Fox News' supposedly “straight news” show Special Report hyped a freak-out by the right-wing media about First Lady Michelle Obama's invitation of the rapper Common to the White House for a poetry event. Citing a Daily Caller article, Special Report host Bret Baier said that “some on the right are upset that rapper and poet Common will be a guest of the Obamas during a poetry event at the White House.” Baier then quoted some lyrics from a spoken-word performance and other comments by Common that have upset people on the right.
Fox contributor Sarah Palin and Fox News' website Fox Nation are also freaking out about the Common invitation.
But this attack is astonishingly hypocritical.
As we pointed out earlier, Fox was singing a much different tune about Common approximately half-a-year ago. Reporter Jason Robinson interviewed the “rap legend” for an October 2010 report for FoxNews.com and told him, “your music is very positive. And you're known as the conscious rapper. How important is that to you, and how important do you think that is to our kids?"
Common responded that it's a “significant role” and that he's “happy to be known as the conscious rapper.”
Furthermore, if Fox personalities are so upset about what musicians are saying, when will they call out Ted Nugent, a rock musician and conservative activist with a long history of inflammatory rhetoric? Sean Hannity has referred to Nugent as a “friend and frequent guest on the program.” In addition to calling Obama a “piece of shit” and referring to Hillary Clinton as a “worthless bitch,” Nugent claims to have told the president “to suck on” his machine gun and Clinton that she “might want to ride one of these into the sunset.” He made both comments while holding (fake?) machine guns in both hands.
Despite Nugent's vitriol, Palin welcomed him on her podcast, writing in a tweet: “Ted Nugent will be on the SPAlaska.com podcast an hour before the TLC show airs to talk about hunting.”
In addition, if Fox really wants to go down the road of criticizing musicians for select lyrics, there are plenty of other people to criticize. For instance, why has Palin praised musician Kid Rock instead of condemning him?
In her book Going Rogue, Palin expressed her gratitude for the endorsement of Kid Rock and praised him for being “very pro-America” and for having “common sense ideas.” Yet Kid Rock has made a living off selling records with offensive lyrics. He also ignited a controversy with the NAACP after displaying a Confederate flag at a 2008 concert.