Charlamagne Tha God spoke out on The Breakfast Club in defense of a Mississippi TV anchor who seems to have been punished for quoting Snoop Dogg on air.
“She can’t say ‘fo shizzle, my nizzle’?” the radio host questioned during the show’s popular “Rumor Report” segment during a show last week. “I guess ’cause ‘nizzle’ is derivative of the N-word? I’m saying that in context, I didn’t mean to say it. … I’m not using that word.”
After his co-host DJ Envy opined that the anchor, Barbie Bassett of WLBT, shouldn’t lose her job over the gaffe, Charlamagne doubled down in agreement. “I don’t think she should’ve been fired. She might not even know what ‘nizzle’ means, yo,” he argued. “Like, come on, we got to, like, stop, man. That’s not a reason to fire that woman.
“That’s the thing with hip-hop, man. Hip-hop is so big and so mainstream and it’s just like, who can consume it and who can’t? You know what I mean? Who can repeat slang and who can’t?” Charlamagne continued. “She might not have any idea, she just thinks she’s sounding cool repeating Snoop Dog!”
As of press time, Bassett has been off the air ever since she offhandedly repeated the phrase while bantering with her co-anchor during their March 8 telecast. Her biography has also been removed from the station’s official website, though WLBT’s general manager has reportedly declined to comment on the situation, according to a report by Jackson, Miss.’s The Clarion-Ledger.
Watch Charlamagne debate use of Snoop’s slang word below, starting at the 4:22 mark, and the clip of Bassett on-air.
