Cari Champion claps back at trolls after death threats, called N-word
'It's really about the people who asked the question, not the question.'
Cari Champion is clapping back at trolls after receiving death threats and being called the N-word following an interview with YouTube hotshot Jake Paul.
theGRIO previously reported, the popular influencer recently appeared on the VICE TV show Cari & Jemele (Won’t) Stick to Sports, where Champion and her co-host Jemele Hill asked Paul if knocking out former NBA player Nate Robinson, during their much-buzzed-about boxing match, was ‘racist.’ After catching heat over the question, the two former ESPN anchors have insisted that their comments were in jest.
READ MORE: Jemele Hill trolls Jake Paul, asking if knocking out Nate Robinson was ‘racist’
“The real reason why we’re getting so much blow back – it’s really about the people who asked the question, not the question,” Champion said in a follow-up episode of Cari & Jemele (Won’t) Stick to Sports. “Because if you were really outraged by that question, you would not be in my DMs or on Twitter saying that I should be raped, that my family should be killed, that I am a nigger. Because I asked a question to a YouTuber you didn’t like, you guys go to the other extreme: raped, killed, my family should be dead, I’m a nigger. That’s disgusting,” she continued.
Champion also addressed the racist haters in an Instagram post.
“I really have no problem with y’all being mad at the question, the joke, or whatever you say is the issue. But I KNOW it’s about the PEOPLE asking the question,” she wrote. “Staying in my mentions and DM’s saying I’m a NIGGER, I should be DEAD and or RAPED does not scare me. It is DISGUSTING!! I will continue to talk freely about racism and fighting for equality,” she continued.
“I know my voice and power scares you… I will joke bc if I don’t – I will be mad crazy! It’s okay to be mad but miss me with death threats and your VILE HATRED! Where you all this upset when #breonnataylor , #georgefloyd were murdered? Really be honest about your outrage! Don’t get distracted. There is more work to do,” Champion concluded.
Champion believes angry trolls want to “cancel” she and Hill’s liberal sports commentary show. She says the backlash has embolden her to speak out about racism and inequality in America. She also took to Twitter to mock those who fail to understand their sarcasm.
“Y’all, [HIll] and I were trolling a troll with permission. This wasn’t an interview with weight. It was sarcastic- y’all need context? Bc if y’all can’t hear the laughing, the bad WiFi connection- smh. So for the outraged! For more context Thurs. at 1130pm on [Vice TV],” Champion tweeted.
Read More: Nate Robinson shares iconic ‘Friday’ clip in response to knockout
Paul, who is white, knocked out Robinson, who is Black, in an embarrassing spectacle at the Staples Center on Nov. 28.
In the now-viral clip from Cari & Jemele (Won’t) Stick to Sports, Hill asks, “Jake, considering where we are right now in our racial conversation in America, was what you did to Nate Robinson racist?”
Paul is immediately thrown off by the question, telling her, “Nah, stop playin’ with me.”
Hill said of the backlash to the question, “This is the silliest, stupidest controversy I have ever been associated with.”
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