An up and coming star in the hip-hop world, rapper Nipsey Hussle — real name Ermias Davidson Ashgedom — was shot and killed in Los Angeles recently, and Fox News anchor Laura Ingraham spent a moment talking about him during a recent segment.
Ingraham got a few facts wrong and had a less than serious attitude, though, which prompted some members of the rap community to call for her to be fired from the news network.
Ingraham discusses death of Nipsey Hussle
Ingraham spoke about Hussle with her guest, journalist Raymond Arroyo, on the day after a memorial service was held for the slain rapper.
During the segment, Ingraham played video clips of an anti-Trump song titled “FDT” — “F— Donald Trump” — that she attributed to Hussle and remarked upon in her own characteristically sarcastic style.
The problem is, though Hussle appeared in that song, it was not his. Rather, the song was off a 2016 album by rapper YG, and the video clips Ingraham played only featured YG, and not Hussle.
Petition calls for firing
That oversight sparked outrage among the rap and R&B community and elicited a number of angry social media posts demanding accountability for Ingraham’s mistake.
Ironically, in lambasting Ingraham for her “disrespectful” and “vile” commentary about Hussle, many of the rappers — whose songs are full of disrespectful vileness — displayed no self-awareness as they used even worse language in calling for her termination from the network.
Ingraham’s error also resulted in the creation of a petition over the weekend that called for Ingraham to be fired from Fox News, one that had garnered more than 37,000 signatures as of Tuesday morning.
That petition reads: “Laura made disrespectful and unprofessional comments, which included laughter regarding as she was sharing information regarding Nipsey Hussle’s passing! The best apology that could be received is for Laura to be terminated from Fox News networking channel.”
No response from network
Fox News did not comment on the developing situation when asked by the Examiner.
Considering Ingraham has faced, and survived, previous efforts to get her fired, not to mention a coordinated and concerted advertiser boycott effort, it would seem unlikely that the network will take any significant action against her over this mistake.
That said, it probably wouldn’t hurt if Ingraham apologized for her attitude in discussing the murder of someone with real friends and family who were still in mourning, and it would probably be wise to double-check the accuracy of video clips and ensure proper attribution going forward.