In a gesture of dialogue, radio personality Charlemagne tha God recently held a discussion with conservative titan Rush Limbaugh in which the discussed a range of topics, from systemic racism to white privilege. The two seemed to agree on little beyond the fact that George Floyd, an unarmed black man, was murdered by a police officer.
Speaking with late-night host Stephen Colbert on Wednesday night, Charlamagne felt the interview with Rush Limbaugh was a waste of time.
“What really bothered me about that conversation was, after I left that conversation I felt like it wasn’t productive,” said Charlamagne. “I have no problem talking to people from the other side, but I just have to feel like that’s really your truth. I don’t know if I got that from Rush, it felt like more of a performance.”
“It didn’t feel productive, it felt like a waste of my time,” he later added.
As reported by Fox News, Charlamagne told Colbert earlier in the interview that America is “a private club founded by old rich white men, for rich white men” that traps people in a “web of white supremacy.”
During the interview with Rush Limbaugh, the discussion got heated when the two sparred over the concept of white privilege. When Limbaugh cited Charlmagne’s success as a black man, the radio personality asserted that America “denies black people justice and just plain decency” while telling them they should be “happy to be here” in the chance that they could be rich one day.
“When did I say that?” Limbaugh asked. “Charlamagne, you’re adding things to my mouth that I did not say. I was trying to be complimentary of you, and I’m trying to illustrate that you are an example to others.”
“RIP to George Floyd but that was not an isolated incident. This is a regular occurrence,” Charlamagne said. “How are you going to use your privilege as a white male to combat this prejudice?”
Limbaugh flatly rejected the concept of white privilege, denouncing it as a political construct used by liberals.
“I don’t buy into the notion of white privilege. I think that’s a liberal political construct right along the lines of political correctness; it’s designed to intimidate and get people to shut up and admit they’re guilty of doing things they haven’t done,” Limbaugh said. “I don’t have any white privilege.”
“You’re being delusional,” Charlamagne replied.
Charlamagne tha God has become a bit of an amorphous political figure in recent days regarding former Vice President Joe Biden. Speaking on CNN this week, Charlamagne said that Biden’s Senate record reflects “very racist legislation.”
“To me it’s like this: If Barack Obama was JFK, then Joe Biden needs to be Lyndon B. Johnson. You know, he has the opportunity to be as progressive as Lyndon B. Johnson. Lyndon B. Johnson may have been labeled a racist but his record doesn’t reflect that. LBJ’s record showed that he had, like, the most effective progressive record on race and class of any Democratic president of the past 80 years,” he said. “I think, you know, Biden’s record in the Senate actually reflects very racist legislation, but he has a chance to correct that by doing right by black people.”
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