Our View: Stick to rap, T.I.

Celebrities often endorse political candidates, leading their huge fan bases to support a particular person. For example, Pharrell Williams recently announced his support for Hillary Clinton on the Ellen DeGeneres Show.

Stars can also announce their opposition to candidates, including early 2000s hip hop star T.I., who said in a sit-down interview with DJ Whoo Kid that he is not voting for Hillary Clinton because she is a woman.

T.I. said in the interview:

“Not to be sexist but, I can’t vote for the leader of the free world to be a woman,” he said. “Just because, every other position that exists, I think a woman could do well. But the president? It’s kinda like, I just know that women make rash decisions emotionally – they make very permanent, cemented decisions – and then later, it’s kind of like it didn’t happen, or they didn’t mean for it to happen. And I sure would hate to just set off a nuke. [Other leaders] will not be able to negotiate the right kinds of foreign policy; the world ain’t ready yet. I think you might be able to (get) the Loch Ness Monster elected before you could (get a woman).” 

We believe T.I. is completely out of line for his remarks. This is 2015, not 1950. Women are completely capable of leading the free world if they are elected by citizens who believe they can get the job done. 

T.I.’s comments solidify the stereotype that women cannot do the same jobs men can, and it is simply not true. Women think with their minds just as men do, not with their “emotions,” as T.I. suggests.

T.I. may sing that you can have whatever you like, but his recent comments appear to contradict that.

The above editorial is the consensus opinion of the editorial board of The Kent Stater.