Geraldo Rivera Takes Aim at Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Alright': ‘This Is Exactly the Wrong Message’ [VIDEO]
Geraldo Rivera is trolling us again. The FOX News pundit spewed his vitriol of hip-hop once again, this time ranting about Kendrick Lamar's song "Alright."
On the cable network's panel show The Five, Rivera took issue with the Compton rhymer’s performance at the 2015 BET Awards Sunday (June 28). The 71-year-old journalist said that K.Dot’s lyrics against police brutality in “Alright” are “not helpful, to say the least.”
The lyrics in question are Lamar’s line, “We hate the po-po / Wanna kill us dead in the street fo sho.”
“This is why I say that hip-hop has done more damage to young African-Americans than racism in recent years,” Rivera stated. “This is exactly the wrong message.”
“And then to conflate what happened in the church in Charleston, South Carolina with these tragic incidents involving excessive use of force by cops is to equate that racist killer with these cops, it is so wrong, it is so counterproductive, it gives exactly the wrong the message,” he added. “It doesn’t recognize that a city like Baltimore, where -- remember Freddie Gray - they’ve had a homicide a day since Freddie Gray, no one’s protesting that. Baltimore, a tiny city, 7 percent the size of New York, has just as many murders as New York. You know, we’ve got to wake up at a certain point and understand what’s going on here.”
If Rivera didn’t like Lamar’s performance at the BET Awards, we would love to hear what he thinks of the TDE rapper’s fantastic video for “Alright.” The clip features K.Dot spreading solidarity throughout his Compton hood and takes aim at the ongoing police brutality in America.
In defense of Kendrick Lamar, "Alright" is a protest song in the tradition of N.W.A.’s “F--- tha Police” and Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On.” But Rivera wants to twist his lyrics and ideas around and create outrage to likely boost up ratings and fear with his audience. In the end, we’re all being trolled.
But like Pharrell Williams says on the chorus of “Alright,” N----, we gon' be alright / Huh? We gon' be alright / N----, we gon' be alright / Do you hear me, do you feel me? We gon' be alright."
Earlier this year, Rivera sounded off against hip-hop, stating that the genre "has done more damage to black and brown people than racism in the last 10 years."
What do you think of Geraldo Rivera's comments about Kendrick Lamar's song "Alright"? Tell us in the comments below.
See 100 Hip-Hop Facts That Will Blow Your Mind