Black America’s favorite morning show host Tom Joyner had a few…or more than a few choice words for his former colleague Tavis Smiley and scholar Cornel West.
Joyner wrote that he’s wanted to express something to Smiley for some time now; and ironically, it was Time Magazine’s editor-at-large, Mark Halperin, calling President Obama a “package” on MSNBC that provided the ammunition Joyner needed. He took to Blackamericaweb.com to express his frustrations.
Joyner mentioned that he wanted to be harsh in this post and he didn’t disappoint. He began by referring to Cornel West as Smiley’s “side piece.” And while the rest of the post left Smiley’s sexuality out of it, it was still pretty brutal.
Joyner wrote that not only did Smiley and West “set the tone” for people like Halperin to blatantly disrespect President Obama, they “must take the blame for creating a climate that would make a white professional journalist feel comfortable verbally and vulgarly attacking the first black president of the United States.”
Joyner wrote that while he was appalled by Halperin’s statements, he had no expectations for him like he did for Smiley and West. He once considered both men to be of strong character but wrote that Smiley’s “primary goal became selling books, and later selling out.”
Joyner ended the post by saying that “There’s nothing either can ever do for me or with me again.”
Whew! Strong words, right? And that’s not all. You can read the entire blog post at Blackamericaweb.com. When you’re done come back and let us know what you think about Joyner’s comments.
Did Smiley and West’s comments make it possible for the Halperins of this country to disrespect the president or is he trying to stifle black people from speaking out against President Obama simply because he’s black too?
Let us know what you think.
