Renown journalist and writer/producer David Simon has carved a legacy by creating HBO’s famed series The Wire, one of the best television shows not to win an Emmy and one of the most effectual parallels of street, criminal, police and urban cultures ever to be captured on film.
That being said, Simon is still a 56-year-old white man who figured with his close proximity to black people in Baltimore, one of the nation’s largest populations for African-Americans, he could use the n-word in a very tongue-in-cheek manner.
When Think Progress editor Judd Legum pointed out the ridiculous recruiting of FOX’s Sean Hannity by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to host a town hall outreach to potential black voters, a lot of awareness and eyebrows were raised.
1. If you want to know how seriously Trump is taking black outreach, he's holding a townhall on Wed on black issues hosted by Sean Hannnity
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) September 20, 2016
Simon chimed in with a retweet that he captioned: “Hannity my nigga! If they couldn’t get Ta-Nehisi or Deray to host, then who but you on the pulse of black America?”
AD LOADING...
It’s fairly accurate to say the nature of the joke wasn’t lost on anyone, as Hannity probably identifies with black people just as well as unseasoned chicken. Yet a popular opinion aligns with white people avoiding the controversial term altogether and Simon immediately found himself under fire, even when his opposers didn’t exactly call him out on it.
In fact, there were plenty of metaphorical memes using, what else, but The Wire, among other pop culture favorites?
@AoDespairpic.twitter.com/06T9bR6ma1
— Richard Bottoms (@rbottoms) September 20, 2016
When you finally see that David Simon tweet. pic.twitter.com/PMqGn556cH
— Melanism (@Melanism) September 20, 2016
David Simon out here using the N-word now. ?? pic.twitter.com/PpFc24DUGu
— Patrick Quaife (@pquaife) September 20, 2016
When you see David Simon's tweets from last night pic.twitter.com/sso63PihIS
— Jesse (@Eegah) September 20, 2016
David Simon's reputation: pic.twitter.com/aXpmeasNl0
— Corey Erdman (@corey_erdman) September 20, 2016
David Simon hit "Tweet" and walked away like…. pic.twitter.com/WwQXMJMoCL
— Orin James Romain (@orinromain) September 20, 2016
@eveewing David Simon be like why do you get to say it then? pic.twitter.com/WO1BafVqJY
— Rex Miller (@JahNestaWailer) September 20, 2016
the wire was good but not this goodhttps://t.co/SNKM988i9B
— Greg Howard (@greghoward88) September 20, 2016
blacktwitter driving home with david simon after a kendrick concert in an uncomfortable silence
— Desus Nice (@desusnice) September 20, 2016
Naturally, Black Twitter pointed out the discrepancy as well.
David Simon is like 3 minutes from a "I have black friends" tweet…
— Rod (@rodimusprime) September 20, 2016
Y'all done gassed David Simon up. Got him thinking he's too #woke
— Vann R. Newkirk II (@fivefifths) September 20, 2016
David Simon out here thinking no one black understands his “usage” and irony. If that ain’t condescending AF…
— syreeta mcfadden (@reetamac) September 20, 2016
David Simon has white folks, Black folks, and every The Wire gif ever created in his Mentions telling him to fall back & he refuses. Welp.
— April ?? (@ReignOfApril) September 20, 2016
david simon created the wire. david simon also tried to defend his use of the n-word just like this dude: https://t.co/0s9CAKgKkp
— Brandon Caldwell (@_brandoc) September 20, 2016
…even our "allies" and people who we have trusted dearly often fail to grasp why they should listen when we say "Here is how to love me"
— Jamilah (@JamilahLemieux) September 20, 2016
REMINDER: If your white ass won't say nigga to every nigga, don't say nigga to any nigga. Word to Earn.
— Myles Brown (@mdotbrown) September 20, 2016
Simon didn’t exactly apologize but he did tweet out that he “owns” the tweet and engaged in healthy discussion with one of his followers writing, “Would I do it again? No, because the real message got submerged. But not cause I think the meaning of it imprecise or wrong.”
AD LOADING...
Things that make you go “hmmm.”