I only made it 20 seconds in before I cringed. If you are African American, you should be highly offended by this Hillary Clinton Breakfast Club interview because your intelligence was definitely insulted. This is a prime example of why there is a need for Black-owned media, so that owners and other capitalists with no interest in the African-American cause are not dictating the direction of the conversation.
The Breakfast Club team had a presidential candidate for nearly 30 minutes, one day before the important New York primary on April 19th and pandered nearly the entire time; didn’t speak to any issues.
The Breakfast Club is one of the most influential radio stations in NY and one of the few powerful voices representing Black/Latin people in NY and they decided that this interview would be a good opportunity to ask our presidential candidate about UFOs and if she believes in ghosts… when there was a pivotal NY primary hours away. I expected political questions revolving around issues pertaining to the Black and Latin communities that The Breakfast Club represents… you know, the very issues they talk about almost every day on the station…
Now, I understand that Power 105.1 is “just” a radio station and they can only go so in-depth with their interviews, but that is no excuse here. There are plenty of radio stations that do in-depth interviews. Heck, The Breakfast Club has done more substantive interviews with K Michele and DMX. As one of the most powerful radio stations in NY, they asked Hillary Clinton random questions that mostly did not pertain to the issues at all, one day before the NY primary.
Take note of the kinds of questions they’re posing and the way they’re posing their questions – many of the few semi-political questions they ask aren’t even open ended questions.
Let’s compare The Breakfast Club’s first lines of questioning in their Bernie Sanders interview versus their Hillary Clinton interview.
1st question out the gate was: “We dont have much time so let’s get straight to the point: Why do you think Hillary is more connected with African-American voters than you are?“
2nd question: “Let’s talk about undocumented immigrants in this country, what do you think should happen with that?“
3rd question: “Lots of African-Americans felt that during Ferguson and other incidents that President Obama wasn’t there. Are you going to stand with African-American people?“
4th question: is about the 1994 Crime Bill that helped feed the prison industrial complex (that both he and Hillary voted for, but Hillary didn’t get asked about in her interview).
Now compare that to the Hillary interview.
1st question in Hillary’s interview: “[laughter] is it true you played dominos and slammed it on the table when you won!?”
2nd question: “Historically you’ve always worn pants suits. Is it true that Steve Harvey was your inspiration?”
3rd question: “How did Bill Clinton propose to you?”
4th question: “A lot of Black people dont trust you because you mispronounced Beyonce’s name. Have you learned to say it correctly yet? [laughter]“
SERIOUSLY?
Keep in mind that this post isn’t an endorsement of any present or past presidential candidate. It’s about this terrible interview.
They asked one presidential candidate (Bernie Sanders) exclusively about policy for about 15 minutes and had the other candidate for a total of nearly 30 minutes and barely asked about policy.
To have a presidential candidate for 30 minutes in New York and at one of the most influential radio stations in New York and one day before the NY primary and not ask substantive or political questions is shameful. If you can’t or refuse to acknowledge the bias and difference in questioning and strength of questioning between those 2 presidential interviews, then god bless you. Even the tone of the interview was different between the two different candidates.
I refuse to accept the opinion that The Breakfast Club is “just” a Hip-Hop morning show and thus they don’t/can’t get too politically specific. The Breakfast Club is capable of holding an informative political interview. They had at least 4 interviews with senators and former members of the House of Representatives in the month before this interview alone and they discuss social and political issues in depth and with politicians and activists regularly. For example, they interviewed Senator Nina Turner that same month in April 2016 and discussed today’s current issues in detail throughout their 30 minute interview with her.
Breakfast Club co-hostess Angela Yee was one of the three hosts prodded by questions from people in the culture who where concerned about this interview. She was asked if they were given questions to ask Hillary, and Yee responded,
Final Thoughts:
My issue is the radio station grilling one presidential candidate with political questions and then having a light hearted convo with the other about almost nothing of concern or depth. It’s blatant bias where there should be as little bias as possible.
This was a shameful interview and people deserve to see what’s going on with certain media channels and their relationship with the government. This goes beyond DJ Envy, Angela Yee, and Charlamagne the God (I enjoy their show).
This interview is a perfect example why African-Americans need their own “Black-owned” stations, channels, and outputs. This Hot 97/Power 105.1 beef is counterproductive. Both sides have hip-hop icons on their team – people with extreme influence in the culture. In a perfect world, cooler heads would prevail and they’d come together and combine their resources, network, and influences to make a Black-owned station so the culture doesn’t have to worry about radio station politics getting in the way of making sure our politicians are held accountable.
We wish Hillary Clinton good luck and health during the remainder of her campaign. Brace yourself as she takes 70%+ of the African-American vote.