As the United States continues to protest against racial inequality, statues of famous historical figures are coming down and entire neighborhoods are being renamed that were once a symbol of racism. Now, the John Wayne Airport in Orange County has sparked a heated debate.
Orange County Democrats want the airport renamed and the Wayne statue removed due to the late movie star’s perceived racist views. But according to his son Ethan, his father wasn’t a racist. In a statement obtained by TMZ, Ethan said, “I know that term is casually tossed around these days, but I take it very seriously. I also understand how we got to this point.”
He also addressed a 1971 interview with Playboy in which Wayne said, “I believe in white supremacy until the blacks are educated to a point of responsibility. I don’t believe in giving authority and positions of leadership and judgment to irresponsible people.”
Ethan continued, “There is no question that the words spoken by John Wayne in an interview 50 years ago have caused pain and anger. They pained him as well, as he realized his true feelings were wrongly conveyed.”
Although Ethan didn’t say his father was misquoted, he insisted Wayne “did not support ‘white supremacy’ in any way and believed that responsible people should gain power without the use of violence.”
But Public Enemy has confronted Wayne’s alleged racism in their music for roughly 30 years, most notably in the anthemic song “Fight The Power” from both 1990’s Fear Of A Black Planet and the soundtrack for Spike Lee’s 1989 film Do The Right Thing.
Chuck D raps in the third verse, “Elvis was a hero to most/But he never meant shit to me/Straight up racist, the sucker was/Simple and plain” as Flavor Flav comes in with “Muthafuck him and John Wayne!”
Often heralded as one of the most “provocative” and influential songs ever, “Fight The Power” provided a soundtrack for a revolution and continues to be a call-to-action today.
Public Enemy, Nas, Rapsody, YG & Black Thought 'Fight The Power' To Open 2020 BET Awards
The Wayne part was directly inspired by the aforementioned Playboy interview and intended to highlight discriminative culture. In a 2002 interview with Newsday, Chuck elaborated on his lyrics about Elvis Presley.
“As a musicologist — and I consider myself one — there was always a great deal of respect for Elvis, especially during his Sun sessions,” he said. “As a black people, we all knew that. My whole thing was the one-sidedness — like, Elvis’ icon status in America made it like nobody else counted … My heroes came from someone else. My heroes came before him. My heroes were probably his heroes. As far as Elvis being ‘The King,’ I couldn’t buy that.″
Public Enemy performed an updated version of “Fight The Power” at the virtual 2020 BET Awards on Sunday (June 27) alongside several Hip Hop luminaries from multiple generations, including Nas, Rapsody, Questlove, YG, Jahi and Black Thought. Chuck and Flav closed out the song with almost the same words they used in the original (minus the “muthafuck”).
And still, the message applies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHQolYuO6Ew&feature=youtu.be
Let’s not forget what he said about Native Americans as well.
They aren’t native, though.
You’re a doof.
F John Wayne! F him hard!!!
Yeah, you would….Wouldn’t you..Take that Take That..Right…Mr Love.
John Wayne made some anti-gay remarks in a playboy interview or some shit back in the day, so of course the joos want to claim he’s racist and all that.
yall young kids are too damn sensitive everything hurts your feelings, grow a set of balls for real if you cant handle the name of an airport or a statue in a park your soft ass isnt going to survive the real world once you leave your momma’s basement. the real world doesnt give a damn about your feelings and all the riots aint going to change that your still soft, the only way you get brave is when you have a huge group of fellow sensitive boys behind you to back you up yall are pathetic for real blm jokers antifa clowns
John Wayne didn’t give a shit about kissing anyone’s ass then and he wouldn’t care now if he was around. Black people act all offended if they hear some old dude made remarks about them decades ago while they’re over here calling for a white genocide….lol ok.
I understand that all that is old news but their is no excuse. Racism is bad. Nothing good came of it. Why do you guys get on the computer and act like not knowing how to act is okay? Grow up.