It’s funny that Grisham said that because there was a lot of disrespect towards former First Lady Michelle Obama when she was in office. Pamela Ramsey, a West Virginia county employee referred to Michelle Obama as an “Ape in heels” in 2016. “It will be so refreshing to have a classy, beautiful, dignified First Lady back in the White House. I’m tired of seeing a (sic) Ape in heels,” Ramsey posted in comments. Ramsey was suspended for six weeks but ultimately returned to her job.
Recently HuffPost uncovered a Facebook post from Minnesota State Senator Karin Housley where she compared Michelle to a chimpanzee. “Speaking of Bedtime for Bonzo, I think even that chimp stood up straighter than Michelle. Uh-oh, someone is going to make a comment.” Housley posted. Her comments came after Michelle met the Queen of England. “Michelle is soooo far from cool,” Housley stated. “Don’t we expect our First Ladies to at least stand up straight? (And my dear sister, know the proper etiquette and DO NOT TOUCH THE QUEEN!).” Frankly, there were a lot of sly comments made toward Michelle Obama and the entire Obama family while they were in office. Those two are just some are the most notable.
The main difference between T.I’s video and those comments made towards Michelle Obama is that one is clearly racist and one is not. The comparison to monkeys is an old racial insult that White folks have been using for years toward Blacks. In my opinion, there should have been way more outrage against the culprits of these comments than there was.
I do want to be clear, I’m not trying to rationalize or justify T.I’s video by comparing it to the insults aimed at Michelle Obama. I actually think that Tip went a little too far with his video aimed at Melania Trump. Not just because she is the First Lady, but because she is someone’s wife. All disrespect is bogus, but when you start going at people’s spouses and children then it starts to cross the line. What I’m saying is that we cannot forget that in the age of social media that all is fair in insults and war. When you have a president who regularly tweets and insults people on a regular basis; how can anyone get upset? Especially when Melania Trump’s husband is probably looking for someone who looks just like Tiny Harris (T.I’s wife) to make his own video. Don’t say I didn’t warn you Tip.