‘Eminem has all the privileges of a white male and all the privileges of being in the hip-hop community,’ Dr. Umar Johnson said

Fans rally behind Eminem after Dr. Umar discredits rapper's GOAT status - Hindustan Times

Black activist Dr. Umar Johnson recently sparked outrage after claiming Eminem can’t be considered one of the greatest rappers of all time because “he’s White.” In a recent episode of The Joe Budden podcast, the controversial Black activist discredited the Not Afraid rapper’s GOAT status. “No non-African can ever be the best of anything African,” Johnson said. Following his hateful comments, hip-hop fans flocked to social media in support of Eminem.

‘An insult to every Black person’

The staunch Pan-Africanist condemned White people’s participation in Black culture. “Eminem has all the privileges of a white male and all the privileges of being in the hip-hop community, so we got to be careful about letting non-Africans into our community,” Johnson said.

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He continued, “Let me say something to you. And this is going to my African fundamentalism. No non-African can ever be the best of anything African. It is an insult to the ancestors, it is an insult to the race and it is an insult to every Black person.” “We have to stop naming non-African people as being the best of any aspect in our cultural product because it’s an insult,” Johnson said.

Netizens furious as Dr. Umar slams Eminem for being White

Taking to X, formerly Twitter, netizens expressed their resentment over Johnson for racially dividing hip-hop. Many also pointed out Black people’s participation in historically White activities. A user said, “This is like saying no black guy could ever be the goat of basketball because a white dude from Canada invented the sport.”

Yet another fan said, “This is dumb cuz with this logic you can’t call Tiger Woods the goat at golf cuz he’s not white or Serena Williams the goat at tennis cuz she’s not white.”

One more user wrote, “Too much eminem slander on the timeline. the guy never boasted always humble always shows love for the culture and always gives back man. will go down as one of the goats ever. go argue with your cat.”

Another user said, “People will give Em so much hate but forget that he most likely inspired some of their favourite artists. I mean he’s in kendrick’s top 5, drakes, lil wayne, j cole and many others. People really forget he actually revolutionised hip hop.”