6 Uneducated Amateurs Whose Genius Changed the World

By John Champion<br> Published: Sat, 04 Jun 2011 05:00:00<br> Recently, an Internet entrepreneur made news by offering $100,000 to young people to not go to college. Now, we're not telling you not to get an education -- everybody knows employers these days want a degree. But we'd be remiss if we didn't take a m


-JDH

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C’Mon Tracy!: Just Jokes Vs. Homophobic Hate


Tracy Morgan is known for his loose mouth. It’s why we like him. As a comedian, it’s your job to be outrageous. I usually find his antics to be pretty hilarious. When Morgan showed up to a morning news program and pretended to give birth, people thought he had lost his mind. I laughed.

When people thought he took it too far talking about our first lady/hypothetical home girl Michelle Obama, I recognized that it was completely inappropriate, but I laughed. And then thought he better be careful. (Barack will get with you. It’s nothing. )

But today, when I read Morgan’s words from the homophobic rant he went on while performing in Nashville, Tennessee, I couldn’t find anything funny.

If you haven’t heard already, this is some of what Morgan had to say:

•    “Gay is something that kids learn from the media and programming.”
•    My son “better talk to me like a man and not in a gay voice or I’ll pull out a knife and stab that little n*gger to death.”
•    “I don’t “f*cking care if I piss off some gays, because if they can take a f*cking d*ck up their a$s… they can take a f*cking joke.”   (Source)

Really, Tracy?!?

Dang! Now I have to like you a whole lot less.

 

I hate when stars I formally respected, use their platform to do something so reckless. I can’t say that I’m done with Tracy forever and always. I’d be lying if I said I’d never laugh at anything he said or did in the future. But I can say it won’t be the same full, head-toss, uninhibited laughter that it once was. In the back of my mind I’ll always be wondering whether I’m laughing at a bully. Someone who used their strength in the media to spread some more falsities and foolishness.
I can’t be completely sure that his words weren’t taken out of context, there’s a difference between reading a joke and hearing it delivered. But, from what I can tell from the words above and the responses from people who actually went to the show (one of them a gay man with his partner), these comments don’t sound like jokes. They sound hateful and ignorant.

 

Maybe my satire meter is completely broken and again I didn’t hear the delivery, but phrases like “gay is something kids learn from the media…” is just so backwards. “Gay” has been around for centuries. We know how the ancient Greeks got down, there’s homosexuality all up and through the Bible, and long before networks started featuring gay characters on television, Rock Hudson, Hollywood’s “it man” was gay than a mug. I doubt those people saw “Will and Grace” or “Queer as Folk” and decided to pattern their life after them.
I have a hard time believing anybody would choose to be gay, knowing all the hell you’ll potentially face from your peers, your family, society and ignorant famous people who have a microphone and a stage at their disposal.

 

But Tracy’s not the only one. I’ve gotten into some pretty intense arguments with my own family members about the whole “born this way” vs. “chose that life” debate. I’ll always love the fam; but it makes me doubly sick when black people attack the LGBT community. Here we are, a group that has endured our fair share of oppression over characteristics we can’t change, and yet we have no sympathy for others fighting that same battle? I wouldn’t ask everybody to find a gay friend and start wearing rainbow pins, but some compassion for your fellow human being is not too much to ask. We can be so hateful and it’s sad.

 

Jokes are so subjective. We can debate whether they’re funny or not, try to stifle our laughter when we know it’s morally wrong; but hate is something entirely different. Something I can’t get down with. As people take to the blogs, Twitter, and news outlets Tracy may, hopefully, rethink his statements, his delivery or both. Maybe he’ll realize it’s not just the gay people he pissed off.

Brian Williams Vs. Bryan Williams

via XXLMAG.COM by xxlstaff on 6/10/11


What’s in a name? Most people who share the same name are usually named after a family member. Total chance is the other common reason. Take Brian Williams for example. It’s the name of Brian Williams, the NBC Nightly News anchor and also Bryan “Birdman” Williams, founder of Cash Money Records and XXL Magazine’s June cover subject. Despite sharing a surname, the two Brians couldn’t be more opposite from one another… or are they? XXL takes a look at the two BWs to see if there’s a connection beyond the name.— Piff Tannen

NAME: Brian Williams
MIDDLE NAME: Douglas
AGE: 52
BORN: Elmira, New York
CURRENTLY LIVES: Connecticut
SIGN: Taurus
EDUCATION: Dropped out of George Washington University 18 credits short of graduating.
OCCUPATION: News anchor and for NBC Nightly News.
CLAIM TO FAME: After working in radio for years, earning his stripes as a White House correspondent in the mid 1990s and anchoring The News with Brian Williams for MSNBC, Williams became an anchor of NBC Nightly News alongside Tom Brokaw.
FAVORITE PASSTIME: Watching Nascar.
INCOME: Williams makes $10 million annually according to Business Insider. His net worth is unknown.
FRIENDS: Dale Earnhardt
TATTOOS: None… unless there’s something underneath those suits and ties.
LONGEVITY: Williams has been working in the media for 30 years and currently stands as the longest running news anchor following the retirement of Tom Brokaw, Dan Rather and the death of Peter Jennings.

NAME: Bryan Williams
MIDDLE NAME: Beatrice
AGE: 42
BORN: New Orleans, Louisiana
CURRENTLY LIVES: Miami
SIGN: Aquarius
EDUCATION: Birdman was only 20 years old when he founded Cash Money. Based on our calculations, it’s unlikely that he graduate from college.
OCCUPATION: Founder and CEO of Cash Money Records, game spitter, YMCMB anchor.
CLAIM TO FAME: Cash Money’s independent grind lead to the imprint signing a $30 million pressing and distribution deal with Universal in 1998.
FAVORITE PASSTIME: Making money, stunnin’.
INCOME: Birdman has been making $4, $5 million annually for the past 22 years according to XXL’s June cover story. To let him tell it, his net worth is more than the $100 million Forbes Magazine reported.
FRIENDS: Rick Ross, DJ Khaled, Fat Joe, etc, etc…
TATTOOS: Birdman has an endless number of tats, including one of Wayne on the right side of his chest, tear drops and large red stars on his head.
LONGEVITY: Stunna has been in the music industry for 22 years and is presently one of the last hip-hop moguls with peers like Irv Gotti, Master P and Suge Knight missing in action.

THE CONNECTION: A year into his post at NBC Nightly News, Brian Williams emerged as the program’s main anchor with his reporting of the Asian Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina, which particularly ravaged New Orleans. Birdman, who was born-and-raised in the Big Easy, lost property and cars during the hurricane.

Video: Kendrick Lamar Interview w/ HardknockTV: talks Tupac, Compton

via Nah Right by nation on 6/9/11

Kendrick talks about changing his name from K. Dot to his gov’t, being from Compton, Pac’s passing affecting rap and “H.O.C.”.

In other news:


Previously: Kendrick Lamar – Sex With Society (Prod. by THC)