Should black celebrities boycott Donald Trump?
OPINION - Trump once tried to diffuse accusations of racism by explaining that he has a great relationship with “the blacks.” Perhaps it’s time one of the blacks he’s met recently explain to him how friendship works...
Donald Trump is kind of a bigot. Just like New York is kind of crowded. Akin to Tami Roman being kind of temperamental. Similar to saying Beyoncé is kind of a gay icon.
That isn’t exactly news, though attention whores don’t necessarily care about keeping their material fresh, so long as their mission is accomplished. Enter Trump revisiting the theory that President Obama was born in Kenya instead of Hawaii — which, if memory serves correctly (and it does), several government documents have long noted was crock. The Don doesn’t care about silly little things like facts, though, which is why he called into CNBC to declare, “Nothing has changed my mind.”
He added: “Look, a publisher come out last week and had a statement about Obama given to them by Obama when he was doing a book as a young man, a number of years ago, in the 90s. Now amazingly, the publisher is ‘oh we made a mistake.'”
What’s amazing is that a reality star continues to have this much political clout despite being to politics what a honey bun is to a healthy diet. Also amazing: that more people won’t just state plainly what all of Trump’s talking points on this matter boil down to.
Nevertheless, Trump continued his rant, saying, “A lot of people want to see his college transcripts. They’re not looking at his marks, his grades…. They want to see, what does he say about place of birth. Now, those transcripts have disappeared, nobody seems to be able to get them.”
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Trump seems to believe that he is one walking, blabbering Scooby Doo and the Mystery Machine who will one day force President Obama to utter, “I would have gotten away with my faux citizenship if it weren’t for that meddling Trump.”
Meanwhile, those of us enjoying the saner side of life are wondering when exactly the press will start ignoring him. Actually, no — I’m well aware of the reality of today’s political climate, which suggests ‘the Donald’ will be afforded the opportunity to continue soiling our political coverage so long as his tongue works. Fine, but if we can’t shut him up can we at least start calling him the race-baiter that he is?
Some have suggested that maybe it’s time some of the black people who have helped him make money in recent years publicly repudiate his “birther” sentiments. Particularly folks like NeNe Leakes, Star Jones, and Arsenio Hall. Each of them have added a certain panache to Celebrity Apprentice, and without them, the show would arguably not have performed as well. I get the concept of not biting the hand that feeds you, but what if said hand is backhanding your people?
Trump once tried to diffuse accusations of racism by explaining that he has a great relationship with “the blacks.” Perhaps it’s time one of the blacks he’s met recently explain to him how friendship works. I imagine if he spoke with any of those past Celebrity Apprentice contestants they’d let him know how unfortunate it is to hear the racially tinged comments he’s been making about President Obama over the last year. Not to mention ill-advised, considering that alienating large groups is not the key to maintaining popularity for any show airing on a broadcast network.
Would any of them disavowing Trump publicly change his opinion? Probably not. In fact, there’s a risk that engaging him might only embolden him to keep pushing his nonsense. But, it might provide him with a much needed reminder about how one’s mouth can ruin things with one’s moneymakers.
Follow Michael Arceneaux on Twitter @youngsinick.
