S. Samuel
Grammy-winning rapper Kanye West and a few other notable entertainers fell victim to a racist rant at the alleged hands of X-Men producer John Palermo.
According to reports, Palermo took to his Facebook page sometime last month and unleashed various remarks.
X-Men producer John Palermo is in hot water after making several shocking racist comments on his Facebook (which has since been taken down). Palermo, who’s known for working as Hugh Jackman‘s producing partner, called out celebs like Kanye West, Julie Chen and Anderson Cooper on his page last month in a racist rant. Referencing Chen’s plastic surgery shocker on The Talk, Palermo wrote on Sept. 12 (via THR), “I’m crazy about Julie Chen!!! Now that her eyes are finally open, she should leave [husband] Monster Moonves.” (E! Online)
Palermo allegedly dropped the N-Bomb to refer to Ye and has since nixed his Facebook page.
The same day, he took on news that Kim Kardashian and West had bought a Bel-Air mansion, posting, “There goes the neighborhood!!! It looks like a Poor Persian Palace, where’s Kris Jenner when you need her?! #MoneyCantBuyADumbN—-Class.” Additionally, Palermo made a homophobic joke (not a funny one) about Cooper attending his boyfriend’s recent bar opening in NYC, simply writing, “#SmellsLikeLubeAndHIV.” While Palermo isn’t directly defending his racist remarks, he told E! News earlier today, “Ever since the Emmys I have canceled my Facebook account because it is so easy for things to be misread.” He also confessed to THR, “I stopped caring about what Hollywood thinks of me years ago. I’ve got nothing to lose, nothing to gain. I’m a bored dude, unemployed, sitting at home in the Valley. For me, some of the best ways to overcome serious issues is to laugh about them. Because then you truly understand where that ignorance is coming from.” (E! Online)
The X-Men producer has claimed the comments were to poke fun at Hollywood.
Palermo’s Facebook page has since been taken down, but the producer isn’t keeping a low profile in the wake of the controversy. Instead, he is doubling down on his comments, claiming they were made to raise awareness about prejudice in Hollywood: “Maybe people [who take offense] will look in the mirror and say, ‘When was the last time I called Les Moonves and asked for an African-American to play opposite me?'” The producer’s last major film credit was 2012’s Drive, starring Ryan Gosling, and he claims to now be taking a “sabbatical” from his career. We’d like to think that with views like these, he’ll never work in this town again. (BET)
Last year, Mr. West contemplated the non-black usage of the N-Word via Twitter.,/p>
“If n*gga is such a positive word, why do we feel so uncomfortable for white people to say it, even with a hall pass?,” he tweeted September 2, 2012.
“Is it ok to use b*tch as long as we put BAD in front of it? Like you a BAD B*TCH”
“Perhaps the words B*TCH and N*GGA are now neither positive or negative. They are just potent and it depends on how the are used and by whom?” (Kanye West’s Twitter)
