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Two Singing Stars in War of Words Over Politics, Race

Aug 30, 2012  •  Post A Comment

Allegations of racism are flying in a politically charged war of words between two popular singers. "American Idol" runner-up Clay Aiken was called a racist by former "Celebrity Apprentice" contestant John Rich, after Aiken tweeted an apparent joke aimed at the Republican convention, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Aiken, who reportedly has 41,107 followers on his Twitter account, tweeted: "Playing drinking game with my brother now. We drink every time we see a black person on screen at the RNC convention.”

Aiken ended the tweet with the hashtag #soberasamormon.

Rich, a Republican, wrote on Twitter that Aiken "should be ashamed for racist comments like THAT!," the story notes. Rich has 105,408 Twitter followers, the report notes.

Rich, who’s half of the country act Big & Rich, added, "And to finish it off, @clayaiken hashtags soberasamormon? I thought your charity was for inclusion, not EXCLUSION. What happened?"

Aiken responded, "My charity is. Why isn’t your party? ;-)" Aiken has been working on behalf of the charity the National Inclusion Project.

Some observers have noted that Aiken was making an comment about a perceived lack of diversity at the GOP convention — taking the position that the observation itself is not racist and is in fact pointing out possible racism as an undercurrent at the convention.

As previously reported, the GOP convention was caught up in another racial incident earlier this week, with two people tossed out of the convention for reportedly throwing nuts at a black CNN camerawoman and saying, "This is how we feed the animals."

One Comment

  1. I never thought I’d ever say this, but kudos to Clay Aiken!!
    Pointing out the lack of diversity at the RNC is a tradition we get to enjoy every four years. Pointing out the obvious isn’t racism, it’s observation.

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