Geraldo Rivera: Hip-Hop Is 'Very Destructive Culturally'

Geraldo Rivera, Celebrity Apprentice runner-up and the discoverer of Al Capone's empty secret vaults, made some controversial statements about hip-hop during a long conversation with HuffPost Live's Josh Zepps. Rivera said, "Hip-hop has done more damage to black and brown people than racism in the last 10 years." Rivera then took aim at Russell Simmons, the co-founder of Def Jam who has been less involved in hip-hop in recent years. Rivera said, "This whole ethos, and I love Russell Simmons – he's a dear friend of mine, I admire his business acumen – at some point though, those guys need to cop to the fact that by encouraging this distinctive culture that is removed from the mainstream they have encouraged people to be so different from the mainstream that they can't participate other than the racks in the garment center and those entry level jobs. I lament it; I really do. I think it's been very destructive culturally." http://rol.st/1Ld9VZJ http://bit.ly/1fJ5yqZ