A conservative civil-rights activist says hip-hop star Kendrick Lamar was encouraging attacks on cops across the country by opening Sunday's BET Awards with a rap about police brutality while standing on top of a graffiti-covered patrol car.
"It was inciting violence against police officers around the country. A lot of angry, young, black men and women listen to this rap crap and they tend to believe what they are saying," the Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson said Tuesday on "The Steve Malzberg Show" on
Newsmax TV.
"My heart goes out to officers and their families because due to this type of song, we're going to see more and more attacks on police officers around the country … I cannot believe that BET OK'd, authorized this guy to perform that type of song … It was just mind blowing."
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As a ripped American flag waved behind him, Lamar 28, performed his song, "Alright," in which he slams the police, rapping, "And we hate the po-po, wanna kill us dead in the street fo’ sho."
Peterson, president of Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny (BOND) and a syndicated radio host, said the lack of outage over Lamar's incendiary rap reveals a "double standard" in race relations.
"Had that been a white group rapping about killing some black person, it would be a different story. But in this country, black Americans like that are allowed to go out of control, they're allowed to promote racism, they're allowed to promote attacking police officers, white police officers in this country and no one would say or do anything about it," he said.
"It's so unfortunate because I work with lots of young, black men who are coming from single-parent homes and they have a lot of anger and they believe into these types of things. Their hearts are so cold that they are willing to go out and kill a cop because they believe that the cops are against them based on color."
BET — short for Black Entertainment Television — is a cable channel catering to African American audiences and reaches an audience of more than 88 million. It is owned by media giant Viacom. Lamar's appearance on the annual awards show comes as his bestselling album "To Pimp a Butterfly" rides high on the music charts.
Peterson's group BOND is a family and youth building organization.