Phil Mushnick Responds To The Brooklyn Nets “New York N—–s” Backlash In Phil Mushnick Fashion

by Glenn Davis | 3:50 pm, May 4th, 2012

Well, once New York Post troll Phil Mushnick wrote that column disparaging Jay-Z and the Nets’ black and white color scheme and suggesting that turning the Nets minority owner really loose would result in the team being re-branded as the “New York N—–s,” some reader vitriol in response was guaranteed. What did Mushnick think of the reaction? Bob’s Blitz posted a response from Mushnick to the backlash. He wrote:

Bob – Such obvious, wishful and ignorant mischaracterizations of what I write are common. I don’t call black men the N-word; I don’t regard young women as bitches and whores; I don’t glorify the use of assault weapons and drugs. Jay-Z, on the other hand…..Is he the only NBA owner allowed to call black men N—ers?”

Jay-Z profits from the worst and most sustaining self-enslaving stereotypes of black-American culture and I’M the racist? Some truths, I guess, are just hard to read, let alone think about.

(Same column I provide support for Amar’e Stoudemire at a time when everyone in town is ripping him to shreds. That was my LEAD, too, but what does that matter?)

Well, of course people are going to pay attention to the most provocative thing Mushnick writes, especially when he’s been an unabashed shit-stirrer for years now. And he does some of it in his response, too, with the “worst and most sustaining self-enslaving stereotypes of black-American culture” thing (“enslaving” seems a loaded word to use there, no?). As far as Mushnick not calling black people the N-word, no, we’re sure he doesn’t, but black people weren’t exactly the ones who originated that practice (if anything, it was a response to try and take the meaning from the term).

As far as the whole “bitch” issue goes – no, using that word isn’t great, something Jay-Z has acknowledged himself. The fact that Mushnick acts like Jay-Z is the most profane rapper out there and laments the damage he does to “black-American culture” while practically fainting at the supposed awfulness of a black-and-white team color scheme as something so obviously “urban” (and, seemingly, bad) suggests someone who maybe doesn’t have a tremendous grasp of that culture in the first place.

And yes, we’re sure there were many people who looked at what Mushnick wrote and automatically assumed he actually believed the racist and sexist terms he was using. He didn’t, but he had to know there’d be backlash. He was all but begging for it. And to now paint himself as a victim because of that backlash he had to know was coming, because again, he is a professional troll? That’s Phil Mushnick for you.

Oh, and Bob’s Blitz also said that the New York Post’s editors were fine with what Mushnick wrote, so anyone thinking he might be out of a job soon: not so much. Phil Mushnick will keep right on being Phil Mushnick. Great.

Photo via

http://www.facebook.com/people/Tom-Donald/100000014867282 Tom Donald

don’t feed the troll!
Tom Joyce

Are you writers on sportsgrid really this stupid.

The shocked reaction to Mushnick’s column shows how stupid people today are.

Jonathan Swift did not actually believe that the rich should eat the babies of the poor.

It is called Irony. We, the audience, know that the actor, Mushnick, does not share JZ’s casual use of the word “Nigger”. We know that Mushnick finds crassness, especially crassness that leads to young people not using their intelligence to build a meaningful life for themselves, is an evil, and that someone like JZ, who in Mushnick’s view is a fake, a rich guy pretending that poor people’s use of stereotypes and crass love of materialism is a good thing, is a terrible influence on culture.

Mushnick believes that if The Nets played JZ’s music before games and during stops in the action, we would hear plenty of non-ironic references to people JZ identifies as variations of ‘Nigger’, some plurals, some misspelled and mispronounced.

Young writers, habituated as they are to a double standard where the real language of the streets is a necessity for the music being listened to by trust fund hipsters, defend JZ, crudity, misogyny, crass sexual language, etc.

That is fine, I guess to be a defender of shit for the sake of its smell and the way it is so real that you can never get the smell off you. Bravo for your wonderful aesthetics.

But to accuse Phil Mushnick of racism is simply stupid. I pity all of you and your worthless education. I hope to God you did not pay for any of the stupidity you flourish in.
Tom Joyce

And Mushnick’s campaign against Gang Colors, while hideously out of touch with the culture to you, has been backed up by many instances where young black kids harm each other over these colors.

Mushnick avers that our culture is violent and stupid. You respond by wanting fired for using Swiftian Irony and praising the feel and authenticness of the outhouse experience.

I hope none of you paid for whatever it is you did in school, because you are silly white hipsters who lack a soul and a center.

JZ may be real for The Projects, but get your own culture that reflects your silly lives of shopping, writing for the internet, and jerking off.

Oh, sorry. I left out more shopping.
Anonymous

Are you saying I accused Phil Mushnick of racism? is that what you’re saying? Because you might want to actually read the post again if that’s what you’re saying. I’m saying he said something wrongheaded and deliberately provocative, and that he used racist terms, which he did. I then IMMEDIATELY said that he doesn’t believe them himself. So… what’s this all about again?
Anonymous

Shopping?
get these NETS

Tom,

take a break from the elitism for a second.

My first thought when I saw the color scheme for the logo, was that gang culture in the city played a factor in the absence of the blue and/or red that is most sports logos.
Brooklyn Nets have “neutral” colorway…and the gear will be worn with matching neutral shirts, pants, and sneakers.

Mushnick’s concern for young Black/Latino kids, that you claims exists, doesn’t give him a pass to say/write anything he wants.

You know the VERY first thing that Imus said when he got in hot water for his use of language, was “I have a ranch for sick children, many of them are minorities,yada yada yada”

And my ACTUAL username was get these nets before I posted this reply. Summarizes my feelings about Nets leaving the Garden State.
Scbartlett88

so are you saying white people can’t listen to hip hop? it always cracks me up when people make this argument… take the Rolling Stones for example… what exactly is contained in their lyrics (rock n roll lifestyles, threesomes with young girls, ripping off blues musicians) that reflects the lifestyle of their target listeners? you don’t listen to music because it matches up with your own personal culture. just admit it: you don’t like, or attempt to understand, rap music.

and I dunno about you, but speaking as a fellow whitey, there’s more to life than the three things you mentioned. I think you’re living in your own white utopia, but I hope you’re not jerking off and shopping at the same time.
Scbartlett88

who is JZ? Mushnick made a big deal out of nothing… and so are you. all basketball arenas play hip hop. most NBA players are black. many black (and white) people like hip hop. Jay-Z (that’s how us WHITE HIPSTERS spell it, correctly, that is) is one of the most popular hip hop artists ever. point 2 and 2 together, and yes, the horrible atrocity of rap music associated with the game of basketball will be perpetrated. we get it. you have a problem with whites from a privileged background listening to rap. it’s not really that big a problem (see my below post)… you’re the one with the problem. Mushnick blathered to get attention. I don’t know if he is a genuine racist, but if he isn’t, it’s not really much of a difference. he still typed the words.

by the way, you clearly don’t know much about ‘JZ.’ it’s not as if he was born with a silver spoon. he’s a very rare individual who did come off the streets and went on to become one of the world’s biggest artists, at a level higher than nearly all other rap artists ever (and married to another of the world’s biggest). of course he’s rich as hell. and he talks a lot about it. that’s kinda Hip Hop 101. but it’s not bringing upon the fall western civilization. you might be, though, Tom. people who whine when they don’t know what they’re talking about, they’re the real threat to this country.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Bryan-Caver/1845663271 Bryan Caver

So writing: “Why the Brooklyn Nets when they can be the New York N——s? The cheerleaders could be the Brooklyn B—-hes or Hoes. Team logo? A 9 mm with hollow-tip shell casings strewn beneath. Want to be Jay-Z hip? Then go all the way!” and then doubling down on your racist screed by saying: “Jay-Z profits from the worst and most sustaining self-enslaving stereotypes of black-American culture and I’M the racist?” he continued. “Some truths, I guess, are just hard to read, let alone think about.”

Where is the truths that are hard to read or think about Mr. So “Soon-To-Be-Fired-and-Never-To-Work-Again-Sports-Journalist-and-Editors. So saying a sports franchise worth $312 Million should be renamed to New Jersey N*ggers and cheerleaders can be Brooklyn B*thces or Hoes is not racist in the least because somehow there had been “obvious, wishful and ignorant mischaracterizations” of your words. Gang colors from black and white – what about red and blue there Phil? The only obvious, wishful and ignorant thing is that your editors went along with your racist schtick and the lot of you need to find new jobs that don’t deal with the public!

We get that you have a problem with Jay-Z and black people in particular being able to say n*gger and b*tch. However, if you don’t understand how a race of people took words that denigrated and degraded their entire race for well over 400 years, and made them a term of endearment for that race of people, then perhaps you learned history in Texas, and if that’s the case, there’s no teaching you. Oh, and here’s guessing you think no one can ever change.
Ger317

From a black man–Jay-Z may mean the world to you but he’s not a part of the solution–which can only mean, he’s part of the problem. The guy doesn’t renounce the lifestyle that gave birth to the lyrics which made him rich. Meanwhile, back in the “hoods” ALL ACROSS the U.S., lives are destroyed living the reality of those lyrics. Placing computers in schools or buying kids clothes fall way short, when any SANE and CARING person would want to encourage young people to strive for a totally different goal in life. This guy refuse to turn from his wicked ways. Now, DMX is a guy who is TRYING to give out a different message to reach someone’s soul…
Scbartlett88

Jay-Z doesn’t mean the world to me. he’s not one of my favorite artists. but if you’re a fan of rap at all, then you gotta know his story.

I don’t really agree that he needs to renounce anything. his story has been told plenty of times. for me, Jay’s recent records mostly feature him talking about his riches and upper-class lifestyle. he doesn’t really promote gang violence, running drugs or anything of the kind. really… there are a lot of rappers out there that talk about participating in (for lack of a better phrase) urban street crime like they still doing it (and in some cases, they probably are). Jay is not one of those rappers. it’s kinda silly that he would be singled out like that. in the case of the Brooklyn Nets, he’s a businessman. it’s just an NBA team. if it was a random black businessman spearheading the Nets’ move, then Mushnick wouldn’t have written about it. Mushnick is lumping Jay into all the unsavory aspects of hip hop lyrics.

I dunno if you can point the finger at rap for the cause of youths getting into bad stuff either. it was going on before rap was big… poverty was a way of life long before that.

I don’t agree w/ that ultimatum either: not part of the solution doesn’t mean you’re part of the problem. that phrase means nothing to me.
Anonymous

I’m so tired of African American and Sharptons mad when blacks kill black and black people calling white people cracker all day but when it’s reversed and 1 white person shoots a black person and some uses the n word it’s the end of the world. It’s just too dumb to waste my time
Ger317

I’m as black as a man can be and I agree fervently with Mr. Mushnick’s comments. His usage of “self enslaving” is totally warranted, because I don’t care WHAT city you visit, black people are killing and being killed largely due to pursuit of ill-gotten gains in the drug trade.

We (black people) SELL drugs to each other 24/7, knowing that death and prison is lurking around the corner. There’s no cleaning up the word “nigger”. Blacks call one another “nigger” in greeting and in anger. Self-enslavement is completely mental. Today’s black man has no shame referring to women as “bitches” and “ho’s”.

Jay-Z, in my opinion, is the absolute worst kind of person in which to give platitudes. Bob Marley, he DEFINITELY IS NOT.
Anonymous

The black man is accustomed to white men trying to assassinate their character. Jay Z can buy and sell every single one of them so I doubt he could care less what they think. Successful businessman with a beautiful wife and child and young and healthy….haters!
get these NETS

bp,

stop playing.

Why is a Neapolitan involved in a dispute between Sicilians?
=========================================

Last time I heard people using racial slurs in public..it was 2 young kids who looked like they from your background. I’m sure you’ve heard and used the same slurs.
http://games-survival.com Justplaythegame

Off the backs of his own kind… Which he also buy and sell.. every single one of them

You just don’t get it… it must be whiteys fault…

Jay-Z profits from the worst and most sustaining self-enslaving stereotypes of black-American culture and I’M the racist?

Re-read that line..”try” to let it sink in…
Anonymous

And “blacks” will continue to put every dollar in his pocket as opposed to putting in e pocket of YOUR KIND…RACIST. And it all started with Rosa Parks. When Black people boycotted the riding of the bus didn’t the white man change their tune because they lost money? No minority should put their money in the RACIST pocket…regardless as to the direction of the racism. Asian, Hispanic,Indian or Black. When faces with the lesser of two evils….racist vs Jay Z? Jay Z wins every time.
Anonymous

as Helen said I’m taken by surprise that some one can make $9028 in 1 month on the computer. did you read this web site===>> seekwork2home.blogspot.com
Natureboy9917

Yeah the former crack dealer who shot his brother is a great person.
Natureboy9917

He’s a piece of shit former drug dealer who shot his brother.
http://games-survival.com Justplaythegame

Thanks for proving the point.. simple mind.
Anonymous

Simple is the mind that thinks black people are offended by Jay Z as opposed to someone who would be so “simple” as to place “blacks” into a category and assume that a RACIST mind would even have an inkling as to what should or should not offend them, or even think that any black person would even care what they thought.