No, T.I.
No. No. No. And to think you were my #MCM last week for telling everyone that being a social media activist isn't enough. Now here you go this week, during an interview with DJ Whoo Kid, arguing that you wouldn't vote for Hillary Clinton, or any other woman, for president because women make rash decisions.
"Not to be sexist, but I can't vote for the leader of the free world to be a woman," T.I. had the audacity to say. "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," he continued.
"And I sure would hate to just set off a nuke. [Other world 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 elected]," he said.
Right, because the only two nukes ever to be detonated in the history of mankind were given the green light by a woman and not U.S. President Harry Truman—a man.
If you want something done right, give it to a busy mom. That's what Shark Tank entrepreneur Kevin "Mr. Wonderful" O'Leary found, when he realized that the most successful businesses in his portfolio were being run by women. Female CEOs.
"All the cash in the last two quarters is coming from companies run by women," O'Leary told Business Insider earlier this year. "I don't have a single company run by a man right now that's outperformed the ones run by women."
T.I. ought to surround himself with boss women who can demonstrate that. He should also read up on the world's current female presidents: Croatia's Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović; Switzerland's Simonetta Sommaruga; Central African Republic's Catherine Samba-Panza; and South Korea's Park Geun-hye.
The list goes on. And I'm talking female presidents of past and present. Women at the helms of entire nations. And look, T.I., no nukes have gone off since Truman.
T.I. immediately posted a tweet apologizing for his comment.
https://twitter.com/Tip/status/653972299553488896
But people on Twitter still dragged him for that tomfoolery he put forth.
https://twitter.com/Bear2theRight/status/653981746636136449https://twitter.com/BrandonEvrs/status/653971258380431360https://twitter.com/____PantheR/status/653947815207395329https://twitter.com/JayJazzi/status/653951583005339648
I have no doubt that T.I. understands that what he said was wrong and politically incorrect. But it bothers me that, deep down, he probably still holds on to the belief that women are naturally unstable and that it influences their decision-making in the workplace.
As if men aren't subjected to those same human vices. Hell, historians are just now agreeing that much of the Cold War was a pissing match between President John F. Kennedy and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev; and that President George W. Bush had the wool pulled over his eyes (by Vice President Dick Cheney, among others) and got swept into a senseless war with Iraq because he was in his feelings over how Saddam Hussein tried to kill his dad.
Emotions, emotions.
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Diana Ozemebhoya Eromosele is a staff writer at The Root and the founder and executive producer of Lectures to Beats, a Web series that features video interviews with scarily insightful people. Follow Lectures to Beats on Facebook and Twitter.
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