Charlamagne Responds to the Backlash for Transphobic Comments on 'The Breakfast Club'
Transgender rights have been the main topic of discussion within both popular culture and politics for the past week following President Donald Trump's misguided ban on transgender individuals serving in the military.
That conversation of ignorance was further amplified when the co-hosts of Power 105.1's The Breakfast Club shared their thoughts on the subject on two separate occasions, with one of them using transgender activist Janet Mock as an object to validate their ignorance. After receiving an onslaught of backlash from the social media community for their uninspired comments, one-third of the team, Charlamagne Tha God, is responding to the controversy, and he continues to stand his ground, stressing that he does not hold any power over another man's words.
The bragging first began after Mock's appearance on the morning radio show, when co-hosts DJ Envy and Charlamagne asked the accomplished author and activist inappropriate and cringe-worthy questions about whether she could "get wet" during sex and even went as far as to ask about the makeup of her genitalia.
Take a look at the interview, below. Things start to get uncomfortable around the 20-minute mark:
See what Janet Mock had to say during LGBT Pride, above.
Their juvenile dialogue on transgender issues continued just days later when comedian Lil Duval, who was a guest on the show, was asked to share his reaction to Trump's ban of transgender troops, to which he insensitively replied, "I’m just doing my thing. Shout out to all the trannies out there," while all three hosts giggled in amusement.
Things took an even darker turn when Duval shared how he would react if he discovered a woman he had sex with identified as transgender: "This might sound messed up, but I don't care. She dying," he said, before Charlamagne interjected, “That’s a hate crime, you can’t do that."
After receiving a massive amount of backlash for their remarks and reactions, including an amazingly explained and executed piece by Mock, herself, for Allure, The Breakfast Club trio responded live on-air.
"If you actually listened to the interview instead of listening to the manipulating clip that people have been circulating, you specifically heard us tell him that you can't do that," Charlamagne said. "It's a hate crime... You know what I don't like? I don't like people holding me accountable for the words of another man, and I'm telling you right now, I'm not apologizing for the words of Lil Duval."
Listen to the full clip, below:
For reference, here's the interview with Lil Duval where things got uncomfortable pretty much right away:
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Following the initial interviews, prior to the non-apology, Charlamagne faced protesters at PolitiCon, who told him trans people are "not a joke."
See how Twitter is reacting to the controversy:
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