MSNBC panel blames rap music for Oklahoma frat's racist chant

MSNBC's Morning Joe crew on Wednesday suggested hip hop music's "garbage" lyrics inspired an Oklahoma fraternity's racist chant about lynching African-Americans.

"Popular culture becomes a cesspool, a lot of corporations profit off it, and then people are surprised when some drunk 19-year-old kids repeat what they've been hearing," The Weekly Standard's Bill Kristol said.

"The kids who are buying hip hop," eponymous host Joe Scarborough added, are "a white audience, and they hear this over and over again."

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Panelist Willie Geist tried to inject reason into the discussion toward the end of the segment, noting that there is a huge difference between rappers using foul language and white teenagers chanting about lynching. "Well of course there is, but..." Scarborough, doing his best Helen Lovejoy impersonation, interjected. —Jon Terbush