Two members of an Arizona school districts parent council,
decided to go after their district for hiring an event DJ.
They were having a charity event,
they hire a DJ who they thought was dressed in blackface.
But it turns out that no, he wasn't dressed in black face,
he was actually black or is black.
And this is where the twists and turns come, because you would assume that if
your ad advocate for diversity within the school district.
You would apologize, walk back your statements, but
that is not what happened with one of these individuals.
So first some context, Stuart Rhoden and Jill Lassen,
who specialized in Diversity Equity and Inclusion.
Attacked the Scottsdale Unified School District's Hopi Elementary PTA for
hiring Kim Koko Hunter to host their event.
After the fundraiser Rhoden and Lassen, who mistook Hunter for
a white man in a racist outfit.
Complained about the racist incident to the school's principal and
the head of the PTA, who later clarified Hunter is actually a black man.
Hunter wore a disco-inspired attire at the event,
complete with roller skates and a shiny, golden shirt.
So there he is, very festive, having a good time,
I don't know why they thought it was a person in blackface.
Now, after the pair's false accusations,
Hopi PTA head Megan Livengood, that's a great last name.
Livengood, responded to Lassen and
Rhoden that she was deeply offended by their email.
Livengood said, the Scottsdale parent council is an organization that claims to
encourage diversity and inclusion accusing the Hopi PTA.
And myself for hiring a DJ that participated in racist behavior is
absolutely against your mission.
Livengood added that the DJ that the PTA hired was in fact a black man.
Now one of these individuals did apologize and that's Lassen, Lassen is a librarian.
She apologized profusely in a follow up email, writing, quote, you're right,
we should have reached out and inquired before making such accusations.
I cannot fathom the hurt, anger, frustration you felt after you and
others volunteered countless hours on your event.
Again, I truly apologize, I hope that you could find it in your heart to forgive me,
and not harbor resentment towards the Scottsdale parent council.
So look, that is a real apology and
hopefully she understands the mistake that she made doesn't make it again, okay.
But Rhoden is a different story,
Rhoden has decided to double down, which is amazing to me, okay.
He wrote this, let me be clear, a Black man apparently in black face
is an entirely different discussion than a white person.
However, I did not state that the person was white, it was assumed
that was my intent and perhaps it was- >> What perhaps it was?
>> It's amazing.
>> Perhaps it was.
>> Stewart Rhoden is incredible, it gets worse, perhaps it was, but
nonetheless, looking on his Facebook page.
It seems at the very least he is in a darker make-up, if not blackface or
am I completely mistaken and it's not the highlighting or it's the highlighting.
I'm sorry, it's the lighting of the patio, so he's arguing he's a black guy, sure.
But it does look like he's wearing makeup that's too dark for his complexion,
which by the way it is actually a painful thing that women go through.
I experience all the time, when the summer months later transition into the winter
months and my makeup is too dark for my complexion at that point.
And then someone inevitably tells me,
yo you gotta switch up the color of your makeup, it's a little too dark, right?
Does that mean I'm wearing blackface?
>> Look right now because my forehead is Middle Eastern and it sweats a little bit,
if you saw the pocket chip challenge, you saw it sweat a lot.
I have makeup on, I do every day I just put it on here, right?
So that it doesn't shine as much, okay,
that's what almost everyone on air does, right?
And the makeup I use is brown, because I'm brown, did I do brown face?
No, I'm not entertaining this conversation, this is insanity, okay?
So, and Rhoden is like, well I didn't say he was white, maybe that was my intent,
no, dude, that was your intent- >> Perhaps it was-
>> Come on, just say it, so look,
is there some truth to the people who are in the inclusive business
of being obsessed with who's hired and who is not hired, right?
And pointing that stuff out, because that's their wheelhouse,
that's kinda their job.
Now, the thing is is there enough racism in the country where you don't
have to go and make up absurd stuff?
Of course, so you might want to wait, aren't you guys a progressive show?
Yes, okay, and progressives don't make up clownish things, we care about facts.
>> What they did was super insulting to the black DJ.
>> Exactly.
>> The argument here is, that guy looks so ridiculous, like they're talking about
how ridiculous he looks, and saying like that can't be a real person.
He's wearing blackface, like it's so insanely insulting and
embarrassing, right?
And anyway, but I don't want to give you one more quote from Stuart Rodan, he says.
So here's what I want to say, I apologize to dude for the implication,
look you should not have this role.
You're not fit for this role, who talks like I apologize to dude for
the implication.
But the sentiment still stands, black faced by anyone in this day and
age is problematic.
I also apologize to folks who reposted and
made other statements based on my assumption.
>> Yeah, this was the worst apology I've ever seen, it's not an apology at all.
So it looks like a right wing apology, I don't apologize for using the N Word,
because that's blah blah, I mean- >> Yeah, that's crazy.
>> Okay, so you might be wondering why the different reaction between Jill Lassen and
Stewart Rhoden.
And in the same line of business, they wrote the wrong comment
together in the beginning, well, Jill Lassen is white.
So since she's in that particular line of work and
she's insulted a black person, since she's white, she's like, no.
She's like I'm so worried about the hurt, the anger, the frustration,
my God, I'm so sorry, where is Stuart Rhoden is black.
So he's like- >> I didn't know that.
>> Yeah. >> Okay.
>> So that's why Stewart's like yeah the dude, because he's down, right?
Come on, Stuart, come on, okay, and
just say you made a mistake, nope, nope, it's anyway.
>> And the thing that bothers me is this like culture of like being hyper
focused on finding wrongdoing to condemn it.
>> Yeah, >> Right?
Like that's the whole thing, it's like there is a charity event,
nothing wrong is taking place.
It's a charity event for a school and they're looking for
something, what can we complain about, what can we paint as racist?
And so they're that DJ is he black?
We don't know, but we're gonna accuse them of blackface,
like maybe do a little bit more of an investigation.
Before throwing out these kinds of allegations against people, but
if every look, if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
>> Yeah, and so the maddening thing about this is that there's tons and
tons of racism in the country, and including in this school district.
I mean, we just did a story earlier in today's show about how Florida's banning
math textbooks for having critical race theory in it,
which it most certainly doesn't.
Okay, so later long police abuse, let alone a million things, right?
So we're not right wingers, we're not like, yeah,
that proves that there's no racism and they're all making it up.
Absolutely not, there's actual racism and
tons of it, but these folks, they think nope, nope.
I gotta go and dig and dig, you don't have to dig,
there's plenty all around actually attack the real problems at hand, right?
>> Attacked the systems.
>> And the promise is that if you go to attack the systems,
you're gonna run into democrats, okay?
And the democrats tell you don't actually do anything,
don't actually do police reform, pretend you're doing it, but don't do it.
Don't raise the minimum wage,
even though 47% of black folks in this country make less than $15 an hour.
40% of women make less than $15 an hour, that would actually help them,
don't do that.
Our corporate donors don't want that, so make up something about a black DJ and
how he's doing Blackface will have fun, right?
No, it's not fun, it's ridiculous, and I don't care how you're earning money,
do your actual job.
And by the way, if you're in education, you should check first.
>> Yeah, for real.
>> Right? So, look, if all they had done was say
that is so stupid of us are bad, it's happens, people make mistakes, right?
But no Stewart wrote and had to go and double down and say,
I don't care that he's black, I'm just going to call everybody racist.
By the way, you're not helping, you're definitely hurting the cause,
cuz you look like a jackass.
And then every right winger will point to you and
go see that's how old the left wingers are.
And it's not true, and we're here to tell you it ain't true, okay?
Do your actual job, instead of trying to dig up stuff for your own benefit.