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Yesterday, armed with petitions signed by over 600,000 people, Nas and the MoveOn.org offshoot ColorofChange.com protested outside the headquarters of Fox News against the network’s perceived racism against “the Obama family” and “black Americans.” Nas called the network a “propaganda machine” and said their attacks have gone too far. Fox News replied with a none-too-subtle dig against Nas’s motivations, releasing a statement that read, “Fox News believes in all protesters exercising their right to free speech, including Nas, who has an album to promote.” Zing!
Well, obviously, that was not the end of that, because no two entities in this world enjoy a beef more than rappers and Fox News. And so it was that Bill O’Reilly used his show’s Talking Points segment on Wednesday night to ratchet things up a notch with some standard O’Reilly hyperbole, calling Moveon.org “the new Klan” and the protesters “Kool-Aid–drinking zombies.” Luckily, for everybody who enjoys being entertained, Nas appeared on The Colbert Report last night to further the beef by making his own absurd statements. “The things he’s saying is worse than the worst rap lyrics I ever heard,” Nas said of O’Reilly, willfully ignoring much of the rap lyrics he’s heard. He also told Colbert, “I think O’Reilly’s afraid of me.” Probably true: He thinks you’re a zombie! Nas challenged O’Reilly to debate with him on neutral turf, which, if it ever actually happened, would probably rival the Lincoln-Douglas debates in historical importance. But until that glorious day, a steady stream of back-and-forth overreactions will have to suffice. —Dan Amira
Nas Protests Fox News Over Racist Coverage [Gothamist]
Nas and Bill O’Reilly Take Their Beef to the Air, As Fox News Host Denies Charges of Racism [MTV]
