The infraction that has content watchdogs calling for Clear Channel’s New York Hip-Hop outlet’s license is the airing of the song “U.O.E.N.O.” by Rick Ross. The protesting group of groups says the song infers to drugging and date rape.
The charge from the group, which includes Parents Television Council, Rap Rehab, Industry Ears, A Long Walk Home, and FAAN Mail: “The song by rapper Rick Ross talks about ‘molly,’ a slang term for a narcotic that is used to reduce inhibitions and promote feelings of euphoria and sexuality, in other words, a date-rape drug. The lyrics in question are as follows: ‘Put molly all in her champagne/She ain’t even know it/I took her home and I enjoyed that/ She ain’t even know it.’”
Whether the lyrics are actionable by the FCC is questionable, but at the very least, the uproar has perhaps had one affect: WWPR lists a 153-song playlist on its website, and “U.O.E.N.O.” is not on it.
According to Spokane WA’s Spokesman-Review, Ross told a New Orleans radio station that he has been misunderstood. According to the story, Ross said “Woman os the most precious gift known to man. It was a misunderstanding with a lyric, a misinterpretation. The term ‘rape’ wasn’t used. I would never use the term ‘rape’ in my records. Hip-hop don’t condone that; the streets don’t condone that. Nobody condones that. So I just wanted to reach out to … all the sexy ladies, the beautiful ladies that have been reaching out to me with the misunderstanding. We don’t condone rape and I’m not with that.”
The Spokesman-Review didn’t buy that explanation, and neither is the coalition, which believes that airing this piece is not in the public interest.
Rap Rehab Founder and PTC Advisory Board Member Paul Porter said, “I am sure that ‘date rape’ is unacceptable in the workplace for the more than 20,000 people that Clear Channel Communications employs. So that same standard should be applicable to the audience that Power 105 in New York is licensed to serve. Responsibility should have no boundaries.”
“As a feminist organization committed to ending violence against all girls and women, we are deeply disturbed by his support of rape culture and the harmful messages it sends to young people who are disproportionately affected by sexual violence,” said Scheherazade Tillet and Salamishah Tillet, co-founders if A Long Walk Home.
