Washington, D.C.’s own Wale said he doesn’t pay attention to politics too much — but it seems he knows enough to tell off the Senate Majority Leader.
The Grammy-nominated artist, described as “a die-hard [Washington] Redskins fan,” took Harry Reid to task Friday over his advocacy for renaming D.C.’s professional football team. Wale saw some hypocrisy in Reid’s position on the racially-charged issue given his infamous “Negro dialect” remark he made about then-Sen. Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign.
Anybody been followin the Senator Reid Stuff???
— Wale Folarin (@Wale) May 23, 2014
Senator Reid got a lot to say about other ppl bein racist . But I did a lil research . He sketchy RT @Shoegame_Wiz: @Wale nahh get us hip
— Wale Folarin (@Wale) May 23, 2014
Basically he tryna use racism to make a bigger name for his self . I’m. Not into politics like that but it’s a right an wrong thing
— Wale Folarin (@Wale) May 23, 2014
And then the haymaker:
Same dude tht was talkin down on Obama bein a “light skinned” with “me negro dialect ” all the sudden is a crusader for what’s right in race
— Wale Folarin (@Wale) May 23, 2014
Senator Reid don’t know anything about Washington team and I doubt he cares he just using a sensitive time to garner attention . Easy call
— Wale Folarin (@Wale) May 23, 2014
Wale also tweeted that Reid was one of those people who “use racism to make a name for themselves [nowadays].”
Reid has consistently called for the Redskins to change their team name. He told The Washington Post this week that it’d make sense for the NFL to rid itself of “having a group of Americans as mascots.”
“They’re not mascots — they’re human beings. I have 22 tribes in Nevada and they’re insulted by this cavalier attitude about what they’re being called.”
Reid was one of fifty senators to sign a Democrat letter circulated by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) that tied the Donald Sterling fiasco to the Redskins name-change issue.
“Today, we urge you and the National Football League to send the same clear message as the NBA did: that racism and bigotry have no place in professional sports,” it read.
