Over the last two days the Fox News network has focused on alleged controversy involving a rapper/actor invited to the White House. The rapper in question goes by the “Common,” and he was invited to the White House as part of a poetry event. However, Fox News personalities took issue with a number of lyrics written by Common, and condemned the Obama administration for allowing him to step foot inside the White House. Last night Jon Stewart gave his own take on the story, and in classic Stewart-like fashion dismantled the conservative narrative against Common. A video of Stewart’s segment can be seen to the left. A summary appears below.
Stewart first argues that Common is actually not the controversial figure that Fox News has portrayed him to be. Common certainly does not qualify as a “ganster” rapper. Even a Fox News reporter described Common ‘s lyrics as “very positive” and said he was known as a “conscious rapper.”
Stewart then claimed that Fox News commentators ignored Common’s entire body of work except for one poem written in 2007. The poem apparently refers to President Bush as a “burning bush.” Another song talks about carrying a gun and “rolling” down the street. As Stewart points out, Sean Hannity actually cut off the song he was quoting, in which Common refers to the violent life on “the streets” only to later tell his audience to avoid that path in order to truly pursue their dreams.
Stewart also argues that conservatives are ignoring their own acceptance of violent rhetoric in the past. Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity both defended Sarah Palin’s use of the phrase “Don’t retreat, reload” and her use of crosshairs imagery over the districts of political opponents. President Bush once hosted Johnny Cash at the White House. Cash has written a number of lyrics referring to violence such as “I took a shot of cocaine and I shot my woman down.”
Perhaps most damning, Stewart found a video clip from the past when Sean Hannity was asked to condemn Ted Nugent after Nugent talked about making Obama “suck on my machine gun.” Hannity refused to condemn Nugent’s comments and instead said “I like Ted Nugent he’s a friend of mine.”
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