How Charlamagne tha God became the white political establishment’s “voice of Black America.”

On election night, amid the slow trickle of results, Stephen Colbert checked in with a guest familiar to viewers of his deeply uncomfortable 2016 election night show. “One thing we do know is that Donald Trump is definitely going to lose Black voters,” Colbert announced on his live special, “and here with his thoughts on why … is host of The Breakfast Club, Charlamagne tha God.” After a video collage of Trump back in 2016 asking Black voters “what they had to lose” by voting for him, Charlamagne launched into a bit called “Charlamagne tha God’s List of Things We Had to Lose”—a litany that included voting rights and health care. “Because we have to believe in the promise of equality and justice that America provides.” At this point, it’s no surprise that Charlamagne, who rose to fame as host of the nationally syndicated radio show The Breakfast Club, the self-styled “world’s most dangerous morning show,” was Colbert’s choice to comment in sweeping terms on the Black perspective in 2020. “Great interview … Charlamagne is ridiculous in this one 😂 😂 …but Mayor Pete rolled with it like a champ,” says one representative comment on a video of The Breakfast Club’s conversation with Buttigieg. The Los Angeles Times declared The Breakfast Club the “radio forum for the nation’s racial reckoning.” That was news to many Black observers: Writer Kara Brown simply replied, “Lol no.” New York Times journalist Astead Herndon said, “I will be grateful when white media discovers there is more than one black radio show/podcast.” “Charlamagne’s ascension on the ‘black people who non-black people think speak for all black people’ power rankings has been incredible,” he added.