Russell Simmons has responded to Geraldo Rivera’s controversial comments about race, blasting Rivera’s statement that hip-hop has been more detrimental to black people than racism over the last decade.
As Extreme Entertainment reported, Rivera said during a HuffPost Live interview, “Hip-hop has done more damage to black and brown people than racism in the last 10 years.” He went on to say, “I love Russell Simmons. He’s a dear friend of mine. I admire his business acumen. [But] at some point, those guys have to cop to the fact that by encouraging this distinctive culture that is removed from the mainstream, they have encouraged people to be so different from the mainstream that they can’t participate other than, you know, the racks in the garment center and those entry-level jobs, and I lament it. I really do. I think that it has been very destructive culturally.”
While he may consider Simmons a “dear friend,” Rivera’s comments rubbed the hip-hop mogul the wrong way. On Wednesday, Simmons responded on Twitter. He wrote, “The prison industrial complex, destroyed the fabric of the black community innocent deseasesd (sic) kids get good education in criminal behavior… The expression of that reality is not the cause of it. Poets, artists say things that get under our skin BECAUSE THEY ARE TRUE REFLECTIONS.” Simmons concluded by saying, “Silly to respond to a guy who just lost celebrity apprentice.” Ouch. What do you think about what Rivera had to say and Simmons’ reaction?
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