Living Out Loud with Darian

Maybe you guys remember the raspy voice of pint-sized rapper Ja Rule from the early 2000's when he had a string of hits on the Murder Inc. label and was still deemed relevant. No? Well Ja hasn't been receiving attention for his music lately but he has turned a few heads recently with comments regarding gay visibility on MTV and the networks support of program diversity.

When speaking out against congressional hearings on hip-hop music Ja Rule had this to say:" We need to go step to MTV and Viacom, and lets talk about all these fucking shows that they have on MTV that is promoting homosexuality, that my kids can’t watch this shit. Dating shows that’s showing two guys or two girls in mid-afternoon. Let’s talk about shit like that! If that’s not fucking up America, I don’t know what is".

I guess Ja is all up in arms about the new bisexual dating show "A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila", where 16 men and 16 women will compete for the affection of Tila and other similar dating shows that aren't exclusive to heterosexual couples.

I love it how Ja and others like him think that their kids will somehow catch the gay bug if they see two men or two women on tv being affectionate. What's sad is that many Americans would rather see two men at war than holding hands. With all of the violence in hip-hop, misogynistic lyrics( Ja how many times have you called women who look like your son's mother a bitch in your music?)and the huge quantity of young people who consume this music, I think it's fair to say hip-hop has a far more reaching effect and often a negative one.

I respect parents for trying to protect their children from elements in society that may cause them harm, however sexual orientation is innate and no matter how much a person views homosexuality on tv or in person if they're not gay by birth then no MTV dating show is going to change that. Children are smarter than most adults give them credit for and often times more accepting, it's the adults that teach intolerance.

Ja might want to concentrate on reviving his dead rap career and spending less time teaching wack family values and standing in the way of progress.