The New York Post was harshly criticized after it published a story about a viral video that appears to show rapper Snoop Dogg smoking weed before performing in Sunday's Super Bowl halftime show.
The tabloid reported that "Snoop Dogg had something of a pregame warmup" before the halftime show.
The Post reported:
"In a video currently making the rounds on social media, Snoop is seen smoking what certainly looks like weed in the moments leading up to the star-studded performance, which also featured Dr. Dre, Mary J. Blige, Kendrick Lamar, Eminem and surprise guest 50 Cent."
The article, however, did not tell anyone anything new.
Snoop has been an avowed weed smoker since the beginning of his career. In fact, it's the trademark of his image. Some of his biggest hits, including "Gin and Juice," mention or are about smoking weed.
Snoop is the owner of Leafs By Snoop, a cannabis brand launched in 2015. He has claimed to have an 81-blunt-a-day habit, a claim that has been contested but that has nonetheless aided his brand.
He has even parodied his weed-smoking persona on screen. In the 2003 comedy Malibu's Most Wanted, which largely spoofs Eminem's 8-Mile, Snoop voices Ronnie Rizzat, a weed smoking rat who shuts down the protagonist B-Rad's dreams of being a rapper.
Many have mocked The Post since the story was published
Others pointed out that Snoop did nothing illegal because weed is legal in California and the national conversation on weed has changed as the drug has become more commonly accepted.
The report from the rightwing news outlet was just one example of the reaction from conservatives who wasted no time complaining about the halftime show, which, along with Snoop, featured performances by artists such as Dr. Dre, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, and Kendrick Lamar, and has been widely heralded as a celebration of Black excellence.
Earlier, former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer was widely criticized after he asked what the "message of the halftime show" was.
A fact that appeared to evade Spicer is that February is Black History Month and that the halftime show was a celebration of hip-hop, a genre of popular music developed in the United States and emerged as a subculture and an art movement from the Bronx in New York City during the early 1970s.
While the Super Bowl has featured hip-hop artists and rappers during halftime performances in the past, this year's show marked the first time that hip-hop acts were "the sole, main attraction," as pointed out by Juwan J. Holmes, the Associate Editor of IntoMORE.
Holmes goes on to note that "it was largely Black people that pioneered the Super Bowl as the ultimate home for the best of entertainment," stressing that Black contributors have continued to play these important roles without receiving proper credit or recognition.
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