Bill Simmons and Eminem are the latest to catch an uppercut from the ‘woke’ community.
They’ve both benefited from black culture, but haven’t shown gratitude in their actions. While their faults deserve to be highlighted, it makes you wonder why certain celebrities are escaping criticism — especially those surrounding the Kardashian clan.
While no one is accusing Kim & co. of outright racism, they certainly aren’t using their star power to fight the good fight.
Bill Simmons and Eminem needed to be checked, but at least they’re bringing in some balance with their talents.
Why are we letting these other celebrities off easy?
Eminem caught flack earlier this week for a leaked alternate verse from 2019’s “Bang.” In the song, Eminem dissed Sean “Diddy” Combs’ Revolt Media, saying, in a nutshell, “f*ck Revolt.”
Revolt countered with a bruising response:
Why does Eminem, someone who is a guest in Black culture, think he can talk down to REVOLT? REVOLT is a BLACK media company, owned by a Black entrepreneur, with a majority Black team – that is authentic and real about this…
Eminem trying to come for us is an unneeded distraction. It is not OK.
Eminem responded gracefully and, shockingly, accepted the criticism.
Bill Simmons’ story is a little more nuanced.
His sports media company, The Ringer, heavily covers leagues like the NBA and NFL that feature predominately black players.
His workforce, however, is predominately white, over 90%, according to The New York Times. Some of the black people he did hire said they felt “uncomfortable” working at The Ringer.
That’s all the internet needed to launch an assault.
You can argue that Eminem did the right thing by deleting his verse and then apologizing when it was leaked.
And you can argue that Bill Simmons is allowed to work with whoever he wants.
But one thing you can’t deny is that people are angry and ready to cancel. Here are some other celebrities who could soon find themselves in the crosshairs.
The “world’s youngest billionaire” hasn’t exactly been using her platform to bring truth to power. That’s even more surprising consider Kylie Jenner has a daughter who might someday have to face the struggle that Black Lives Matter is trying to overcome.
The influencer has nearly 200 million Instagram followers, and yet she’s only made one post regarding the BLM movement. Ironically, it was a quote from Martin Luther King Jr. about how silence is betrayal.
If silence is betrayal, what is ‘doing the bare minimum?’
She’s only made one socially relevant post in the entire month of June. It was a generic reminder to vote sandwiched between two shots of her pouty lips.
The world is going through a revolution, and Kylie Jenner can’t stop hawking her brand.
You could copy everything from the Kylie Jenner blurb and paste it into Kim Kardashian’s. She made one post about black lives that was soon swallowed by dozens of photos of her semi-nude body.
What’s worse, Kardashian has already been under fire for appropriating cornrows from black culture. You’d think she could spare more than one post about Black Lives to her 177 million Instagram followers.
At least Khloe Kardashian has made an actual effort.
Obviously, this character is more related to Eminem than any Kardashians.
But it begs the question: Can you cancel somebody that people stopped paying attention to years ago? If so, no one fits the bill better than Kid Rock.
He shot to fame in the late nineties for his rock-rap hybrid music. He’d be nothing without the hip-hop that gave him a unique spin on an otherwise bland sound.
Once hip-hop helped him achieve fame and success, he pulled a quick 180 and became a country music singer. Now he plays golf with Donald Trump.
Other stars like Miley Cyrus and Justin Beiber have faced the ‘appropriation’ criticism.
We just could be getting started.