Longtime New York Post writer Phil Mushnick is no stranger to controversy. He’s been feuding with radio host Mike Francesa and WWE head Vince McMahon for what feels like decades. As such, it’s not a big surprise one of his columns has drawn angry calls for his firing, but for once, his critics might actually have a point.
Here’s what Mushnick wrote today about Jay-Z’s influence over the Brooklyn Nets…
As long as the Nets are allowing Jay-Z to call their marketing shots — what a shock that he chose black and white as the new team colors to stress, as the Nets explained, their new “urban” home — why not have him apply the full Jay-Z treatment?Why the Brooklyn Nets when they can be the New York N------s? The cheerleaders could be the Brooklyn B----hes or Hoes. Team logo? A 9 mm with hollow-tip shell casings strewn beneath. Wanna be Jay-Z hip? Then go all the way!
As someone who writes about pop culture for a living, I’m well aware jokes or intended social commentaries are sometimes misinterpreted by readers. I think it’s pretty obvious from the above words Mushnick was trying to use Jay-Z’s own lyrics to say something larger about his viewpoint. Unfortunately, even taking that into account, the comments still drip of old white guy pretention, bad taste and perhaps even racism. Not every “thoughtful comment” is free of bias, and not every personal opinion needs to be uttered, not even if the speaker is paid for his opinions.
As of press time, it’s unclear whether Mushnick will lose his job over this mess. Those who think his termination would be rash have argued Free Speech allows him the freedom to say whatever he wants. That might be true, but a newspaper also has the right to fire someone for giving the opinions Free Speech allows in a less than diplomatic way.
I don’t see how this is funny at all, but maybe I’m just missing the boat. Maybe his words were actually witty social commentary. What do you think? Should he lose his job over this?
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