Christopher Reid, one-half of the hip-hop music duo Kid 'N Play, was recently caught up in a sports media scandal when he participated in a controversial skit surrounding the ongoing Colin Kaepernick drama with the NFL and some of its teams. Appearing on Jason Whitlock's Fox Sports 1 program, the social media backlash against both Kid (Reid) and Whitlock was swift and intense. However, the rapper has now come clean about the incident and addressed his motives and reasoning directly with fans online with a length Facebook post. Claiming that he's been ill over the last little while, and thus the reason why his response to the issue has been so delayed, the emcee dived right into the criticism he received, especially when it comes to sharing the same on-air space as Whitlock.
"[...] Let me address the elephant in the room (and no, I don't mean Whitlock)," he began. "Look, I get it-taking a pic with Jason Whitlock is like taking a pic with Samuel L. Jackson in Django-most people might be perplexed by this act and others will get litty on you and call you a 'coon', 'sellout' or even worse," he added. "These are the pitfalls of a public life. I accept them." Later on, Reid insists that his participation in the sketch was not meant to reflect any disrespect towards Kaepernick's cause or political stance.
"Let me be clear-the skit and photo were not meant to disrespect Colin's message or political stance. Rather, we wanted to spoof the media's treatment of him and the circus that has been created. I understand that Whitlock has been a vocal critic of Colin so the optics of the photo have got me looking crazy. But anyone who knows me knows where I stand on Colin Kaepernick-exactly where he stands. Being born and raised in NYC I grew up seeing and reading about dozens of acts of police brutality. And the same way we know the names of Tamir Rice, Philando Castile and Michael Brown today, I grew up knowing the same fate had come to Eleanor Bumpurs, Amadou Diallo, and Abner Louima. Sadly, little has changed."
Acknowledging his penchant for keeping controversial company, whether it's Bill Maher, Charlamagne Tha God or other personalities from the media or hip-hop spheres, Kid knows he's got to do better moving forward. "Moving forward, I recognize the danger of optics without proper explanation-people race to their own conclusions, good and bad," he said. "I also have to accept my part in this controversy-the fact that my rep was taking hits was shocking at first-but I've come to a healthy understanding of how some people were dismayed by what went down."
You can read his entire Facebook post here.