The Celebrity Misinformation Machine
Nick Cannon and TLC's Chilli are the latest celebrities to be used against us by the media misinformation machine.
Please don’t fall for the okey doke from misinformed celebrities speaking about politics.
In the past week, we found out that TLC’s Chilli posted conspiracy theories about Michelle Obama and donated to Donald Trump. Meanwhile, Nick Cannon is claiming that Democrats are the party of the KKK — a historically illiterate argument that ignores the fact that Democrats signed the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, the Fair Housing Act, the Emmett Till Antilynching Act, and elected the first and only Black president and vice president.
But Nick Cannon supports Trump. The same Trump who posted a racist video depicting the Obamas as apes. Who claimed Haitians were eating white people’s cats and dogs. Who tore down Black Lives Matter Plaza and put up Confederate monuments in Washington DC. Who placed new restrictions on Black people coming into the US but opened the door for white South Africans.
The problem is that some people were so caught up in the media-generated lie of the Reality TV Trump that they forgot the Reality Trump who refused to rent to Black people and was fined for racial discrimination at his casinos. The Trump who spent nearly six years lying about a Black man’s birth certificate and led a lynch mob against five Black and brown teenagers.
Some of these celebrities are looking for pardons and favors and some want tax cuts. But that doesn’t help ordinary Black people. We can’t let Nicki Minaj, Stephen A. Smith, Tiger Woods, Gloria Gaynor, Kanye West, or anyone else be used against us to normalize, whitewash, or excuse Trump’s racism.
Yes, celebrities have the right to express their opinions. But when those opinions are not grounded in fact and parrot the racist talking points of our oppressors, the voices of the few and famous become weaponized to drown out the chorus of the many.
So let’s do something different. Unfollow the celebrities when they betray the Black community and follow the smart Black people out here doing the work, covering the news, researching the impact of legislation, and trying to help our people.
They warned us about all the chaos and corruption that is happening right now. Let’s stop worshipping the “talent” and start listening to the truth tellers.
I really appreciate your commentary and have admired your work for years on CNN, especially now after I transition to journalism after my career at USAID.
The problem is that civil rights leaders and their children have left a void in the black community for decades. They are not on black talk radio. They don’t engage enough with Black influencers. They are not at black cultural events pushing civil rights issues.
Now with the fall out of the Target Boycott with Jamal Bryant, black preachers are quickly becoming discredited.
Sadly black media is also guilty for pushing too much entertainment news besides political news and foreign policy. Black celebrities have a huge platform especially the Grio, the Shaderoom, and the Root. Of course Snoop has more influence in shaping Black public opinion than the president of the NAACP.
In addition, Trump has raged war on the intellectually and public service class through censorship and mass government firings. So our youth are not challenge to think beyond what they hear on social media.
I was just saying the same thing recently on my podcast. The sad part is our people are too quick to believe and share everything they read online without googling or verifying the facts for themselves which also plays a major part in the misinformation and miseducation of our people. Then you have these celebrities who do not follow politics or even whats going on in the news sharing what they see like Chili and Kyrie Irving and many of the people who follow them share it because they're favorite celebrity posted it so it got to be true. Sorry for the book but this is something I have been talking about for awhile and Im glad to see others challenging this misinformation. Salute my brother.