Marc Lamont Hill is calling out Fat Joe and arguing that growing up around Black people does not automatically make it acceptable for a non-Black person to use the N-word.
Hill spoke out on his Just My Thoughts podcast after Joe defended his longtime use of the term during an appearance on The Joe Budden Podcast.
“If you’re going to use the N-word, you should be somebody who could actually be called a n—a,” said Hill.
Joe, who is Puerto Rican and Cuban, cited his Bronx upbringing and decades inside hip-hop culture while defending himself.
“I’m the Blackest n—a you’ve ever seen in your life,” said Joe..
Hill said Joe’s relationship with Black culture is not in question.
“Fat Joe has love for Black people,” Hill continued. “Fat Joe is not racist. Fat Joe cares about Black people, but Fat Joe is not Black.”
Joe has faced backlash over the same issue before.
During a 2022 Breakfast Club interview, he discussed backlash over his vocabulary and said he had tried to cut back. In an NPR interview that year, Joe admitted, “I try to say it so much less now,” but said he could not completely stop using the term.
Hill said longstanding acceptance among some friends does not amount to permission from everyone.
“That does happen,” he explained. “That doesn’t make it okay.”