With years of lending controversial ideas on racially charged topics (see:  Travyvon Martin, “absent black fathers,” and more), 71-year-old Fox News personality Geraldo Rivera has once again found himself in the line of Twitter fire for his assessment that hip hop has been “more damaging to black and brown people over the past 10 years” than the institution of racism itself.

Taking to HuffPost Live, Rivera – who lost the ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ crown this week to fellow journalist/former talk show host Leeza Gibbons – appears to have lost his mind as well when he argued, “Hip-hop has done more damage to black and brown people than racism in the last 10 years.”  Expounding, he asserted it’s impossible to “…find a youngster — a Puerto Rican from the South Bronx or a black kid from Harlem who has succeeded in life other than being the one-tenth of one-tenth of one percent that make it in the music business — that’s been a success in life walking around with his pants around his ass and with visible tattoos.”

His comments have incited a host of ongoing debates on social media, but as always, we turn to you – That Grape Juice readers – to ask:

Is Geraldo Rivera right?

Via: HuffPost Live

“And I love Russell Simmons,” Rivera continued. “He’s a dear friend of mine. I admire his business acumen. At some point, those guys have to cop to the fact that by encouraging this distinctive culture that is removed from the mainstream, they have encouraged people to be so different from the mainstream that they can’t participate other than, you know, the racks in the garment center and those entry-level jobs, and I lament it. I really do. I think that it has been very destructive culturally.”

“At some point those guys have to cop to the fact that, by encouraging this distinctive culture that is removed from the mainstream, they have encouraged people to be so different from the mainstream that they can’t participate other than in the racks, and the garment centers, and those other entry-level jobs. I lament it. I really do. I think that it has been very destructive culturally.” – Rivera

Your thoughts?