and she’s my sister. Nothing but love for her, but Beyoncé is my sister, too.”
Stephen A. ends his apology by saying he knows Rihanna will do her thing next month … and he’s looking forward to watching her perform.
Of course, some on Twitter pointed out that while Smith can often be a bit of a jerk, he’s not usually an apologetic negro.
https://twitter.com/coxthaone/status/1616171399831515137
Welp, you can’t please everyone.
However, in Smith’s case, it’s OK to just STFU once in a while.
HipHopWired Featured Video
Source: Paras Griffin / Getty
Baton Rouge rapper Boosie Badazz has generally become the poster child for homophobia due mostly to his abject inability to keep Lil Nas X’s and Zaya Wade’s names out of his mouth.
Seriously, I need an iron that can press my shirt the way Boosie is pressed about LGBTQ folks proudly existing out in the open. So, now, Black Twitter is forced to ask questions now that the “Wipe Me Down” rapper’s own 20-year-old daughter, Iviona Hatch, is flexing on the Gram with her current boo—who happens to also be a woman.
From MadameNoir:
Hatch, who goes by Poison Ivi, was seen in a pic posted by her lady with the caption, “Endlessly in love with you.” During an Instagram Live in 2021, Hatch revealed that she dates girls sometimes.
Now the internet is wondering how Boosie feels about this. Due to his past comments about Lil’ Nas X, Zaya Wade and the LGBTQIA community in general, it’s being assumed that the “Zoom” rapper is pissed.
“The irony that Boosie daughter came out the closet after all that rhetoric he was spewing against DWade’s child is mind blowing,” one person tweeted.
Seriously, Boosie having a non-straight child is like Elmer Fudd fathering a wascally wabbit. It’s like a Kansmen’s wife birthing the next Malcolm X. It’s like if Steve Harvey’s daughter turned out to be an independent woman who ditches the restrictions of patriarchy and takes full agency over her own dating life. (Oh, wait.)
Anyway, some on Twitter questioned whether Boosie even has an issue with his daughter dating other women since it’s not like she’s a gay dude or anything, but that question was put to bed when folks pointed out his Breakfast Club interview where he declared he would not be walking his daughter down the aisle to marry another woman.
Welp, at least Boosie Bigot…er…Badazz is an equal-opportunity homophobe. There’s that, I guess.
HipHopWired Featured Video
Source: NurPhoto / Getty
Meek Mill wasn’t capping when he said his judge was doing him dirty, allegedly. . The same Philadelphia judge who jailed the rapper, and who he essentially accused of having a vendetta against him, has had her criminal cases reassigned, and now she’s suing.
The Philadephia Inquirer reports that Common Pleas Court Judge Genece Brinkley has been transferred to civil court and all of the pending criminal cases she was initially tasked with have been reassigned. Brinkley is the same judge who jailed Meek Mill for a parole violation in 2017.
The judge’s behavior while she was overseeing Meek’s case had most anyone taking a look at the details saying she was holding a grudge. For example, in 2018, the Philadelphia District Attorney recommended Meek’s 2008 conviction, for which the rapper at the time was sitting in jail for because of the aforementioned parole violation, should be dismissed. However, Brinkley refused to toss the charges despite the DA noting Meek had already served time for the charges.
“Like many who are currently incarcerated, I was the victim of a miscarriage of justice — carried out by an untruthful officer, as determined by the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office, and an unfair judge,” said Meek in New York Times op-ed in 2019.
Meek was eventually released on bail, but only after much outcry at the audacity of his treatment by the justice system (the old criminal case was dismissed after he pled guilty to a misdemeanor firearm charge). Flash forward to 2022, and Brinkley’s behavior on the bench is still looking funny in the light, and she’s now claiming that she is the actual victim.
Per the Philadelphia Inquirer:
The unfolding legal battle is the latest chapter in a months-long conflict between Common Pleas Court Judge Genece Brinkley and judicial leadership, a feud that began in part over questions about whether Brinkley was showing up to the courthouse on time or managing her caseload effectively. Since the reassignment, lawyers and judges who have reviewed dozens of Brinkley’s cases have discovered a history of her appearing to impose illegal sentences, allow sentences to run past their maximum date, or failing to swiftly address cases remanded to her by higher courts.
This summer, Brinkley, who is Black, filed a gender and racial discrimination complaint against two supervising judges on the court, both of whom are also Black women. And earlier this month, she turned to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court seeking to reverse the decision to reassign her cases, saying in a petition that it “raises unwarranted suspicions about [her] integrity and performance.”
A judge coming under question is a big deal due to the power they wield, deciding to imprison or free someone through what’s supposed to be a lens of justice. Since Brinkley’s transfer, her past cases have come under review by lawyers and judges to see if there are more examples of unseemly judicial behavior. What has been found so far, are numerous cases of lengthy prison terms for suspect parole violations, with many now being outright dismissed, or cases of parolees getting his with the jig.
In the weeks since the reassignment of Brinkley’s cases, lawyers and other judges have been reviewing dozens of matters she presided over and discovered a range of issues. At hearings this month addressing her open probation cases, for example, one lawyer called the situation a “mess.” And Common Pleas Court Judge Mia Perez — who presided over the hearings — was visibly bewildered by some matters that crossed her desk.
In one, Brinkley had sentenced Jeremy Speedling to three years’ probation for a 2019 simple assault and theft. But after Speedling moved to New York, his public defender said, Brinkley sent a letter to his probation officer there changing the terms of his supervision — and then found him in violation and ordered him jailed for 11½ to 23 months.
Brinkley “found [Speedling] in violation for terms he wasn’t aware of,” said the public defender, Elisa Downey-Zayas.
Bruh…
Read the full, disturbing and maddening story right here. Meek picked an inopportune time to leave Twitter, eh?