Charlamagne tha God isn’t joining Team Biden just yet.
The radio personality, speaking to CNN on Tuesday evening, discussed his assessment of how the presumptive Democratic nominee was performing as the country reels over the death of George Floyd and the protests and riots that ensued as a result.
Despite offering praise for former Vice President Joe Biden’s address to the nation from Philadelphia, the host of “The Breakfast Club” radio program said he needed more from the 2020 hopeful.
“He did very well today in Philadelphia, you know, he said a lot of things that I wanted to hear, and I know it’s dream-selling season and politicians say what they need to in order to get elected, but I really enjoyed it,” said Charlamagne, whose real name is Lenard Larry McKelvey.
“But I need some action, like I need him to really lean into blackness now,” he continued.
The African American influencer, who boasts over 2.1 million Twitter followers and has interviewed almost every major presidential candidate this election cycle, went on to say that Biden had a “racist” legislative history in the Senate.
“To me it’s like this: If Barack Obama was JFK, then Joe Biden needs to be Lyndon B. Johnson. You know, he has the opportunity to be as progressive as Lyndon B. Johnson. Lyndon B. Johnson may have been labeled a racist but his record doesn’t reflect that. LBJ’s record showed that he had, like, the most effective progressive record on race and class of any Democratic president of the past 80 years.
“I think, you know, Biden’s record in the Senate actually reflects very racist legislation, but he has a chance to correct that by doing right by black people,” Charlamagne said.
The radio host did not specifically mention in his Tuesday evening appearance how Biden could correct this, though judging from previous statements, he is likely making reference to his desire for the Democratic presidential candidate to pick a black woman as his running mate.
Charlamagne has repeatedly urged Biden to choose a black woman for his VP, reminding him during his appearance on “The Breakfast Club” of how black voters in South Carolina saved his struggling primary campaign.
Speaking last Saturday to the Washington Post, the influencer strongly warned against selecting Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), a white Midwestern moderate, who some insiders have said is being considered for the VP job.
“I think that would be suicide for Joe Biden’s campaign,” Charlamagne told the paper. “If he did that, especially at this moment, after the comments that he made … He would be a fool not to put a black woman as his running mate.”
During Biden’s now-infamous interview with Charlamagne late last month, the former vice president told the radio host, “If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black.”
The remarks were widely condemned, and Biden apologized for them later that day.
Biden’s rival, President Trump, went after the former vice president over his record on race in a post on Twitter Wednesday morning.
“In 3 1/2 years, I’ve done much more for our Black population than Joe Biden has done in 43 years. Actually, he set them back big time with his Crime Bill, which he doesn’t even remember. I’ve done more for Black Americans, in fact, than any President in U.S. history,” he tweeted.