In an interview with Rolling Stone published this week, Black pop star Nicki Minaj blames the reluctance of Black celebrities to speak out in favor of the current leftist-led anti-police campaign over the deaths while resisting arrest of two unarmed Black criminals this past summer on fear of suffering attacks like fellow Black pop star Kanye West endured nearly a decade ago after he called President George W. Bush a racist.
West was participating, with comedian Mike Myers, in a September 2005 nationally broadcast telethon for survivors of Hurricane Katrina which had devastated the Gulf Coast when he blurted out, “George Bush doesn’t care about black people!”
A few seconds earlier West had accused an unnamed villain of giving soldiers “permission to shoot us (Black people.)
In addition to whining about West paying a price for a gross insult of Bush, Minaj also said society (read: America) treats Blacks like animals and that police are getting away with murdering Blacks.
“”I feel like when Public Enemy were doing ‘Fight the Power,’ we as a culture had more power — now it feels hopeless,” Minaj says. “People say, ‘Why aren’t black celebrities speaking out more?’ But look what happened to Kanye when he spoke out. People told him to apologize to Bush!”
“Minaj points out that West has been silent on recent social-justice issues. “He was the unofficial spokesman for hip-hop, and he got torn apart,” she says. “And now you haven’t heard him speaking about these last couple things, and it’s sad. Because how many times can you be made to feel horrible for caring about your people before you say, ‘**** it, it’s not worth it, let me live my life because I’m rich, and why should I give a ****?'””
…“”It’s sickening, and I’ve been reading so many people saying, ‘Why are we surprised?’ That’s what’s really sad: that we should somehow be used to being treated like animals,” Minaj tells contributing editor Jonah Weiner in our new cover story, on stands Friday. “It’s gotten to the point where people feel like there’s no accountability: If you are law enforcement and you do something to a black person, you can get away with it.”
Another explanation for the reticence of Black celebrities to speak out could be fear of being seen as criticizing President Barack Obama–or being criticized by Obama himself. Obama famously called West a “jackass” in 2009.
Obama called West a jackass when speaking about West interrupting white pop star Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at MTV’s VMA show so he could praise fellow Black pop star Beyonce.
Minaj does not mention a white act whose career was destroyed by their fans for criticizing George W. Bush. But perhaps the Dixie Chicks were just a few years before her time.
