Whatever choice of words she used for whatever her gripe was (about rap music), Ludacris DEFINITELY wasn’t that rapper she should’ve been too concerned about (trust me on that one).
Other than rapper Ludaris, there are far too many other rappers that would’ve fit the bill of her dig (that-again-if you know rap music) would have instantly popped in your mind and could’ve easily fit the bill of her scorn.
If you would have seen the moment, (and you know rap music), aloud to your television screen, immediately you said: “Uh Un Oprah. That’s the wrong rapper.” (I could clearly see myself working for her in that moment with my clipboard in hand, headset on, and waving from behind the curtain: “No Oprah No! Bad timing! Wrong rapper!”…because although she had the right idea about a subject that needed discussion, she’s still a journalist and it made her look semi-uniformed (about the person she was interviewing–despite his connection to the subject under scorn).
Although whatever choice of words her gripe was about-Ludacris is not exempt from, to know rap music and his catalog, Oprah’s gripe (and choice of words) is not even Ludacris’ m.o. THAT’s what made the moment go over badly, or ‘weird.’ It being the right “place” is neither here nor there-it’s her platform, she owns that. But what she didn’t own was the time-the timing. And it just wasn’t the right time and was bad timing to take her dig at the rapper. It merely felt like she was pushed by the reputation of her “Oprah” brand to do it as, time was ticking and the show would soon be over.
That said, if you were old school or an older generation with that older generation’s view of rap music as a whole, sitting there looking at the screen, you would have yelled: “Get him Oprah!”
…but still, Oprah had the wrong rapper for her gripe and the feel of it was like if someone would call Ludacris a “gangster rapper” (as a person who knows: rap music, Ludacris’ catalog, m.o, rap style) you would have giggled at the moment because it was like your auntie or grandmother complaining about “that rap music!”
As was as if Oprah felt like, although an entire cast was on the stage doing an interview, her (conservative) weekly general audience knew there was “a rapper” sitting on her stage, and Oprah felt like she almost had to make mention her displeasure about the misogyny in rap music—to satisfy them (even if she meant it for herself). And that is EXACTLY how the moment went over.
The problem is, it sent shockwaves through the rap community and made Oprah public enemy #1 in the eyes of rap and rappers.
After that, panels of sub-cultural diversity understanding panels had to be had:
Even Oprah provided the platform for a couple of them:
50 Cent had even named one of his dogs after Oprah (and she called his a$$ on it too). She took it all in stride and said considering the fact that she loves dogs, she took it as
Spitfire .
Media Maestro .
Writing Rhinoceros .
