Twist and Shout

Twist and Shout
Life is never straight (Joey Kulkin photo)

Friday, May 4, 2012

Phil Mushnick, Jay-Z and the Brooklyn "N----s?"





TRENTON -- Phil Mushnick of the New York Post offered no apologies for today's column in which he suggested the Brooklyn Nets should pay total homage to part-owner Jay-Z by calling the team the Brooklyn "N----s". But, should he have apologized?

Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, used to live in Trenton, where he sold drugs. Now he's the most powerful man in hip-hop and is married to Beyonce. They just had a baby girl. But Mushnick doesn't care if Jay-Z is a family man. He doesn't believe he should be an owner of the Nets, who start their first season in Brooklyn next season.

"As long as the Nets are allowing Jay-Z to call their marketing shots -- what a shock that he chose black and white as the new team colors to stress, as the Nets explained, their new "urban" home -- why not have him apply the full Jay-Z treatment? Why the Brooklyn Nets when they can be the New York N------s? The cheerleaders could be the Brooklyn B----hes or Hoes. Team logo? A 9 mm with hollow-tip shell casings strewn beneath. Wanna be Jay-Z hip? Then go all the way!"

As one would expect, those words spread across the Twitterverse, so we'll be hearing calls for Mushnick's head any second. Mushnick is generally respected for his biting column that dissects sports TV and radio personalities. I e-mailed him to ask if he was just being really sarcastic and perhaps he went a bit too far to the other side, and this was his reply: "Joey - take it up with Jay-Z. I don't call black men Niggaz. He does. Thanks - mushnick"

Mushnick also responded to questions posed by Bob of www.bobsblitz.com and said this: "Bob - Such obvious, wishful and ignorant mischaracterizations of what I write are common. I don't call black men the N-word; I don't regard young women as bitches and whores; I don't glorify the use of assault weapons and drugs. Jay-Z, on the other hand.....Is he the only NBA owner allowed to call black men N---ers? Jay-Z profits from the worst and most sustaining self-enslaving stereotypes of black-American culture and I'M the racist? Some truths, I guess, are just hard to read, let alone think about."

One day in Roswell I referenced Hitler in the lede of a story about the new VW bugs. Was it appropriate for that story? Probably not, but it's how I wrote what I wrote that got me fired. Am I a Nazi. No. I'm a Jew.

Anyway, should Mushnick be punished? If so, how? Or is his point valid?

Here is his COLUMN

1 comment:

  1. Gut reaction? Didn't see a reason why Mushnick should be punished. Lot of stuff in that column about a lot of people ... and those ate common words in Jay-Zs musical world.

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