Rapper and Hip-hop star Nas protests Fox News 'Obama smears' along with ColorofChange.org and MoveOn.org. The Fox News protest took place in the streets of New York and poured over to the television airwaves later that night. Nas lead a group of about 50 people who were accompanied by the news media out in force to the outside of the New York headquaters of News Corp's. While at the office of News Corp's, both ColorofChange.org and MoveOn.org brought hand-printed signs demanding that News Corp's Fox News network "stop its racist smears against the Obama's and other Black Americans." The groups carried boxes containing what they said were 620,000 signed petitions protesting against they they claimed was the channel's biased news coverage and remarks by its commentators.
However News Corp employees refused to allow them to deliver the boxes. A Fox News spokesman later told the TVNewser website that Fox News believes in all protesters exercising their right to free speech, including Nas, who has an album to promote. Now Bill O'Reilly took it upon himself to respond to accusations of his network being racist, via his "The O'Reilly Factor" show Wednesday night, saying the protestors were "zombie followers." While O'Reilly responded, Nas was appearing on "The Colbert Report" to perform his track "Sly Fox," in which the rapper lashes out at Fox News and how they treat African Americans as well as their brainwashing and urging people to watch what they are watching.
Nas is petitioning against what he calls a "propaganda machine." Nas and the two political organizations, ColorofChange.org and MoveOn.org, are upset at several recent comments made on the network. During their protest they referenced how Fox referred to Michele Obama "Barack's baby momma," their portrayal of the fist bump that Barack and Michelle Obama shared they called a "terrorist fist jab," and Bill O'Reily's call for a "lynching party" for Michelle, who may one day in the near future become the First Lady. O'Reilly, however, denies that he or Fox are racist, and went as far as to call MoveOn.org "the New Klan."
"The Move On organization espouses a radical left agenda and attacks those who oppose that nonsense," O'Reilly said on his show. "The latest smear from Move On is telling their Kool-Aid-drinking zombie followers that Fox News is smearing Barack Obama and is a racist concern. Of course, that's a lie. This broadcast and FNC in general have been exceedingly fair to Senator Obama. However in order to intimidate anyone from criticizing Obama in any way, Move On is playing the race card," according to O'Reilly.
Later that night on Comedy Central's "Colbert Report," Nas came with signed petitions, boxes of them, claiming Fox would not even see them."They refuse to see the petitions," the rapper told MTV News. "They don't want to deal with it. They want to try to act like they want to get away from it. I been getting a little word that people from Fox have been trying to call and talk to me and stuff like that, but right now it's about getting as many as people as we can [to sign]."According to MTV, Nas is willing to debate with O'Reilly on neutral ground. If such an event is to take place than I suggest the two debate in Time Square in front of the American people where both O'Reilly and Nas express how they feel on the matter and to sweeten the pot, Senator Clinton should be moderator along with Charlie Rangall perhaps. Than again Bloomberg might be willing to moderate the debate to ensure both sides get their two cents in.
For now though, Nas and O'Reilly will have to speak soon regarding this matter but I applaud Nas for wanting to get involved and while some might say he is just trying to sell records since one of the songs on his CD is about Fox, I say that Nas has never been the type to just sell records but he has been about educating the music industry on the issues that plague America and the world. That's why what Nas is doing by joining up with MoveOn.org and ColorofChange.org was a powerful move that I commend the rapper. I only hope other rappers get involved in sending messages of change and hope as the rap industry really needs more conscious orientated messages that stimulate the minds of the masses. Nas is starting something that could be truly magnificent in terms of bringing back political consciousness in rap and hip hope like it was during the 1980s.
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