The Reverend Al Sharpton plans to ask the United States’ Federal Communications Commission to issue a 90-day television/radio ban on any artist that is engaged in violent altercations.
Sharpton told The New York Daily News that airwaves were being used to romanticize urban violence.
“There has to be a way to step in and regulate what’s going on with the airwaves and with violence,” Sharpton said yesterday (March 6).
Sharpton’s comments come after crew members of chart topping rapper’s 50 Cent and Game were involved in a shooting in front of radio station Hot 97 last Monday (Feb. 28).
The incident occurred the same day Lil’ Kim’s federal perjury trial commenced for a similar shooting in front of the same radio station on 2001.
Both 50 Cent and Game appeared on rival New York radio stations Hot 97 and Power 105 at the same time Monday, speaking about the growing tensions between the two rappers.
Police say The Game and his cohorts went to Hot 97 to confront 50 Cent, after the Queens rapper announced on the air that he was kicking Game out of his G-Unit group.
While 50 Cent was on the air when the shooting occurred, police believe a member from his G-Unit entourage shot a man affiliated with Game named Kevin Reed.
Police are seeking to question Game, Reed and others in Game’s entourage in relation to the shooting.
50 Cent recently stated on Hot 97’s “Street Soldiers” radio show that he wanted to resolve his dispute with The Game, but would carry on his grudge against South Bronx rapper Fat Joe and Yonkers native Jadakiss.
50’s latest album The Massacre is expected to move over 1,000,000 units the first week in stores, while Game’s major label debut The Documentary has moved over 500,000 copies since its January release.
“We may not be able to stop people from shooting, but we can stop people from profiting from the violence,” Sharpton said. “You can’t deal with this on an artist-by-artist basis. I’m not going to become a mediator between artists. This is a recurring problem.”
The Daily News said Sharpton is crafting a letter that will be sent to the FCC.
In the letter, Sharpton said a response to the violence should be as loud as the outcry against Janet Jackson’s infamous breast incident during last year’s Super Bowl.
“I recall the outrage that the FCC and others displayed in response to the Super Bowl performance of Janet Jackson,” Sharpton wrote. “Yet, when acts of violence happen around radio stations that actually have caused bloodshed, there has been a strange and disturbing silence from all quarters.”
Hot 97 has been criticized and accused of creating havoc in the rap community by some activists.
Last week, over 200 people protested the station in New York’s Union Square over remarks that morning radio show host Miss Jones made about Asian-Americans after the December 2004 tsunami that killed almost 200,000 people.
They also protested the latest violent incident at the station as well.
credit: allhiphop.com
