Piers Morgan Blames Kanye West for ‘White Girls Singing N—–‘

“He is spewing his anti-Black vitriol again,” tweets one of British journalist’s latest column

PIERS MORGAN

Piers Morgan has incited anger online for a column he wrote in The Daily Mail arguing that white people — young women in particular — shouldn’t be criticized for singing along to the Kanye West hit “Gold Digger,” which includes the lyric “n—as.”

 

Morgan isn’t a newcomer when it comes to making divisive statements or sharing unpopular opinions. For example, after the terrorist attack at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, in June, Morgan criticized the pop star for not staying in town after the tragedy to visit survivors. Grande later held a benefit concert in Manchester for the survivors featuring several other artists, raising more than $3 million.

In Morgan’s article, the N-slur ending with “a” was published in full, no letter censored. But his reference to the N-word ending with “r” was. He argued that the move too keep  the first-mentioned slur intact will “inevitably provoke outrage… but that outrage is also an important and relevant factor for the purposes of this column.”

His point was that he was publishing the lyric to the No. 1 chart-topping song verbatim, as it was originally published by the record company. “I’ve spelled out the word ‘n—as’ [TheWrap has censored it here] exactly as it was written in the song’s lyrics because it’s important and relevant to do so for the purposes of this column,” argued the British journalist.

Morgan went on to cite a Facebook video featuring sorority members from the University of New Hampshire singing along to West’s “Gold Digger,” including the portions of the song that include the N-word. The post had been shared on another UNH Facebook page dedicated to calling out injustices.

Morgan called out criticism of the sing-a-long “utter nonsense.”

He went on to argue that there is a difference between using the N-word with an “er” or an “as” at the end, saying the latter is used commonly in the black community. Morgan said it has grown acceptable to use the slur in the white community as well, and blames artists like West for using it in song lyrics.

Morgan doesn’t believe either form the word should be used, he concluded, and wishes “the n-word could be expunged from society altogether, as the k-word has been pretty much eradicated in South Africa.”

“But if rappers like Kanye West insist on using it, and writing songs with the word in either form, then it is absolutely predictable and understandable that their fans will sing the songs just as they hear them – regardless of the colour of their skin,” Morgan concluded. “If you want someone to blame, then blame Kanye West.”

Twitter users, however, are lashing out at Morgan’s column.

“Retweet this if you think that Piers Morgan should go on a tour of black neighborhoods & explain why white girls should be able to say n—-” one user tweeted.

“Piers Morgan is actually obsessed with getting reactions out of black people. he’s actually sick in the head,” added another.

https://twitter.com/ira/status/910944111871483904

Despite the backlash, Morgan seemed pretty self-satisfied with his work, tweeting a screenshot of his name trending on Twitter. “Well, my new column’s definitely got America talking…” he said.

There have been several instances of white figures using the racist slur in recent months, including YouTube star PewDiePie and Bill Maher.

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