The rapper talks #BlackLivesMatter and Bill Cosby in a video posted to his Facebook.
Nick Cannon is trying to direct the #OscarsSoWhite outrage towards another hashtag: #BlackLivesMatter.
The actor posted a spoken word poem to his Facebook that begins, "Damn! Look what they did to Oscar. Nah, not another trophy rant." He proceeds to list off victims of police brutality. "I'm talking Oscar Grant, Sandra Bland, Mike Brown, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, Freddie Gray," he rhymes.
#SpokenSunday #Oscar #poetry #DontBeDistracted OscarDamn! Look what they did to Oscar.Nah, not another trophy rant.I'm talking Oscar Grant, Sandra Bland, Mike Brown, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, Freddie Gray.Why we trust what the news say anyway?It's blasphemous, don't get distracted by these lottery tickets and statues. It's just fake gold and plastic.We come from Pharaohs with no masters.What happened? We went from golden tombs to closed caskets.The Black Plague, they want us to catch it.Just ask Magic, Malcolm, Martin, Muhammad Ali, Bill Cosby. It's tragic. How the enemy can tear down our community and rewrite the history by highlighting our flaws.But let he who cast the first stone, who constitutes the new laws.Nah, I ain't never seen Empire but I serve my own throne.What I look like begging them to let royalty into they home.As for me and my house, we'll serve the Lord!We crying for votes but how many of us is on the board.Better yet, when's the last time you showed up and supported the NAACP Awards?I want what's mine, not yours.Fuck getting my foot in.I'm building my own doors.Hollywood mainstream don't validate me, yo. Like Hov say, Save the accolades, just the doe.You in this show for the business, or this business for the show?Talent and brilliance? Hands down, man we got that shit. That's why I told Chris, man go 'head and rock that shit.You got the Juice now. Fight the Power.Hell yeah, I'm gonna watch that ceremony where they gonna let a black man be the Master for at least two hours. So don't waste your voice, don't waste your prayers.Save'em for the thousands killed in Nigeria, Kenya, The Philippines, Syria or right here in our urban areas.Low America.Nah, now no one cares.What about my mother raising a son while working three jobs and still equating to less than minimum wage?What about me being placed on medication before my system could age?What about that prison industrial system turning Brothers into new slaves?Where's the outrage? Where the complaints at?Overcoming obstacles, definition of Black.Hashtag #facts.But I guess they don't make no awards for that.Real talk.Real Kings don't need no pats on the back.#Dontbedistracted
Posted by Nick Cannon on Sunday, January 24, 2016
EXCLUSIVE: Chris Rock Rewriting Monologue to Address Oscars Outrage
Cannon does add his voice to the increasing number of celebrities speaking out about the Academy's lack of diversity and the boycott started by his Chi-Raq director, Spike Lee:
"We crying for votes but how many of us is on the board? Better yet, when's the last time you showed up and supported the NAACP Awards? I want what's mine, not yours. F**k getting my foot in. I'm building my own doors."
Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs and the Board of Governors recently announced "historic" changes to increase diversity, including creating three new seats on the board.
Elsewhere, Cannon touches on whether host Chris Rock should step down:
"Talent and brilliance? Hands down, man we got that s**t. That's why I told Chris, man go 'head and rock that s**t. You got the Juice now. Fight the Power. Hell yeah, I'm gonna watch that ceremony where they gonna let a black man be the Master for at least two hours."
EXCLUSIVE: Cheryl Boone Isaacs On Academy's Plans to Increase Diversity
The 35-year-old rapper even touches on the ongoing Bill Cosby scandal, name-checking the comedian, who was charged with aggravated indecent assault in December:
"The Black Plague, they want us to catch it. Just ask Magic, Malcolm, Martin, Muhammad Ali, Bill Cosby. It's tragic. How the enemy can tear down our community and rewrite the history by highlighting our flaws. But let he who cast the first stone, who constitutes the new laws."
"So don't waste your voice, don't waste your prayers," Cannon concludes. "Save'em for the thousands killed in Nigeria, Kenya, The Philippines, Syria or right here in our urban areas."
In lighter news, Cannon hilariously reacted to ex-wife Mariah Carey’s engagement to a billionaire. Check out what he had to say: