Reason First: Is Benzino a Racist?

It’s one thing to spew hatred on the media landscape to match the directions of radio stations, television channels, and websites. But with respected figures like Benzino, he should have had greater situational awareness. Instead of going on a racist tirade, he should have paid attention to the blatant bigotry and racism that he spouted towards a law enforcement officer. As a man of mixed races, he may have been compelled to spit such hatred. It’s either that or he just could not control his emotions.

For a man of Benzino’s stature and his meaning to the genre of hip hop, he should have displayed more restraint. To hurl disrespectful racial epithets ought to be a thing of the past. Men and women have moved on from such fare. On YouTube, there are algorithms that take down content if it is too heavily laced in certain words, except for n––, for some reason. Benzino’s vicious verbiage proves that he was lost in the moment. But underneath may lie the animosity towards yellow people. His apology signals a man at least trying to rectify his bad ways. The clip still seemed to be dripping with vitriol. No matter the case, Benzino now might need to go on an apology tour to Asian American leaders. Who else but the heads of Fortune 500 companies that happen to feature CEOs of the Asian persuasion should Benzino sit down with, now? The scant amount of yellow business heads only magnifies Benzino’s poor choice of words. Rather than scream at police officers for doing their jobs, Benzino can now talk with business owners to see how he can partner with them on deals. Most likely he also may have to cough up a few figures to a few Asian American charities to smooth things over a bit.

Completely driven by emotion, his outburst is different from personalities who use clever wordplay and interesting sketches to defuse the atomic bomb of racism. Comedians, journalists, and other media figures have deployed f-bombs, c-bombs, and n-bombs over audiences to applause and higher ratings. Benzino was out of control and seemingly unable to bridle his tongue.

What ought to happen now is for Benzino to take to the mind that in this context, he was hurtful, irrational, and inflammatory. For a grown man with the clout of a Benzino, this will mar his reputation. He will forever be known as the hip hop executive that ran off at the mouth in such a foul way. His track record with beef involving Eminem might be related to his hatred for people of lighter shades than himself. And that’s saying something as his German, Cape Verdean, Puerto Rican, and African American heritage shows him to be of lighter complexion. As the time slips on, this incident may just be viewed as a flare-up rather than a major malady. Benzino deserves another chance based on the fact that he apologized already. If this were media, no apology would be necessary. It would be baked into the presentation, and depending on how it’s spun, he would have again received accolades and adoration. He would have to craft a well-researched attack against a rival to be included in this group. It would take weeks to hone in on the right words to express and how to convey that message to that person. But not in the way that he did with the police officer.

Alas, the police footage showed a man totally removed from reason for a moment. Benzino should have just waited to get on the radio or a recording to voice his ideas. Sadly, he was unable to reserve the right to remain silent.