After Imus, Sharpton To Target Hip-Hop Industry
After Imus, Sharpton To Target Hip-Hop Industry
April 15, 2007
(CBS) NEW YORK After playing a prominent role in the firing of Don Imus by MSNBC and CBS Radio, the Rev. Al Sharpton said he's now turning his attention to the music industry, specifically Hip-Hop that often uses lyrics that are racist and demeaning to women.
The subject of numerous death threats over the last few days, Sharpton said he wants to meet with some performers in the industry about offensive lyrics. Whether he will demand they stop using such lyrics remains to be seen.
WCBSTV.com learned early Saturday that the National Action Network had stepped up the civil rights activist's security detail after receiving serious threats in response to his campaign to have radio host Imus fired for making racist and sexist remarks against the Rutgers women's basketball team.
"We have received several threats that we consider serious," Sharpton said in a published report on Sunday. "I have been stabbed once, so we don't take anything too lightly."
Charlie King, acting executive director of Sharpton's National Action Network, said that one caller telephoned the civil rights leader's radio show Saturday on WLIB-AM, threatening to "hunt him down and shoot him like an animal."
Sharpton became one of Imus' most vocal critics after the veteran broadcaster calling the Rutgers players "nappy-headed hos" on his show last week.
"Since Rev. Sharpton survived a personal assassination attempt where he was stabbed, we take any and all threats, especially at this volume, very serious," King said. "Therefore, all may be comfortable that we will not take the safety of our staff or that of our President lightly.”
The NYPD confirmed an increased security presence in the vicinity of Sharpton's church in Harlem and for his staff over the weekend.
Sharpton was stabbed in the chest by Michael Riccardi on Jan. 12, 1991, as the Reverend was leading a protest in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn. Sharpton later filed suit against the city accusing the NYPD of failing to protect him. The two sides eventually settled.
Sharpton told CBS 2's Marcia Kramer on Friday that just hours after he met with CBS Chairman and CEO Les Moonves on Thursday he got a call that Imus was getting fired.
"I remember saying to Mr. Moonves, 'if you said it, you'd be fired. Does he have more rights than you?'" Sharpton said.
Part of Sharpton's power and visibility comes from his National Action Network -- with its half a million supporters across the country, and his ability to mobilize both opinions and protesters.
Despite toning down his flamboyant and combative style over the years, many still think Sharpton hasn't done enough to erase his controversial past. In the interview with CBS 2, he admitted to making mistakes in the past.
"I think sometimes (I was) being flippant, shooting from the hip, sometimes letting your vanity outrun your sanity," Sharpton said.
His most talked about misstep came two decades ago when he threw much-publicized support behind then-15-year-old Tawana Brawley. The black woman received national attention after claiming she was raped by half a dozen white men, including police officers, near Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
The alleged incident soon became a media sensation, with Sharpton pulling all the strings. However, a grand jury investigated and in October 1988 said there was a lack of evidence that she had been abducted, assaulted, raped or sodomized.
"He could be much more of a formidable force in this country, much more of a leader and respected across the board if he just said I apologize for my past. I did wrong. I'm sorry," radio host and columnist Armstrong Williams told CBS 2 on Friday.
In 1999, Sharpton came to the aid of the family of Amadou Diallo, an African immigrant who was shot to death by NYPD officers. Sharpton claimed that Diallo's death was the result of police brutality and racial profiling. Diallo's family was later awarded $3 million in a wrongful death suit filed against the city.
More recently, Sharpton took up the cause of Sean Bell, an unarmed groom, who was shot dead in a hail of 50 police bullets on Nov. 25, 2006. Sharpton has been a fixture next to Bell's friends, Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman, who were wounded in the shooting.
While Sharpton is a hero in the black community, he said he realizes he has some work to do in the overall court of public opinion.
"I think I've grown. I think I've learned to talk to a broader audience in a way that I don't think everybody is the enemy so I'm trying to offend them," he said.
