Popular motivational speaker Dr Umar Johnson is being criticized online after his comments of allegedly disparaging Eminem’s status as one of the all-time great rappers went viral. Clips from a recent episode of The Joe Budden Podcast featuring Johnson, who claims it is “white supremacy” to regard the rapper as a GOAT, started garnering a lot of attention on social media, with many viewers pushing back against the assertions.
In the clip, Dr Umar Johnson can be seen calling out the hosts for saying Eminem is one of the greatest rappers of all time, apparently claiming that no non-African person can be the best at rapping because it is fundamentally a part of Black culture.
Many netizens soon called him out for his words, with a lot of people pointing out how African-American athletes such as Michael Jordan, Serena Williams, and Tiger Woods have risen to the very top of their respective sports that are not historically associated with Black culture.
“That’s white supremacy!”: What did Dr Umar Johnson say about Eminem?
Clips from a recent episode of The Joe Budden Podcast have been doing the rounds on social media after Dr Umar Johnson, a guest on the show, dissed Eminem’s status as a rapper.
When one of the hosts asked Johnson what he thought about the singer, the motivational speaker brought up “African fundamentalism” and claimed that naming non-African people as the best at something predominantly Black is an insult.
“Let me say something to you. And this is going to my African fundamentalism. No non-African can ever be the best of anything African. It is an insult to the ancestors, it is an insult to the race and it is an insult to every black person. Do you think I can go to Palestine and be the best anything of Palestinian culture? You never see that. . .”
He went on to compare his place as a Black person to other cultures such as Israel, before continuing:
“We have got to stop naming non-African people as being the best of any aspect of our culture because it is an insult. It is an insult.”
After the host interjected, asking him to acknowledge Eminem’s talent, Dr Umar Johnson appeared to acquiesce, saying the rapper is talented. However, he refused the premise of putting “him on top,” claiming that doing so would be white supremacist:
“Yes, I can acknowledge Eminem’s talent. For you to put him on top? That’s white supremacy, bro. That’s white supremacy!”
While the debate regarding who the greatest rapper of all time is subjective, Johnson’s characterization of apparently racially dividing the category has seen a lot of criticism.
Neither Eminem nor Dr Umar Johnson has made any further comments on the matter. However, this is not the first time that the rapper has been called out for not being Black, having addressed being a white rapper on multiple occasions in his illustrious career.
