Al Sharpton’s Message To Rappers Supporting Trump: ‘He Called for the Death Penalty For 5 Young Black Men’

Rev. Al Sharpton does not support rappers who appear to be “seduced” by Donald Trump and wants them to remember Trump’s past attempts to give the Central Park Five the death penalty.

Speaking with Joy Reid on MSNBC on Tuesday, Aug. 29, Sharpton shared a little history lesson when discussing the irony of Trump supporters who cite systemic oppression as the cause for his recent arrest and indictments. Reid found it funny that Trump supporters are only now acknowledging injustices Black people have complained about for ages but only as a way to bash the former president’s recent arrest.

Sharpton took this as an opportunity to remind Trump supporters of his history supporting criminal injustice against the Black community, specifically the young Black boys who were wrongly accused and charged with sexually assaulting a white woman in Central Park in 1989.

“Let’s not go back to the 1930s, let’s go to the 1990s when five young Black and brown young men were falsely accused of raping a white woman in Central Park,” Sharpton said.

“It was Donald Trump that took out ads in the papers in New York saying they should get the death penalty.”

.@TheRevAl: "If they want to cite how Blacks have been abused by the criminal justice system, cite the case where we marched and eventually it was proven that these five young men that Donald Trump called on to get the death penalty, were in fact innocent." #TheReidOut pic.twitter.com/3toDjeAGv4

— The ReidOut (@thereidout) August 29, 2023

“So they want to cite how Blacks have been abused by the criminal justice system. Cite the case where we lost and eventually, it was proven these five young men that Donald Trump called on to get the death penalty was, in fact, innocent,” he continued.

“The only case of race in the criminal justice system that I’ve ever seen Donald Trump stand up for in New York where he’s a native was when he called for the death penalty of five innocent young Black and brown young men.”

Noting one of the Exonerated Five members who attended last week’s commemorative March on Washington, Sharpton continued.

“One spent 13 years in jail, he was with us for the March on Washington on Saturday,” he said. “Let them come and tell the rappers and others that are being seduced by Trump what he did in his hometown to innocent Black men while we were marching around their innocence.”