Source: Splash / Splash News
The Breakfast Club is in the middle of some intense heat after they had comedian Lil Duval on their show. Duval said that if he found out he slept with a transgender woman he would kill her. While the radio show condemned Duval’s words as a hate crime, Charlamagne tha God continued to laugh with the comedian and agreed with him that a trans person should go to jail if they don’t disclose their identity before sex. The radio hosts showed Duval Janet Mock‘s book cover, hoping her beauty would convince Duval that trans women should never be murdered, under any circumstances.
The whole segment resulted in backlash from social media, with #BoycottTheBreakfastClub and #TransFolksAreNotaJoke campaigns. #BlackLivesMatter co-founder, Patrisse Khan-Cullors, trans feminist editor Ashlee Marie Preston, and activist Blossom C. Brown also interrupted Charlamagne at a Politicon event in Pasadena screaming, “Trans people are not a joke!”
Now, The Breakfast Club is addressing the heat and instead of an apology, they reiterated that they condemned Duval’s statements as a hate crime. “I specifically said you can’t go around killing transgenders,” Charlamagne said. Angela Yee said they’ve always advocated for equal rights for everyone on the show and that’s why they had transgender author Janet Mock on a few days before Lil Duval. Charlamagane ranted, “I don’t like people trying to hold me accountable for the words of another man and I’m telling you right now, I’m not apologizing for the words of Lil Duval.” You can watch a clip of the conversation below.
The hosts didn’t go deeper into Charlamagne’s statements about sending trans people to jail or prison. They also didn’t address their use of Janet Mock as a prop, which the author addressed in an op-ed for Allure.
We’ll keep you updated as the firestorm against The Breakfast Club continues.
