Snoop Dogg Just Got A News Anchor Fired, Here’s The Ridiculous Reason
A Mississippi news anchor quoted Snopp Dogg rap lyrics on air while discussing his latest wine, and was fired for doing so.
A reporter has apparently been released from her post after quoting Snoop Dogg on the air. As reported by the Independent, Mississippi news anchor Barbie Bassett uttered one of Snoop’s famous phrases while joking about a collaboration between her and the rapper. “Before we’d know it, she’d have a Snoop Dogg tattoo on her shoulder,” teased Basset’s co-anchor. She responded, “Fo shizzle, my nizzle.”
The group was discussing a new addition to the Snoop Dogg wine line, 19 Crimes. The lighthearted banter took an uncomfortable turn when Bassett quoted the rapper, using slang for the N-word. Another newsman on the screen went immediately wide-eyed as Bassett let the words fly.
Bassett has long been a mainstay on the Mississippi NBC affiliate WLBT. The anchor and meteorologist has been absent from the station since she quoted Snoop Dogg on March 8, 2023. The controversy came on the heels of an October incident in which Bassett referred to a black reporter’s “grandmammy” during a broadcast. Bassett publicly apologized for that comment.
Bassett has not only been absent from her show but was removed from the station’s website and has gone dark on social media. Her silence online was amplified by the string of tornadoes that tore through the state from March 24-27; the severe weather leveled towns and claimed many lives, prompting numerous meteorologists to weigh in online.
Snoop Dogg has yet to comment on the situation, but the popular opinion on the internet is that Bassett was not in the wrong for quoting the rapper. Critics of Bassett’s apparent termination have cited hypersensitivity and overzealous political correctness as unfair driving factors in the controversy. The View host Whoopi Goldberg has been one of the highest-profile voices in the conversation.
“There has to be a book of stuff that nobody could ever say, ever, ever, ever. Include everything,” Goldberg said of the errant Snoop Dogg quote. “The things that change, you can say this, but you can’t say that, but next week you might not be able to say this, it’s hard to keep up… And if you’re a person of a certain age, there’s stuff we do, and we say.”
Rapper Charlamagne tha God agreed with Goldberg, adding that Bassett probably did not fully understand what she was saying when she quoted Snoop Dogg. In general, the public has not taken the situation seriously, with many supporting Bassett. Many maintain that the comment was inappropriate but not malicious or warranting a termination.
The issue is at the heart of a larger debate about political correctness and cancel culture. The age of social media has accelerated significant social change and awareness. While lower tolerance for hate and injustice has sparked many positive changes for minorities and marginalized people groups, such as in the case of the #MeToo movement, the court of public opinion has unfairly indicted some, trading potential teaching moments for ostracization.
Many are looking to Snoop Dogg to weigh in on the situation, as he wrote the lyrics that landed Barbie Bassett in the hot seat. What Snoop Dogg thinks of his words showing up in the mouth of a white reporter, while potentially interesting, may not matter. Most words or phrases perceived as offensive do not have such a definitive author to act as an arbiter during controversies; employers and the culture at large need to find sustainable ways of assessing breaches of political correctness.
Opinions will always vary and evolve. In the case of Barbie Bassett, a culture of education and understanding may be too late to make a difference. But if the words of Snoop Dogg got her in trouble, perhaps the rapper breaking his silence on the matter could get her out of it.
