Dog Fighting Bad—Servant Berating Good

Hip Hop Mogul Russell Simmons has made a public service announcement that will appear soon on You Tube denouncing organized dog fighting (we assume that disorganized, canine-initiated spats are okay). In the video, a tiny, blindfolded Jack Russell terrier is offered up to a pit bull for the kill. “There is nothing slick, cool or glamorous about dog fighting,” Simmons’ voiceover says. “It hurts the human spirit as much as it hurts the animals.” While we applaud the Def Jam founder for helping to end this barbaric practice, we wonder if he has ever watched another “spirit-harming” venture: his ex-wife Kimora Lee-Simmons’ reality show. Kimora clearly enjoys belittling, criticizing, and shouting crass insults at staff at her Baby Phat clothing line as well as legions of personal assistants and household employees. Perhaps another You Tube plea could be made to curtail (rather than promote) this type of spoiled star sadism. But we imagine Kimora’s victims, like the blindfolded Jack Russell, are pretty much without defense. Paraphrasing writer Anna Julia Cooper, “Bullies have a pretty safe instinct in scenting their prey.”