— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) September 21, 2017
Morgan's need to stir the internet didn't just come out of thin air. According to the 52-year-old journalist, his query grew out of watching members from the Alpha Phi Sorority at the University of New Hampshire belt out the lyrics for Kanye West's 2005 hit song "Gold Digger" in an Instagram post Tuesday.
The specific lyric Morgan zeros in on is: "But she ain't messing with no broke n***as"
For Morgan, the idea that someone could be offended by a white man or woman singing the lyric is "utter nonsense," and apparently West is to blame for said white people singing it because he was the one who wrote the song.
Morgan didn't stop there. According to him, because West made so much money from his white fans, they should be able to sing along without having to deal with "snowflakes" labeling them racist.
"Superstars like Kanye West target and exploit white audiences for their music just as enthusiastically as they target and exploit black audiences," Morgan wrote.
Exploit the white audiences? It gets better.
"[i]f rappers like Kanye West insist on using it, and writing songs with the word in either form, then is is absolutely predictable and understandable that their fans will sing the songs just as they hear them — regardless of the colour of their skin," Morgan insisted.
To no surprise, the internet was shook. And it clapped back.
— Abdulla (@Abdulla_Nq) September 21, 2017
— Lottë Rose Middleton (@LotteLDN) September 21, 2017
— Rick Bullard (@Rick_Bullard) September 21, 2017
— wheatus (@wheatus) September 21, 2017
— Allison Floyd (@AllisonRFloyd) September 21, 2017
— Tim Black ™ (@RealTimBlack) September 21, 2017
— lawprofblawg (@lawprofblawg) September 21, 2017
— Kay-D MusiQ (@KayDMusiQ) September 21, 2017
Responding to the Twitter storm that popped off late Thursday, Morgan defended his column and called on critics to answer his question rather than shoot him down for it.
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) September 21, 2017
Sadly, this isn't the first time Morgan has tiptoed around the issue. Back in 2014, Morgan said "blacks enjoy the freedom of being able to say it now in the knowledge that it's become taboo for whites to do so."
And critics in 2014 were no kinder to the Daily Mail journalist.
Responding to Morgan's "If Black Americans Want the N-Word to Die, They Will Have to Kill it Themselves" column, hip-hop artist Talib Kweli Greene asked the question: "Since when is the complicated history and usage of the word ni**er about how it makes Piers Morgan feel?"
Internet verdict? It was never okay then and most definitely not okay now, and as a privileged white man, this is not Morgan's issue to decide.
