[Artwork by BIGBOITHOMAS84]
Pitchfork: What kind of reactions have you received since?
?uestlove: I’ve seen some really colorful epithets in the past four days, but “nigger fuckhead ghetto stick” is probably the one that takes the cake. I’m still trying to get my head around that one. Blocking 3,500 tea party extremists [on Twitter] in a three day period is no fun, especially when you’re a drummer dangerously close to carpal tunnel. In the end, was it worth it? Absolutely not.
Pitchfork: Was there a moment when you were scared that you might get fired?
?uestlove: Yeah, last Wednesday, the day before [Thanksgiving]. We were seeing where she was going to go with it because, if you call the right channels, next thing you know advertisers are in the NBC building asking for proper action to be done. So we were definitely waiting with bated breath. And then her camp was like, “Look, it’s Thanksgiving. Let’s just put all this behind us and call it a day.” MORE
PHAWKER: While it’s to be expected that some would assert otherwise, calling an asshole-ish woman a ‘bitch’ is NOT sexist. Coarse? Absolutely. Crass? To be sure. Not very nice? Yep. But it’s NOT sexist, just like calling an asshole-ish man a ‘dick’ is not sexist. On the other hand, running for president and going around the country telling people that it’s God’s will that women submit to their husband? Now THAT is sexist. Telling pubescent girls that getting vaccinated against cancer-causing HPV will make them mentally ‘retarded’? Sexist as well as unconscionable. Denying women access to affordable contraception and cervical cancer screenings? That’s sexist and, again, unconscionable.
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