https://www.vibe.com/news/national/mississippi-news-anchor-fired-snoop-dogg-lyrics-1234744926/


On Wednesday (March 8), a white Mississippi news anchor for WLBT named Barbie Bassett recited Snoop Dogg’s popular catchphrase, “Fo’ shizzle, my nizzle,” on-air. The commentary was in reference to a story about the Death Row Records owner’s latest business venture, Snoop Cali Blanc.

Fellow WLBT anchor Wilson Stribling joked that a colleague may get a Snoop Dogg-inspired tattoo, following in the likes of Martha Stewart. To which Bassett replied, “Fo shizzle, my nizzle.” Meteorologist Patrick Ellis was visibly stunned after the comment was uttered.

Weeks later, according to Clarion Ledger, Bassett may have been fired due to the racially insensitive remarks. Though the colloquialism is common African-American Vernacular English, it translates to “for sure, my n***a.”

This isn’t the first instance where Bassett has had to apologize for a racial comment. She was reprimanded back in October 2022 after calling Carmen Poe’s—her Black colleague—grandmother a “grandmammy” live on air. Bassett later issued an apology.

She stated, “Though not intentional, I now understand how my comment was both insensitive and hurtful. I have apologized to Carmen Poe. Now, I would like to apologize to you. That is not the heart of who I am. And for that, I humbly ask for your forgiveness and I apologize to everyone I have offended. I will learn from this and participate in training so I can better understand our history and our people. I can’t mend the hurt my comment caused. I pray you’ll forgive me and that you’ll extend grace through this awful mistake.”

Neither the Mount Westmore rapper or WLBT have made a public comment on the matter, but its Vice President and General Manager Ted Fortenberry shared on social media, “WLBT is unable to comment on personnel matters.” The Clarion

Ledger also reported that Bassett is no longer listed as part of their news team.

Poll question: fired or nah?

Poll result (22 votes) fa'shizzle (5 votes) Vote nizzle (17 votes) Vote

This is 1. hilarious and 2. something I shouldn't have in my bank of knowledge
A clear faux pas by a local news anchor in Mississippi

exactly what that phrase means

Not even willing to discuss it
The bar for national attention is far too low is my point

You think she felt like she was down with Snoop/The Dogg Pound in particular because of her name?

but somehow in all my life i never connected nizzle to nigga. i also havent heard anyone say it in about 20 years so even just breaking out the phrase in 2023 should be fireable for being corny as shit

>but somehow in all my life i never connected nizzle to nigga.

side eyeing the fuck outta that admission

close to that legendary hakeem line from okaysports

>but somehow in all my life i never connected nizzle to nigga.

lol, jfwy.

by white okps afraid to click blue.

can you please confirm that, in this context, the blue answer translates to "no"?

>can you please confirm that, in this context, the blue answer
>translates to "no"?

yes, for this poll it means no.

>by white okps afraid to click blue.
>
>can you please confirm that, in this context, the blue answer
>translates to "no"?

I always tell the story about riding in the car to lunch with some colonizer coworkers almost 20yrs ago now. Kanye's "Gold Digger" came on the radio, when it got to the one line they yelled out with glee:

"SHE AIN'T FUKING WIT NO BROKE NIGGAS!"

I was like "Whoa! Y'all can't say that shit around me!" Of course they were like "it's just a song" and I said I don't care and explained to them why it is offensive to say that word in front of a black person even if you're just singing a song.

>I always tell the story about riding in the car to lunch with
>some colonizer coworkers almost 20yrs ago now. Kanye's "Gold
>Digger" came on the radio, when it got to the one line they
>yelled out with glee:
>
>"SHE AIN'T FUKING WIT NO BROKE NIGGAS!"
>
>I was like "Whoa! Y'all can't say that shit around me!" Of
>course they were like "it's just a song" and I said I don't
>care and explained to them why it is offensive to say that
>word in front of a black person even if you're just singing a
>song.

there may be more of a consequence for a white person saying it in different contexts or environments, but I really don't see how they'll stop saying it when it's everywhere.

entertainment has made the word more common to hear for everyone. do we really expect them to not use it when singing? seems like another strategy based on hope.

and who is around.

I may be offended, but someone else might wanna swing on em. at least someone warned em. *shrug*

no guarantees they won't get swung on, but that also isn't a long term solution. it'll also likely make life harder for the person did the swinging if police get called.

my stance they respected that. Most white people that are regularly around black people understand and respect that. If they don't I generally don't spend a lot of time around those people anyway.

>there may be more of a consequence for a white person saying
>it in different contexts or environments, but I really don't
>see how they'll stop saying it when it's everywhere.
>
>entertainment has made the word more common to hear for
>everyone. do we really expect them to not use it when singing?
>seems like another strategy based on hope.
>

it worked in your scenario in that moment. maybe your friends won't sing it in your presence and maybe even refrain around other black people, but probably still do when it's just white folks. that's an assumption and I get that.

bigger picture though, this isn't a good way to deal with this issue. the word is everywhere and it's not realistic to expect others not to sing lyrics. they're helping to make the music and promote it. they consume it and we're asking them not to use the product? we're saying go to that Ye concert but don't sing niggas in paris? it just ain't gonna work.

might have even been the same song but when they got to Niggas they said Niiiiyahhhhhhhhhhhh. *as I looked in the rear view mirror* ..lol


told that story on here and everyone said "YOU CANT DO THAT.. LET THEM SANG IT"

smh.. niggas and white OKPs, smh

Mainly because she didn't use a slur. She used a word for clean versions. Sure, it was a substitute for a slur, but so has "brother" been *shrugs* This is one of the few instances where I feel the artist carries the responsibility.
But I'll say more...
Knowing who I am and what I stand for, ppl always expect me to be against white folks saying "nigga" in music. But I always think about it in terms of if I was a white person, I would recite every word on every CD that I spend MY money on. If you refuse my money, you have a right to tell me I can't sing the song. This is a consequence of your "culture" being for sale imo.
Then, we always say we don't say other people's slurs, but they not calling themselves that in their music every other word either. Music is supposed to get stuck in your head. You're supposed to want to sing along. We're asking people curb natural habit for some shit that WE could stop. Selling it in songs, places it beyond them repeating what they hear us say in conversation.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying they can now call you a nigga. I'm just saying that they can sing a song that they paid for.
And before you say "well they might get beat down!", remember that when they accuse us of being violent and you want to argue against it. Your argument might sound hypocritical if you encourage assault over what songs people sing.
Essentially, for the word to be so valuable to us, we do a terrible job of protecting and consecrating it. As long as we sell songs containing the word, we're literally accepting payment for people's right to repeat it.