It’s not just the woke culture surrounding professional sports that turns people off. It’s the decadent rap culture, too. The NBA and its broadcast partners have lowered their standards so far that unless you’re a fan of loud, ugly rap music, you cannot be a true basketball fan, says New York Post columnist Phil Mushnick.
“It’s the formulaic kind, the rap that relies on vulgarity, violence, hate, pockets stuffed with cash, smitten allegiance to wildly expensive garish jewelry, threats, boast-filled bombast and the sexual degradation of use-’em-then-lose-’em women,” Mushnick wrote in his Saturday column.
The corrosive content of this brand literally inspires rappers to shoot it out, “spilling real, dead-on-arrival blood. Such episodes have become a dime a dozen.” This rap culture is promoting “every backwards-pointed negative stereotype of urban black America,” Mushnick continued. If you think “that’s twisted, then you can’t possibly be a basketball fan.”
Case in point: Last Wednesday, the hosts of ESPN’s “Jalen (Rose) & (David) Jacoby” show talked about the postseason success of the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies “through the eyes and words of Memphis-based rapper Juicy J (appearing in middle of photo with Rose on left and Jacoby on right).
Juicy J’s recording “Bounce It” lyrics include drug usage, sex acts and referencing blacks as p---y n------.
“Look for yourself,” Mushnick commented. “Zero upside, all the way down and extra filthy. And plenty more — almost nothing but shamelessly unfiltered, N-worded garbage — before and after ‘Bounce It.’ Self-love songs.
“Yep, just another rap profiteer of what so badly, sorrowfully continues to afflict black America. But there’s no shortage of what otherwise easily outraged social and racial activists choose to ignore.”
Why did Jalen and Jacoby think anyone with a sense of decency would care to watch an interview with a vulgar loser like Juicy J? They would not recite his lyrical trash on the air. “So why was he their special, NBA-themed guest, granted their full attention and admiration?” Mushnick asked.
ESPN’s hypocrisy over race and rappers is ridiculous. Garbage-spewing rappers pass muster, but its tennis analyst Doug Adler was fired over a charge that he called Venus Williams a “gorilla.” Actually, he likened her playing style to guerilla tactics. Perhaps if Adler, who suffered a heart attack after his dismissal, had quoted Juicy J in his commentary, he might be employed at ESPN today.
Mushnick reiterated that “Juicy J was “good-to-go on ESPN. It’s sick.”
The NFL is also complicit in promoting vulgar rap, too. Super Bowl entertainment has decidedly become the domain of vile rappers and sexualized halftime abominations. It’s not so much a matter of sports fans walking away, but of professional sports leaving much of their fanbases behind by promoting decadence.
