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Kentucky AG Daniel Cameron says Megan Thee Stallion's 'SNL' performance was 'disgusting'

"The fact that someone would get on national television and make disparaging comments about me because I'm simply trying to do my job is disgusting," Daniel Cameron said.
Image: Kentucky AG Makes Announcement On Charges In Breonna Taylor's Death
Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron announces last month the grand jury's decision to indict one of three Louisville Metro Police Department officers for wanton endangerment for shooting into neighboring apartments during the raid that killed Breonna Taylor.Jon Cherry / Getty Images

Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron responded Tuesday to critics, including rapper Megan Thee Stallion, who slammed him during a recent performance on "Saturday Night Live" over his handling of the Breonna Taylor case, saying it exposes their intolerance and hypocrisy.

During the performance over the weekend, Megan Thee Stallion, whose real name is Megan Pete, played an audio clip of social justice activist Tamika Mallory saying Cameron is "no different than the sellout negroes that sold our people into slavery." The statement was displayed in large white letters behind Megan Thee Stallion before she said: "We need to protect our Black women and love our Black women. 'Cause at the end of the day, we need our Black women."

In a wide-ranging interview Tuesday on the Fox News morning show "Fox and Friends," Cameron, the first Republican attorney general in Kentucky in more than 70 years and the first Black attorney general in the state, said he agreed "that we need to love and protect our Black women."

Megan Thee Stallion, center, performs "Savage" on Saturday Night Live on Oct. 4, 2020.
Megan Thee Stallion, center, performs "Savage" on Saturday Night Live on Oct. 4, 2020.NBC

"There's no question about that," he said. "But the fact that someone would get on national television and make disparaging comments about me because I'm simply trying to do my job is disgusting."

It's neither the first time, Cameron said, nor will it be the last time.

"At the end of the day, my responsibility is to provide facts and truth and represent and stand up for justice," he said.

Megan Thee Stallion's performance was "a display of someone who instead wants to fashion facts to a narrative" that is "simply not true."

Representatives for Megan Thee Stallion did not immediately return a request for comment Tuesday.

Taylor, 26, a Black medical worker, was shot and killed by Louisville, Kentucky, police officers in March during a botched raid on her apartment.

A grand jury indicted a former Louisville police officer in September on three charges of wanton endangerment. He is accused of firing bullets into another apartment with three people inside, none of whom were injured. He pleaded not guilty and is free on bond. No charges were announced against the other two white officers who fired shots March 13. No one was charged for causing Taylor's death.

"Again, it is a tragedy what happened to her but what you saw on the screen there and what your viewers saw is something that I've had to experience because I'm a Black Republican, because I stand up for truth and justice as opposed to giving in to a mob mentality," Cameron said. "And those are the sorts of things that will be hurled at me in this job."

He said he faced similar criticism in college at the University of Louisville because "I identify with a different political ideology and therefore that shades the way people view me.

"The fact that a celebrity that I've never met before wants to make those sorts of statements, they don't hurt me," Cameron said, adding that it exposes "intolerance" and "hypocrisy."

"You see a lot of that from the left about being tolerant," he said. "But what you saw there is inconsistent with tolerance. In fact, it's her espousing intolerance because I've decided to stand up for truth and justice."

Cameron went on to say that "there are a lot of folks that look like me that aren't scared anymore, that are tired of the comments and the derogatory remarks that are made because of our political philosophy."

The case has garnered national attention and many celebrities, including NBA star LeBron James, media mogul Oprah Winfrey and Martin Luther King Jr.'s youngest daughter, Bernice King, have called for the officers to be charged.

Cameron was also asked Tuesday about an open letter addressed to him that was written by civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump and the two other lawyers representing Taylor’s family. Crump has represented the families of many Black people killed by police.

The letter asks Gov. Andy Beshear to appoint a new special prosecutor to the case, arguing Cameron "did not serve as an unbiased prosecutor" and "intentionally did not present charges to the grand jury."

"This is the Ben Crump model," Cameron said. "He goes into a city, creates a narrative, cherrypicks facts to prove that narrative, creates chaos in a community, misrepresents the facts, and then he leaves with his money and then asks the community to pick up the pieces. It is terribly irresponsible on his part to push such narratives, such falsehoods."

Crump tweeted Tuesday afternoon: "We wouldn't need the 'Ben Crump Playbook' if @KYOAG pursued justice for Breonna Taylor in the first place. Now step aside and let someone do the job you FAILED to do. #JusticeForBre."

Earlier Tuesday, Crump tweeted a snippet of Megan Thee Stallion's performance, saying, "What a POWERFUL performance by @TheeStallion on @NBCSNL! Thank you for your nod to Breonna Taylor and for reminding others to protect Black men and women because Black Lives Matter!! #SayHerName."

"Saturday Night Live" airs on NBC Network, which is owned by NBCUniversal, the parent company of NBC News and NBCNews.com.

A grand juror in Taylor's case filed a court motion last week seeking the release of the grand jury's transcripts and permission from a judge to speak publicly. The unnamed juror’s lawyer, Kevin Glogower, said a week ago the point of the whole action is to get more into the narrative.

"It's not really about changing the narrative," Glogower said, "it’s about opening it up to a more full truth for everybody to see."