Repndawest

It’s been nearly two weeks since radio personality Don Imus’ derogatory comments toward the Rutgers women’s’ basketball team, but the ramifications of his actions are still resonating. Russell Simmons has been in action since then, and even released a statement on April 23, calling for the voluntary eradication of the following words in the record industry: “bitch, ho, and ******”. He stated that they were “racially offensive”, “misogynistic”, and should be thought of as “extreme curse words”. “There should not be any government regulation or public policy that should ever violate the First Amendment,” explained Simmons and Dr. Benjamin Chavis, co-chairmen of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN), said in a statement. “With freedom of expression, however, comes responsibility.”We recommend that the recording and broadcast industries voluntarily remove/bleep/delete the misogynistic words ‘bitch’ and ‘ho’ and the racially offensive word ‘******’,” they continued. “These three words should be considered with the same objections to obscenity as ‘extreme curse words’.”

This move from Russell and Chavis would be admirable, only if it mirrored what was said earlier this month, where they said: “offensive references in hip-hop may be uncomfortable for some to hear, but our job is not to silence or censor that expression.” Imus’ comments have still been the focal point of controversy, even though his nationally syndicated and televised radio show was terminated due to his actions. Artists and black leaders continue to not see eye to eye on the situation, as they claim it is their right to express themselves freely.

“Our internal discussions with industry leaders are not about censorship. Our discussions are about the corporate social responsibility of the industry to voluntarily show respect to African Americans and other people of color, African American women and to all women in lyrics and images,” a statement from Simmons and Chavis said on Monday. The Network is looking into formulating a type of organization that monitors Broadcasting standards for radio and television programming


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"aubrey will be gone by the end of the year... mark my words" - The Coolest, 04-14-2009, 04:13 PM