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Limbaugh on NBA fight: "This is the hip-hop culture on parade"
Media Matters ^ | November 24, 2004 | A. S.

Posted on 11/27/2004 8:54:40 AM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection

Nationally syndicated radio host Rush Limbaugh said that a November 19 brawl that broke out during a National Basketball Association (NBA) game was "hip-hop culture on parade." Limbaugh asserted that the fight -- which involved Indiana Pacers team members and Detroit Pistons team members and fans -- was "gang behavior on parade minus the guns," and that NBA uniforms are "now in gang colors. They are in gang styles." In making the comments, Limbaugh conceded that his remarks were likely to be "tagged as racist." Limbaugh also appeared to compare the brawl to the unrest in Fallujah, Iraq, suggesting that Detroit be renamed "New Fallujah, Michigan."

Limbaugh delivered his remarks on the same day that he touted his receipt of the Winston Churchill Statesmanship Award from the conservative Claremont Institute. Previous award recipients include former President Ronald Reagan, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and National Review founder William F. Buckley Jr. San Diego Chargers owner Alex G. Spanos, who presented Limbaugh with the award, noted that it is given to "those who look up to the sky for the noble principles of justice, right and liberty."

From the November 22 edition of The Rush Limbaugh Show:

    LIMBAUGH: There is something about this hip-hop culture business. I'm not going to mention the name because there's thousands of them, but I've been watching interviews with ex-NBA players and current NBA players. You know what the common theme that I'm hearing is? "Well, I'm not going to be dissed. I'm simply not going to be disrespected. Somebody disrespects me, they're going to pay for it." Meaning, "A fan disrespects me, that fan's going to pay for it," not just another player.

    And that comes right out of the hip-hop culture, and it's not just that. You look at NBA players and the uniforms, you don't have to go back very far. The uniforms have changed totally. They're now in gang colors. They are in gang styles.

    [...]

    But there's a reason this is happening. I'm not saying it's nothing to be concerned about. There's a reason. But I don't think anybody ought to be surprised, folks. I really don't think anybody ought to be surprised. This is the hip-hop culture on parade. This is gang behavior on parade minus the guns. That's the culture that the NBA has become. So if anybody will be honest with you about it in the NBA, and a very few will have the courage to, because saying what I just said is going to be tagged as racist, but I, my friends, am fearless when it comes to this because the truth will out, and that's what's happening here, and part and parcel of this gang culture, this hip-hop culture, is: "I'm not going to tolerate being dissed. I'm not going to be disrespected," and "disrespected" is now so broad that it includes somebody looking at you the wrong way.

    [...]

    CALLER: This is not a new thing with the Piston fans.

    LIMBAUGH: I know. That's why I say call it "New Fallujah, Michigan."



TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: hiphop; hiphopculture; nba; rush
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To: Colonel Kangaroo
I don't like the NBA for the way they've treated the great game of college basketball.

Don't look now, but when a third of the first round draft choices have not even enrolled in college yet, it appears there's a developing trend to select even less socially mature kids to shower millions on, for what? Certainly not developed skills once fundamental to basketball.

61 posted on 11/27/2004 11:20:24 AM PST by onehipdad (My President Kicks A$$ - Big Time!)
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To: cyborg
Read me again. I said most not all. Maybe most is too much also but there are a hell of a lot of them. Just read the papers every week or so. Judge mental yes, ignorant? Well if watching the news makes me ignorant, then put me down with millions of others. And as far as being judge mental, isn't that what you are doing to me?
62 posted on 11/27/2004 12:25:53 PM PST by fish hawk
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To: narses

My 12 year old son thinks basketball is THE ultimate sport and he is going to be a pro basketball case when he grows up. Although he will likely be 5'8" and 150 pounds with few skills.

One time I told him he would never be a pro sports player at anything and I saw his heart and mind break. I could see it like he told me straight up but in that split second I recovered and said unless you get good grades and go to college.

Nonetheless to him and his friends basketball players are the coolest people on the planet. The school had a dress code this year but due to lawsuits it will be dropped this week and he is the happiest camper on the face of the earth because he can now wear NBA jerseys to school.


63 posted on 11/27/2004 12:30:22 PM PST by winodog (We need to water the liberty tree)
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To: EagleUSA

Make that two minutes with no timeouts and I might actually watch a game on TV.


64 posted on 11/27/2004 12:33:00 PM PST by winodog (We need to water the liberty tree)
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection

Every once in a while, Rush still nails it, bop, right on the head!


65 posted on 11/27/2004 12:33:51 PM PST by iconoclast (Conservative, not partisan)
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To: BigBobber

Hmmm three responses by me in 16 post's. That is a record for me. There is no difference between your statements and the debate that the NAACP puts forth to demand that blacks be given the job over a white christian who is more qualified.


66 posted on 11/27/2004 12:41:06 PM PST by winodog (We need to water the liberty tree)
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To: Randjuke

Try a picture of Webber, who has been in trouble with the law. They traded Jason Williams for a tatooed Mike Bibby. Doug Christie looks like he just got out of prison.


67 posted on 11/28/2004 5:41:19 AM PST by LS
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