Russell Simmons Calls Bill O’Reilly Out For A Duel … of Blogs

News flash: Bill O’Reilly doesn’t like rappers. A lot of people don’t. But O’Reilly, like a lot of people who don’t like rappers, tends to paint them in a nice, broad brush of ignorance and dickishness, avoiding any “annoying” nuance like a Mos Def, Lyrics Born or Jean Grae record.

Recently, Bill and his wingman, Dennis Miller got to play the “Good Negro/Bad Negro” game, mocking and poo-pooing the antics of Jay-Z and some character called “Young Jeezy,” who were really, really excited about Barack Obama being president and celebrated it with lots of profanity. Who wasn’t? So they got their Bush Bash on before rocking the mic. O’Reilly and Miller apparently thought this was shameful and not becoming of the new, “Good Negro” Administration of Barack Obama.

After all, how will us black folks learn right from wrong if Dennis Miller and Bill O’Reilly don’t show us what is (and isn’t) appropriate Patriotic American behavior? We just became patriots (after being in this country since its inception, fighting in all its wars and helping build the damn thing from the ground up), like, two weeks ago. Some one has to gently usher us through this new, flag-waving phase in our political adolescence.

Long-story short: They sounded like ass-hats. But they always do. Yet, rather than ignoring the ass-hats, hip hop mogul, pioneer, yoga-aficionado and serial model dater Russell Simmons has decided enough is enough.

He’s stickin’ up for “the poets.”

Hip-Hop entrepreneur Russell Simmons has joined the mix of artists speaking out against Bill O’Reilly following a segment on O’Reilly’s Fox News program in which he and Dennis Miller criticized rappers Young Jeezy and Jay-Z for remarks they made at an inaugural ball last month. Whereas Young Jeezy publicly accepted O’Reilly’s offer for him to appear on his show to debate the issue of rappers criticizing former President Bush, Simmons wants to change the playing field, requesting O’Reilly to post a blog on his site, Global Grind.

“As editor-in-chief of Global Grind, I am calling out Bill O’ Reilly,” Simmons wrote. “If you really want to speak to the hip-hop community, even with your consistent targeted comments that take issue with what some hip-hop artists and other cultural leaders have said about America and about the world in which we all live, then I invite Bill O’ Reilly to write a blog directly to the hip-hop nation …

“For far too long Bill has used The O’ Reilly Factor on Fox News to spew inaccurate statements and ideological taunts about hip-hop,” Simmons continued in today’s blog. “We believe in dialogue, but it should be a real dialogue face to face, blog to blog.”

Part of me wants to tell Big Russ that when you wrestle a pig the pig usually enjoys it way more than you (and gets good ratings out of it), meaning, O’Reilly doesn’t care about you or anyone else who disagrees with him. Not caring about you and being an asshat is how he makes his “livin’s.” This is like when Sean Hannity plays the “Hannity Hate” phone calls to bask in the glow of how he thinks all people who disagree with him are — loud, profane, ignoramuses with schoolyard taunt arguments. Idiots, basically, where he can feel superior.

O’Reilly bashes rappers because it makes him feel good and it gets him ratings and very few people criticize him for it, including most black people who also have their love-hate relationship with the genre we created. And like politicians, lawyers and journalists, you can slap around a rapper as much as you like and no one will really care because people hate rappers. Just like how they hate politicians and journalists and lawyers. Someone abuses a dog and people get upset. Shoot a rapper and the police will NEVER FIND WHO SHOT YOU!

Michael Vick went to prison. Yet Tupac, Biggie and Jam Master Jay’s murders goes unsolved. Where’s the justice?

But, hey, if Russell wants to challenge O’Reilly to a “blog-off,” fine. That makes no sense, considering Bill-O has not only a TV show, but a radio show, a Web site and numerous books and has no real incentive to show up on Global Grind because, as I stated before, he could give a flying fuck, but maybe he’ll show up. You know? For poops and giggles.

Why throw poo on Simmons’ site when he can freely throw poo with Miller as his hype man from his perch on The Factor? And if he’s trying to call O’Reilly out as a punk who won’t step out of the safety of the field he has rigged in his favor to play … um, that’s been called on already.

Case in point: Bill O’Reilly versus Maybe-Maybe-Not Senator of Minnesota “Stuart Smalley.”

He just shouts louder.

That’s all. Louder shouting. He learns nothing. He’d probably write that blog post in ALL CAPS. But a Simmons has to do what a Simmons has to do.

Bill O’ Reilly, you are at the top of our list. Blog now or stay in the Spin Zone. Don’t worry about Rush Limbaugh because he is next on the Global Grind list.

(Source: Global Grind)

And now to leave this Bill O’Reilly related post the way I leave all the others. With a lil’ techno mastermix.* (If you’re at work, you might want to put on headphones.)

WE’LL DO IT LIVE!

*I swear. I actually paid the 99 cents to download this from iTunes because I wanted to celebrate the remix work of whoever this dude is. This clip brings me incredible joy and makes a great jam for exercising or just dancing the daily BS out. It replaced DMX’s “Party Up” for me as the ultimate, “Screw this! I’m going home” song.

daniellebelton

20 responses to “Russell Simmons Calls Bill O’Reilly Out For A Duel … of Blogs”

  1. Noelani Avatar
    Noelani

    We must be on the same wavelength lately, I just posted a link to his rant in light of Christian Bales crazing ranting on the set of T4.Bill O’Reilly is a lost cause and a hypocrite, although I didn’t agree with the Inaugural ball organizers decision to include Young Jeezy and Jay Z among the performers, I do think that Bill’s constant salivating over it is tired and old.He’s so transparent! Russell should put his energy and money towards more productive things.

    Reply
  2. starrie Avatar
    starrie

    dennis miller?!…no need to go any further…that dude hasn’t had a job since monday night football and we all know his stupid ass got fired from that gig…

    Reply
  3. NIkia Henderson Avatar
    NIkia Henderson

    During the fine fight for civil rights during the 60’s those wonderful brave and determined black leaders and mothers and sisters and fathers and sons and heroes sought an elevated way to display their righteous indignation of the powers that be. They never sacrificed their self respect and determined resolve to show the world at large true nature of the stoic deepness of black power. What bothers me about this is that Jeezy and Jay-Z made millions during the last 8 years. Bush’s decisions didn’t in any way effect their bottom line. Are they against water boarding, did they research the rape of normal tax payers whos money help fund the civilian contractor scam that Bush and the Vice Pres used to pump the American public for billions of dollars. Sure enough Bill and Dennis are asses but we as a people cant except a bunch of F-bombs being dropped as a substitute for social maxim. What are you for Jeezy and Jay? I’m and a black American and I want that word American to stand for something, truly stand for something for the first time in 400 years. Its not enough to yell and scream fuck Bush anymore or screw O’Reily, forget them. What are we gonna do forward to make this country ours and a place for people of color to be proud of so when we look into the eyes of those from other countries as black men and women we hold our heads up high and tell’em I’m American man, I’m from Alabama (which I am) or The Tar Heals or Cali. The O’riely’s and Dennis Millers of the country need to watch us now they know they are obsolete thats why they don’t talk to anyone else but each other.

    Reply
  4. Danielle Belton Avatar
    Danielle Belton

    @ StarrieYou know? Sometimes I’ll look at Dennis Miller and remember when he used to be funny. I actually own a pre-9/11 comedy book by him. It’s lying around here somewhere. He was always a smug asshat, but so is Bill Maher and, even sometimes Jon Stewart (but only mild asshatery). That’s expected out of "brainy" comics. But then came "what were they thinking" Monday Night Football nightmare and then "the terrorists won" and took away Miller’s funny.I mean, it must be dead otherwise wouldn’t FOX News have given him his own "The Daily Show" style show instead of creating that aborted mess "The Half Hour News Hour" that was dead-on-arrival? His own "Miller Report?" Where did the funny go, Dennis? Where did it go?@ NikiaAnd see? That’s why no one feels sorry for rappers when they get dumped on. All the reasons you listed. The only political thing I can remember from Jay-Z in the last eight years was the line "Leave Iraq alone" from his rap over Punjabi MC’s "Beware of the Boys." (Which was a hot track, but mostly that was all Punjabi MC there. Jay just came along for the Hip Hop via India ride.)It’s like, as much as I don’t care for Bill and Dennis, I don’t like Jay and I seriously don’t know who Jeezy is. I mean, I listen to rap but I haven’t seriously paid attention to hip hop since 1997. And we ALL KNOW what happened in ’96-97 that made a lot of people of my particular age just go "screw this" to hip hop and just started buying old records from the 1960s or started experimenting with indie rock and neo soul albums.So, I’m for the freedom of speech of rappers and … that’s about it. I judge each on their own talent. I seriously doubt Jay would be as big as he is if two certain rappers hadn’t got themselves unsolved murdered in the mid-90s.And now I’m going to sing a couple bars of "American Pie" to myself, but make all the lyrics about rappers on the day "the rap music died."

    Reply
  5. Skywalker Avatar
    Skywalker

    I think you’re right about wrestling "the big pig". O’Reilley doesn’t want to know what anyone else thinks and only is concerned with making his fans think he is intelligent with big ones. There is a reason The Factor is banned in my house. I don’t listen to dribble.

    Reply
  6. Chas Johnson Avatar
    Chas Johnson

    And we ALL KNOW what happened in ’96-97 that made a lot of people of my particular age just go "screw this" to hip hop and just started buying old records from the 1960s or started experimenting with indie rock and neo soul albums.I’m afraid I DON’T KNOW what happened in ’96-97 that made a lot of people of my particular age just go "screw this" to hip hop…

    Reply
  7. Danielle Belton Avatar
    Danielle Belton

    @ ChasTupac died in ’96. Biggie died several months later in ’97. I’m one of THOSE people who believes the Shiny Suit Era effectively murdered rap music, then Tupac and Biggie died and then Master P and Jay-Z took their place and I just walked away, man.I just walked away.

    Reply
  8. Denene@MyBrownBaby Avatar
    Denene@MyBrownBaby

    Eh, you’re right: Bill O’Reilly will ALWAYS stay in his ridiculously crooked lane and remain irrelevant to us… so not worth the wasted breath (or blog space).

    Reply
  9. iman Avatar
    iman

    Noelani said: "He’s so transparent! Russell should put his energy and money towards more productive things."That’s exactly what Russell’s doing, finding a way to promote his website that no one knows or cares about, (I refuse to even click on the link). This is one set of opportunists (O’Reilly and Miller) vs. another (Russell Simmons and Jay-z). All of them are a waste of time. And is Russell still going to be the self-proclaimed voice of “Hip-Hop” and black youth when he’s 80? And exactly who are these”cultural leaders” he’s referring too? Puleeeeese!

    Reply
  10. politicallyincorrect Avatar
    politicallyincorrect

    To hell with Bill O’Riley and to hell with Russell Simmons. O’Riley is a douchebag anyway, and Russell never tries to defend the black women of hip hop so to hell with him to.

    Reply
  11. c Avatar
    c

    Snobby,GET OUT OF MY BRAIN! I always say they stopped making good rap music after the mid-nineties. Now, it’s all about making a dime rather than something decent worth putting on the radio. Don’t get wrong, there are a handful of good modern rappers but they are few and far between. Yup, 1997. That’s when I started leaning towards hard rock/metal and classical music. sigh, I miss those days. Kids just don’t understand.

    Reply
  12. Andrea Avatar
    Andrea

    Russell Simmons is trying to defend rap because it is his economy. It’s dying and it is irrelevant at that moment. He needs to salvage it. It’s basic Darwinism.Also Russell has a profile. He wants to be a social architect still. He has been wanting to be relevant as someone that leaves marks on the world. He is rather ambitious but he tends to tag along on trends others pioneer in the do-gooding field to try to tweak it for the hip-hop community instead of really being an anthropologist and social scientist to really understand his own hip-hop babies he created. It’s like Russell wants to keep playing defensive attorney and Mammy and nanny to the industry that he helped godfather into prominence through capital structure. This is the latest attempt to try to give hip-hop worth in slick, quick ways while trying to make a buck at the same time. The babies have short attention spans and they don’t have a strong fame of reference to reference to. So they don’t know Russell’s motives. They don’t know his ventures link to his needs to try to get people who are truly innovative and more powerful and rich to see him the same way. He really lives for the society that he will never belong to and he uses defending hip-hop as his vehicle. If he really cared about hip-hop, he would look at his motivations. Fighting Bill O’Reilly is not helping hip-hop. It doesn’t change the fact that Young Jeezy and Jay-Z (and other hip-hop stars) are irrelevant as social change agents. They are trying to reinvent themselves for basic surivival–not altruism. Bill O’Reilly does not know how to conclusively figure out our people–so many are trying to merge their long-time marketing faces to look anew and sound a lot like hope when they don’t even get what hope is. These young stars know more about marketing than people who go to school for it. They knew they had to get on look like the "change/hope" thing.Being tied to a winning campaign or a campaign that was going to probably win is a marketing scheme. It free marketing to keep you out there and with the front of being relevant. It justifies for rappers and those with questionable relevance why they should still be considered a "worthy" celebrity. Soon we will see little children…nuns…seniors…everyone…checking their Q Score.

    Reply
  13. Chas Johnson Avatar
    Chas Johnson

    Tupac died in ’96. Biggie died several months later in ’97. I’m one of THOSE people who believes the Shiny Suit Era effectively murdered rap music…Hanx(!) for schooling (jogging my memory) me.

    Reply
  14. Chris Chambers Avatar
    Chris Chambers

    O’Reiiley and Russell Simmons…right wingers and self righteous hip hop "artists." Lord if they don’t represent opposite sides of the same rotten coin. How about a third option? How about we chuck the coin in the river and create a new paradigm, bereft of hannities and Flo Ridas? Might raise the national IQ…

    Reply
  15. MJ Avatar
    MJ

    O’Liely wrote a book in which he had an underage girl give a drug dealer a BJ. And he criticizes rap? lol

    Reply
  16. Pretty Komplikated Avatar
    Pretty Komplikated

    Wow! This dialogue frightens me.They are all entertainers. Theie job is to entertain people and that is what Bill does and that is what Jay-Z and Young Jeezy both do.We cannot deny that the hip-hop culture is a vector for social change. This is the generation that was targeted to increase voter turnout. This was the generation that made "Yes We Can" into the most popular phrase of 2008. Hip-Hop has evolved, although in many ways that I don’t like, but it has evolved. Art has now become a job. A job for some who would be on the streets trapping or up to other no good. So, to dismiss this generation and the art form makes us no better than Bill. It seems that just like Bill does not understand hip hop, many of the commenters don’t understand hip hop. Hip Hop is representative of what is going on in society, always has. America is selfish, individualistic, oversexed, undereducated, consumer focused, and obsessed with cell phones, Facebook, and MySpace. So it is not surprising that hip hop sounds less substantive than it did years back. Instead of blaming hip hop and its artist (who are doing a job), shouldn’t we be working on the institutions that produce such artist i.e.: public education, record labels that are not owned by the artist who decide what music goes out. I don’t blame them for wanting to get paid. Shit, we all want to be able to get paid in some way.Jay-Z played a major role in the political process this year by hosting free concerts in Florida to register people to vote. Hmm…Florida, the place that decided the election in 2000. He also spread awareness at all of his concerts this year.Just like the rest of black america was excited, hip hop was excited and is excited. Hip hop chose to express itself in away that it does. Young Jeezy and Jay-z (on the remix) rapped the emotion of millions of people, My President is Black. What is wrong with that? The word choice that they used was a matter of individual and constitutional freedom. And if you don’t buy their album 70% of white boys in the suburbs will.The bickering from the black community and the bickering from Bill and Dennis does nothing to solve the problem, its just bickering.

    Reply
  17. JJ Avatar
    JJ

    I have to agree with Bill O’Reily and Dennis Miller on this.

    Reply
  18. Winn Avatar
    Winn

    @AndreaI am scared of you. That was such an incisive psychological breakdown in only a few sentences, that I would swear you had interviewed (or treated) the man! The satisfaction on his face mixed with desperate fear that the mask of relevance might slip and he will be revealed as a pretender when he was on HBO’s "The Black List" made me profoundly uncomfortable. And I’ve always found his style of dress at his age immature and infantile, and combined with his…uh…"unique" method of speech, it serves to make him seem even more transparent in his grasping need to "play with the big boys". The irrelevance of his blog even among hip hop heads has to be a bitter pill to swallow. And trust me, importing O’Reilly’s shtick from Fox isn’t going to help matters, even if O’Reilly gave a flying fish about what Simmons thinks and actually deigned to spew a ill-informed anti-rap rant on Global Grind. It’s all quite sad really, but especially how devastatingly you broke down Mr. "I will wear kicks and baseball caps until you put me in the ground, no matter what" Simmons.

    Reply
  19. Kelly Avatar
    Kelly

    Black Snob- I just recently found your site and I love it! Your take on issues is incredibly witty, honest, and spot on! A kindred spirit you are! I am a blogger and I wrote a blog titled Wishful Thinking: After President Obama Closes Guantanamo Bay, Can He Shut Down Gangsta Rap too? about Jay-Z’s and Young Jeezy’s foul behavior during inaugural weekend. http://kellsthinktank.wordpress.com/ It was posted on Afro.com and WhatAboutOurDaughters.com. Check it out. Your writing is funny and so relevant. It is refreshing to know that there are other Blacks out there who feel the same way I do. And, the comments are equally enjoyable to read.

    Reply
  20. Teleskopikrecordings Avatar
    Teleskopikrecordings

    The Bill O’Reilly vid ‘Flipping Out’ is brilliant – there is justice … thanks for sharing that nugget of gold …

    Reply

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