Bill O’Reilly Blames Lil Wayne for High Unemployment Rate & Lack of Education Among Blacks

By: Taren Vaughan

Bill O’Reilly blames Lil Wayne for high unemployment rate and lack of education among blacks? Bill O’Reilly criticizing entertainers is nothing new at all as the television host and political columnist has always been a very outspoken person who says exactly what is on his mind, regardless of whether or not he receives a round of applause for it. And Lil Wayne is one of the latest artists to receive criticism from Bill. Lil Wayne has a tendency to say and do some rather controversial things as the rapper doesn’t filter himself for anyone. And many of his fans love that about him, despite the unfavorable situations it has caused Lil Wayne to find himself in. Bill O’Reilly however seems to think Lil Wayne is one of the root causes behind why the unemployment rate for African Americans continues to remain high and the lack of education among Black youth.

Bill O’Reilly says:

“And then there is the cultural problem. Even if there were plenty of jobs, most employers are not going to hire people who can’t read well and speak proper English. Right now, the unemployment rate among black males ages 16-19 is 57%. It’s 25% for white males that age. Overall, black unemployment 14%, while white unemployment 6.6%. The reason? In many poor neighborhoods, there’s chaos, violence and little discipline in the public schools. Kids aren’t learning. Also, with the African American out-of-wedlock birth rate at 73%, many young blacks are unsupervised and prone to imitate bad behavior. Like what Lil Wayne puts out:

Pop a lot of pain pills
Bout to put rims on my skateboard wheels
Beat that p*ssy up like Emmett Till
Yeah….
Two cell phones ringin’ at the same time
That’s your h*, callin’ from two different phones
Tell that b*tch “leave me the f*ck alone!”
See, you f*ck her wrong, and I f*ck her long

Now, after hearing that piece of garbage, Mountain Dew pulled a multi-million dollar endorsement deal the company had with Lil Wayne. Presto. Guess who intervenes? Does the name Al Sharpton ring a bell? His National Action Network held a meeting with Mountain Dew and the family of Emmett Till, who were outraged by that stupid rap. And by the way, if you want to know what happened to Emmett Till, you should read Killing Kennedy. We vividly examine why he was murdered. Anyway, in a statement, Sharpton said, “National Action Network doesn’t want the end result to be the penalization of artists – although they clearly need to be corrected.” Well, that’s kind of holistic, isn’t it? And here’s a shocker: the parent company of Lil Wayne, Cash Money Content, which markets vile stuff that hurts children, is a partner in distributing Sharpton’s upcoming book. That’s right: Al Sharpton is in business with people who put out entertainment harmful to children…The fact is, Al Sharpton is allowing a company that harms Black children to distribute his book…The civil rights industry is not addressing the core reason why many African Americans are not succeeding in the marketplace. Because of that, young blacks continue to be at risk and have enormous obstacles to overcome.”

Bill didn’t stop there as he took to his column to go after Lil Wayne, Jay Z, Kanye West and President Obama for not doing their part in trying to improve things in the crime-ridden areas in Chicago and other cities in the country. And he calls rappers out for glamorizing violent behavior and substance abuse in their songs:

“President Obama and our leaders in Washington surely understand the root of the black crime problem. So do self-appointed civil rights leaders like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. But they rarely discuss the matter in public. That might anger their constituency and be bad for business. When was the last time you saw a demonstration discouraging young black girls from getting pregnant outside of marriage? When was the last time the President held a press conference on the issue? When was the last time we saw the federal government put out a public service ad encouraging children to reject drugs and violence? Maybe Jay Z could do such an ad. How about Lil Wayne? Kanye West? These guys make millions rapping about dubious behavior. Sometimes they glamorize it. So why don’t they lead the charge to improve things on the south side of Chicago and other places under siege?

“There was plenty of outrage in the black precincts over the Zimmerman verdict. Understandable. But there is little national anger over thousands of African-Americans being gunned down in the streets by out-of-control young men, the vast majority of them black. Until the American leadership begins to encourage the return of the traditional black family, the enormous problems of black poverty and crime will continue. And the fear of young black men will continue. And the death of innocents will continue. Maybe Jay Z can rap about that.”

Cash Money CEO Bryan “Birdman” Williams hasn’t offered a response to Bill O’Reilly’s comments about Lil Wayne, but he did have some words to say about Mountain Dew dropping Wayne over the lyric he rapped about Emmett Till and Reebok cutting ties with Rick Ross. And Birdman says he seriously considered boycotting the two companies.

Birdman tells MTV’s Sway Calloway:

“Really, we could’ve reversed that [termination of endorsement deals] because my whole take was, ‘Since they wanna clown, I can clown and group all my people up.’ But on the respect I have for Swizz [Beatz, a Reebok partner], that’s why I didn’t clown,” Birdman told Sway. “I could’ve put all my people together and say, ‘Now my culture and my community, we’re not supportin’ y’all.'” Birdman says he wouldn’t apologize for any of his lyrics and the next time one of his artists come under fire from a corporate entity, he’s ready to flex his muscle. “Next time, we’re gonna stand up and we’re gonna shut that sh– down.”

As for Bill O’Reilly’s comments, is it fair for him to blame Lil Wayne, or any other rappers for that matter, for the high unemployment rate & lack of education among black people?

Check out the clip below and give us your thoughts on Bill’s comments: