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Roland Martin

Source: Interactive One / Interactive One

Journalist and News One Now host Roland Martin had some harsh words for Snoop Dogg.

Recently, the rapper took to social media to complain about the History Channel’s Roots miniseries and urged people to boycott the iconic remake. Why? Because he is “sick of” seeing tales of slavery that show misery and oppression, and urged them to “create our own shit based on today, how we live and how we inspire people today,” Mediate wrote.

Interesting given this vintage pic…

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/c2/21/bb/c221bb7eaca82cd30dff50c3b04de820.jpg

Well anyway, Martin spilled all the tea on Wednesday’s edition of his show calling the rapper out for his “concern” about the impact of slave images, how Jewish Americans don’t try to silence Holocaust films and where Snoop should really put his money if he is serious about funding positive Black films.

“You will never find somebody Jewish who says, ‘You know what, there’s way too many Holocaust films. Can we just move on, can we just stop bringing up the Holocaust?’” Martin said, before reading off a list of Holocaust movies produced in the last 10 years. A list that was noticeably longer than the African-American slave films Martin noted (as did Black film Shadow And Act).

He later added, “Why don’t you stop smoking weed, and actually bother to call Will Packer or Ava DuVernay, or call Spike Lee or the countless African-Americans who are out there who are trying to make those films, and are looking for folks like you who are gon’ put their money where their mouth is, as opposed to the money on some good weed. All I’m saying is this: we need all stories being told, and if more Americans can own up to the history of America, 397 years that we’ve been here, and how brutal slavery was, we should see that. Because just like Jews say, never forget. Snoop, we will never forget, so now, the ball is in your court. Let’s see what you gon’ do. Fo shizzle, my nizzle.”

If we could take this argument even further, we would point out Snoop’s long and excruciating history of misogyny and mistreatment of Black women in his lyrics and videos. From calling us hoes to talking about how we are not loyal, it seems a smidgen hypocritical that Snoop is so concerned about how we are portrayed when he has a hand in the degrading African-American female bodies throughout his career.

Now when it comes to Roots, it’s understandable if you don’t want to watch because reliving that trauma is too much. That’s a real concern and we get it, but for a new generation of Black millennials and those under 40 who may have not seen the original, there is no harm in being engrossed in a story that isn’t just about oppression, but Black resilience. And in these #BlackLivesMatters times, those are messages that are greatly needed.

What do you think?

For 2024’s iteration of MadameNoire and HelloBeautiful’s annual series Women to Know, we knew we wanted to celebrate the people who help make the joys of film and television possible. To create art is to create magic. This year, we spotlight Hollywood Executive’s changing the face of cinema.