Rapper Nas Delivers Fox News Petition, Says Network Is "Scared" (VIDEO)

** Update below: Nas delivers Fox petition to Stephen Colbert **

Rolling Stone reports on the Color Of Change/MoveOn/Brave New Films petition that rapper Nas brought to the offices of Fox News today:

About four hours after the announcement that his controversial, politically charged ninth album was number one in the country, Nas was on a small podium in front of Fox News headquarters in New York City protesting what he sees as racist attacks against Black Americans and presidential candidate Barack Obama. In a brief prepared statement, the multi-platinum rapper pointed out examples of what he and ColorOfChange see as a long racist smear campaign against the Obama family: The onscreen graphic that referred to Michelle Obama as the Senator's "baby mama"; Bill O'Reilly casually using the phrase "lynching party" to refer to attacks on the Senator's wife; referencing to the couple's infamous fist thump as a "terrorist fist jab." Said Nas, "Fox poisons this country every time they air racist propaganda and try to call it news. This should outrage every American that Fox uses hateful language to talk about the person that may be the first black president."

The rapper stood next to 19 neatly stacked cardboard boxes, with the number 620,127 taped to the side of each one -- over 600,000 signatures gathered by ColorOfChange demanding that network president Roger Ailes "find a solution to address racial stereotyping and hate-mongering before it hits the airwaves." Fox rejected the petitions, but Brave New Films says that Comedy Central's The Colbert Report will accept them instead.

Watch video of the scene from Color of Change:

UPDATE: Via the comments section, here's the music video for Sly Fox, Nas's takedown of Fox News (some explicit lyrics):

UPDATE II: Fox News wouldn't accept Nas' petition, but Stephen Colbert did. Take a look (scroll to 8:45):

Comments

[edweird]

Yeah, I heard that "baby mama" comment and my jaw dropped. If that isn't racist, I don't know what is.

[Bperiod]

Gimme a break. Know what you are talking about before you blurt out uninformed BS. The N****R t-shirt and album title were in direct response to the stupid hypocricy associated with the word. It was a statement, not malicious. Also, it just amazes me how "mainstream" society goes on & on about no good rappers, talking about bitches, hoes, drugs, etc...so NAS, basically a hall of famer in hip hop actually tries to lend himself to something worthwhile and he's told he's irrevlevant, nobody will remember him next week, who listens to rappers anyway...b­lah, blah, blah. It's ok to blame them for all the other ills in society, drug use, misogyny, gangs, etc, etc..Every­body listens to them and does what they say then, right? C'mon, at the very least give the man some respect for stepping up, putting himself out there for a worthwhile cause. Wow, just sad.

[Rick33]

"Fox rejected the petitions, but Brave New Films says that Comedy Central's The Colbert Report will accept them instead."

I almost died laughing when I read that line. Colbert is easily the second best choice for POTUS in the Union today (after BHO).

[Ashera]

Lets get educated on All News Media! Its not to educated the uneducated viewers just to blind them even more.
People for Truth will seek it out in every corner.
When cable or satellite consumers refuse themselves the wider range of availability of media and then self educate themselves to reach an open minded opinion.
They only keep themselves in a very small thumbnail box of life!

The new generation that are hungry for truth in media, all media, then they are they winners.

Lets not lower oneself to their standards!

[helloworld2008]

Nas is awesome.

Down with FauxNews!

[pinkyboo]

I'm not a huge rap fan - but I really enjoyed the performance on Colbert.

Nas is a really good lyricist.

[kladinvt]

FoxNews is worthless, except as a 'tool' of the republican party. They in no-way are a 'news outlet'. Propaganda for the republican, YES....New­s, NO.

[Redrover666]

Most watched cable news network for seven years running.
Apparently, most folks would disagree with you.

[70sFez]

Most folks are idiots. To prove my point, Bush in White House for two terms.

[flyrod]

Most watched != most people. Nice try though.

[JustifiablyParanoid]

Apparently, most "folks" don't get it. At all. And that's the problem.

[mattrudy]

Most watched because its viewers don't read. Us "liberals" like to read and educate ourselves. We don't form our decisions based on the slime oozing out of the T.V. set.

[Zeje]

That says something about American TV viewers, doesn't it. Americans loved to be lied to, they love to be diverted from real problems -- and racism is a great diversion. Americans deserve what they get--- high oil prices, home foreclosures, no health care, mediocre education, crumbling infrastructure, weakening dollar, jobs sent overseas, torture, wars, environmental damage -- that's America!

[Catseyes]

The people at FOX NEWS are just a bunch of SKINHEADS with hair and suits.

[claylandg]

what a bad remark to say, fox new is just reporting and spinning the new just like all the new people, it just happens to be harder on Obama and that's why you don't like it. Hell I'm a clinton supporter and all the stations hatted her but no one cared did you ??? nope so who cares about Obama take it like a man.

[wdw101]

so what is CNN the clinton news network

[GQB]

Yeah, I remember how 'pro-clinton' the 100% Clinton crucifixion was by ALL of the MSM, including CNN.

[CaptainStormfield]

Just the tone that the people on Fox use puts me off. Then I realized.. they sound like a game show.
The Richard Dawson character on The Running Man would fit right in.
Its that shrill insistence­.. that is so different than people that we would actually respect and believe.
Dam few of those around anymore. Fox does not present facts or data in an either or , Case 1, Case 2 manner. If you think that calling a hard working women with a degree from Harvard Law someones "baby mama" is okay, they you are a racist.

[DIAGER]

I have not a clue who NAS is, or the totality of his beef with FOX, but the fact that his petitioning FOX on ANYTHING, definitely has my support!!

[beastmode]

long overdue. Fox can be critical and right wing and all that, but they often veer into overt racism. That really isn't acceptable for a news outlet in modern America.

[sassafra]

fox snooze is going to regret that they passed up accepting the petitions and passing them on to stephen colbert.
massively. this is going to make this years darwins awrds.

[swift goat pet for truth]

Good for him.

Surely, Corporate Media was never going to do anything, KO excepted.

[LiarLiarIraqsOnFire]

swift_goat­_pet_for_t­ruth, may I just say, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your name!

If it's alright with you, I'm going to use it in reference to Fascist 527s.

[LuvDaH8ters]

Be, B-Boys and girls, listen again
This is for grown looking girls who's only ten
The ones who watch videos and do what they see
As cute as can be, up in the club with fake ID
Careful, 'fore you meet a man with HIV
You can host the TV like Oprah Winfrey
Whatever you decide, be careful, some men be
Rapists, so act your age, don't pretend to be
Older than you are, give yourself time to grow
You thinking he can give you wealth, but so
Young boys, you can use a lot of help, you know
You thinking life's all about smoking weed and ice
You don't want a be my age and can't read and write
Begging different women for a place to sleep at night
Smart boys turn to men and do whatever they wish
If you believe you can achieve, then say it like this

[gmtwin02]

I now I can

[gmtwin02]

ooops!! I meant

I know I can
Be what I want to be

[stevespelling]

The radical left simply can't stand freedom of speech or independent political thought. They don't complain about the Democratic Media (ABC, CBS, NBC, Time< Newsweek or the New York Times). Without Fox News Channel the entire media would be dominated by the left and we would never get the other side of the story. The stories that are carefully crafted to attack all things Republican & promote Obama's run for the presidency. I don't know who this Naz character is but he's probably on Obama's short list for some cabinet position.

[parkerfly38]

Meanwhile, back at the bridge, billy goats skate by, tolls unpaid...

I don't have an objection to Fox News packaging. They know who their audience is and they make crass overtures to ensure that folks like you remain consistently uniformed.

Why are you uninformed? Because you assume that stories have more than one side. Reality doesn't take ideological positions, friend. Fact checking is fact checking.

Reasonable people could object to racially charged terminologies used in association with black newsmakers. I don't need a political agenda to find fault with Fox calling Mrs. Obama "baby momma."

Again, in trolling these posts, you're not discharging your primary duty. Levy tolls on those goats, my friend. Levy them.

[flatus]

It is really not so much about the speech, Steve. You see, speech can be transcribed and transcriptions are the stuff our courts thrive on. No, the tarring by Fux News is accomplished more by facial expressions and what I call a Fux question. For example, image this scrolling across the bottom of your TV screen: "SteveSpelling: commie, homosexual, or tax evader?"

[willval13]

Your ignorance is practically all-consuming. Let me enlighten you on a few of your points:

1. There is no supression of free speech happening here. The right to Freedom of Speech applies to government involvement in speech matters, protecting an individual or an organization from legal repercussions for something they say. The petition asked Fox News to consider the impact of the language they use. No problems there with Freedom of Speech.

2. There is almost no "left-wing" media any longer. All major news outlets are owned by mega-corporations, which by their very nature are profit oriented and therefore predominantly "right-wing". There are definitely more progressvie individual in the industry (Keith Olbermann, for one), but "the media" as a whole and any individual news organzation is far from "left-wing".

3. If you were paying any attention to news coverage vs real events, you'd see that while the major focus of attention is focused on Obama, it's mainly because he's by far the more interesting story of the two candidates. McCain is boring, and just doesn't pull as many viewers. So returning to point 2 above, who do you think these corporate media is going to pay more attention to? Also, there is some serious editing going on in McCain coverage, leaving out embarrasing gaffes, etc, to make him seem less out of touch than he really is.

4. Nas is a multi-award winning and world-renowned rap artist. Get out from under your rock.

[70sFez]

Why is the sky blue: Answered by a Liberal.
So, why is the sky blue? It is because blue light from the sun strikes the air molecules and scatters and our eyes perceive it as blue.

Why is the sky blue: Answered by Fox News Reporter.
You are seeing things. Stop asking.

[WasteNJ]

We don't want the racist side of the story, genius. Maybe you do.

Racist statements by a major "news" outlet are not acceptable and Fox needs to clean up it's act. By refusing to look at the petitions, they have confirmed that Nas, MoveOn and Color of Change are right, as if we all didn't already know what Fox is about.

[LuvDaH8ters]

To all those Nas haters, who say he is a typical rapper, and they cnat post his lyrics... What about these.....­. My wife used them with her 3RD grade class to study Poetry....­.

I know I can
Be what I want to be
If I work hard at it
I'll be where I want to be
[Kids]
I know I can (I know I can)
Be what I want a be (be what I want a be)
If I work hard at it (If I work hard at it)
I'll be where I want a be

[Nas]
Be, B-Boys and girls, listen up
You can be anything in the world, in God we trust
An architect, doctor, maybe an actress
But nothing comes easy it takes much practice
Like, I met a woman who's becoming a star
She was very beautiful, leaving people in awe
Singing songs, Lena Horn, but the younger version
Hung with the wrong person
got her strung on that her oin
co cai ne sniffing up dr ugs all in her nose...
Coulda died, so young, now looks ugly and old
No fun cause now when she reaches for hugs people hold they breath
Cause she smells of corrosion and death
Watch the company you keep and the crowd you bring
Cause they came to do drugs and you came to sing
So if you gonna be the best, I'm a tell you how,
Put your hands in the air, and take a vow

[wdw101]

she would do much better to teach English...­WoW.....us­e that debauchery of some form of words tossed together to form a poem?.....­... poem no...but..­...maybe he redeems himself for one song

[w&cheneysuck]

http://www.metrolyrics.com/sly-fox-lyrics-nas.html

This are some wonderful words of wisdom!