Today’s Regularly Scheduled State-Of-The-State-Of-Hip-Hop Update

Brian Raftery | April 26, 2007 3:52 am

Russell Simmons appeared on The O’Reilly Factor last night (above) to promote his new book, Do You! (we don’t know why he gave it such a terrible title–do you?). Not surprisingly, most of the discussion was about Simmons’ proposal to ban those three words from radio, and about Cam’ron’s 60 Minutes appearance. It’s nowhere near as hot-headedly crazy as you’d expect, though O’Reilly does have some threatening words regarding Cam’ron: “He was in [the studio], if he comes in here again, I’ll wise him up.”

Speaking of Cam, he’s hired a publicity firm to help him deal with the public fall-out from his anti-snitching statements, and released a statement today apologizing for his comments:

“In 2005, I was a victim of a violent crime. I was shot multiple times without provocation by two armed men who attempted to carjack my vehicle. Although I was a crime victim, I didn’t feel like I could cooperate with the police investigation. Where I come from, once word gets out that you’ve cooperated with the police that only makes you a bigger target of criminal violence. That is a dark reality in so many neighborhoods like mine across America. I’m not saying its right, but its reality. And it’s not unfounded. There’s a harsh reality around violence and criminal justice in our inner cities.

“But my experience in no way justifies what I said. Looking back now, I can see how those comments could be viewed as offensive, especially to those who have suffered their own personal tragedies or to those who put their lives on the line to protect our citizens from crime. Please understand that I was expressing my own personal frustration at my own personal circumstances. I in no way was intending to be malicious or harmful. I apologize deeply for this error in judgment.”

Fine. But when’s he gonna own up to that sweater?

Russell Simmons on The O’Reilly Factor (4-25-2007) [OnSmash]