Debbie Schlussel: Hip Hop Billionaire Defends Chavez
Hip hop billionaire, Russell Simmons, is mad that Americans are upset by Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez's outrageous, anti-American comments at the UN and around New York.
Instead of attacking Chavez's comments, Simmons--the man who made billions from American consumers of his Def Jam records and his Phat Farm clothes--attacked Americans.
Today's New York Daily News reports that Simmons made these absurd comments:
"The name-calling . . . perpetuates the cycle of violence. We have freedom of speech in this country, and he was expressing an opinion. It wasn't the most eloquent way to say it, but all this outrage because someone has an opinion is just negative. We should promote love and understanding."
Uh, "name-calling"? Chavez called Bush "the devil" and an "alcoholic." Simmons' Rodney King can't-we-all-just-get-along? philosophy is anachronistic in this day and age. Leave it to a "trend-setter" like Simmons not to have a clue.
And by the way, Simmons made this ludicrous statement at
the Clinton Global Initiative conference at the Sheraton, where former President Bill Clinton pushed his stands on climate change, poverty and disease.
Figures. Simmons is hardly one to lecture anyone about promoting love and understanding, since his Hip-Hop Summit Action Network promotes Islamofascism and anti-Semitism, as I detailed in the Jerusalem Post.
Posted by Debbie on September 25, 2006 04:21 PM to Debbie Schlussel