Never one to shy from controversy, Rush Limbaugh pointed out what many others consider impolitic to state aloud -- that the racist chant led by University of Oklahoma frat brothers and captured on a video that went viral could be mistaken for a rap tune.
University officials quickly expelled the students, shuttered their fraternity and continue their investigation while the incident has triggered wide debate as much about free speech as racism.
Limbaugh's not the only one thinking along these lines, he said on his radio show Wednesday, though where it's also been said came as a surprise for him (audio) --
Twitter is blowing up, angry as hell, at Mika Brzezinski for daring to say that the frat boys at O-U were simply mimicking a rap song. You don't think they were? Here's the thing, doesn't matter. Mika Brzezinski and the whole Morning Joe crew, thinks that rappers, and a particular rapper (Waka Flocka Flame) and a particular tune, inspired this, which dumbfounds me. I mean, what happened over there? Normally something like this happens and you blame the whole Republican Party. I mean, you blame talk radio and then you blame the conservative blogosphere. But now they're blaming rap -- it doesn't happen, OK?
Let me put all this in a different perspective, along with this American millennials among the world's least skilled (according to a dispiriting report in Fortune on young adults in the US trailing their peers abroad) and the stuff that happened at U-C Invine (where a student governing body at the University of California voted to ban national flags, including Old Glory, from an "inclusive" space on campus), if this had been a song by Kim Kardashian's husband (serial awards show crasher/rap artiste Kanye West) and they had sung this song at the Grammys, it'd be a hit. Can we agree with that? Snerdley (Limbaugh's call screener) doesn't think I have a point on this. Snerdley thinks I might be wrong in my attempt to be down here for the struggle. But I'm telling you, this stuff gets awards and the people that sing it are portrayed as American royalty in terms of celebrity. You can't deny that.
Limbaugh's remarks apparently struck a chord and were picked up in the media, though in an unexpected way he told listeners today (audio) --
So that has made the news. That has made the news at E! entertainment, it's made the news at TMZ, it's made the news at Page 6, and what's also fascinating about it is that it's been reported factually! There isn't any snark in it! What? There isn't any snark in it, I am stunned. Normally I would have been myself hung in effigy over these, but there's no snark no matter where you look at the way that, and also, I pointed out yesterday when I was making my references to this, I had discovered that over on Morning Joe on MSNBC, which we don't play audio from because I have instituted a ban on that whole network, understandably, it's trash.
But that Mika Brzezinski blamed rap music for those frat boys singing what they were singing. It was unheard of! And (Joe) Scarborough agreed with her and to me this has opened up coverage of an event like this that I haven't seen in a long time. There is actual discussion taking place now on the free speech rights of the frat boys and how the university is denying them! And the usual civil rights coalition is not up in arms over this.
Brzezinski predictably backpedaled ("tries to clarify" was Mediaite's passive-aggressive take) within hours during an appearance on MSNBC with suitably aggrieved cable colleague Al Sharpton. The odds of Limbaugh doing likewise? Nil to slim at best.
