Rocker Gene Simmons dropped several racial slurs on-air Thursday on Fox News’ “Outnumbered” to make a point about the sensitivity of the Washington Redskins’ team name.
The KISS frontman, who is himself the owner of a Los Angeles-based Arena Football League team, was asked to weigh in on Redskins owner Dan Snyder’s defense of the team name and used slurs to draw a line at what he considered offensive.
“You know, it really has to do with whether or not the American Indian population has a problem with it because it’s up to them,” he said. “I would not like a sports team called the ‘kikes.’ And if you take the historical point of view — and I’m not the one to validate it or not — if ‘Redskins’ was an insult to American Indians, then absolutely, the team should change its name.”
Co-host Sandra Smith then pointed out that there was a long list of Native Americans who have spoken out against the name. Simmons said he supported them and their “rights to not [have] their name besmirched publicly.” He said he wouldn’t be on board with a team called the “micks,” a derogatory term for the Irish, for example.
“It’s an interesting conversation, because democracy is very messy and you can take any point of view and validate it — as a Boricua yourself, you wouldn’t want a team called the ‘spics,’ or the ‘kikes,’ or the so-and-sos,” he later added, referring to co-host Kimberly Guilfoyle, who is Puerto Rican and Irish.
Mike Ehrmantraut says change it. So we change it.
I believe Mr Simmons has made his point concisely and well.
“Drops slurs”? The guy sounded reasonable to me, and I’m no fan. Nice headline, TPM. Add it to the long list of nice ones.
I don’t think he “dropped” so much as “referenced” or “compared” an established and recognized slur in order to make a reasonable analogy.
BTW: words have meaning TPM, use them wisely
Another objectively repulsive person featured on Fox