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.
