White House Stands By Decision To Invite Rapper Common To White House Poetry Event

The Obama Administration defended its decision Wednesday to invite hip-hop artist Common to a poetry event on Capitol Hill.







The Grammy Award-winning rapper's controversial lyrics about cop killing and burning former President George W. Bush have been ripped by the conservative media. But White House Press Secretary Jay Carney argued that such cherry-picked phrases are not the "sum total" of Common's work.





Carney insisted during a press conference that President Obama opposes violent and misogynist lyrics, adding recent news stories distort what the Grammy Award winning artist stands for.





"It's ironic that to take out those particular lyrics about this particular artist [who's] in fact known as a socially conscious hip-hop artist, rapper who has done a lot of good things. You can oppose some of what he has done and appreciate some of the other things he has done," Carney said.





Wednesday's scheduled appearance of Common, whose real name is Lonnie Rashid Lynn Jr., has created a firestorm.





"This is not the guy that you invite to the White House for a poetry reading," Fox News' Sean Hannity said on Tuesday. "This is not the guy we want our kids to listen to."





Obama, he said, "goes back to his radical roots again and again and again."





Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin also weighed in on the event, tweeting "Oh lovely, White house," followed by a link to Common's lyrics posted by The Daily Caller, a website run by conservative pundit Tucker Carlson.





Other scheduled participants at the event, hosted by First Lady Michelle Obama, include Billy Collins, Rita Dove, Kenneth Goldsmith, Alison Knowles, Aimee Mann and Jill Scott.





Carney pointed to a 2010 FoxNews.com interview where a reporter told Common that his music is "very positive."





Common, he added, was invited to the event "partly because of his efforts to bring poetry to audiences that don't get to experience it. And we think that's a positive thing."