I really don't care about Akon or like his music. But I do care about accuracy: What I truly can't understand is why you people keep referring to him as "a rapper" or "a hardcore rapper". Akon doesn't rap, he is a singer. This makes me think that you all, including the author of the article, have absolutely no idea what you are commenting on. I know complete ignorance on a on subject usually doesn't stop people from having an opinion, but dang! That one "little" inaccuracy completely changes the nautre of the story. Salon, you have got to do a better job than this.

It sure made my day, that's for sure.

And Liz T... why assume Gwen's a liberated female? It's like being an evangelical Christian president... maybe you have some trappings of that identity, but the nature of the system is such that you have to compromise at every turn to scale the heights. Maybe Stefani is the Liberated Female (TM) brand of pop singer, but she's nowhere near the real deal.

So, Verizon dumped Akon's act...even tho they knew what his act

was like....same as CBS Dumping Imus....he worked for them for

15 years...I suspect they knew what he had been doing all that time, don't you ?

Must be espcially tough for an "artist" who makes ringtones not actual songs. He and his people have openly discussed that ringtone potential is a consideration during recording and production. His success and Verizon's sponsorship is almost entirely due his "music"'s utility at announcing phone calls through a purse or backpack.

It annoys we that liberated female singers like Gwen Stefani will work with this creep, who has a slew of misogynistic statements on record - song lyrics not included - and who has indeed denied the state of affairs in the brutal diamond mining industry. I can't stand the guy, and I don't think Verizon whould have signed him in the first place. I smell greed and bad research on their part.

* He has multiple "wives" (they aren't technically married) and claims that everybody he knows has multiple girlfriends.

* When asked if he lives with all of his wives, he said: "Come on, you can’t live with the women if you’re going to do it. It would ruin a situation like that." He's also said, "As men, that's our situation, we're natural breeders. If women took the time to understand our behavior, it wouldn't be such a problem." So apparently, all women just need to understand that all men cheat, and then we can live together in harmony.

* He used to be a car thief.

* He owns a diamond mine and claims that there are no ethical problems in the diamond industry

I hate to agree with Michelle Malkin, but I think he is a misogynist and he's morally bankrupt. Have you seen the videos circulating? It's a far cry from Elvis. It is vulgar. I think he's tacky and offensive, and I was wondering why Gwen Stefani and major corporations were sponsoring and tacitly approving of his actions.

Also, not every black musician is a rapper. Akon is not a rapper. And everything I've read about what happened in Trinidad has stated that the club is 18 and over. How about some fact checking?

This column made me want to bang my head against the wall.

I cannot believe this shit!

A company whose efforts toward being innovative always lean toward merging to gain more market power now wants to play COP.

What a bunch of bullshit!

The nerve of a company that has as a strategy making sure wireless communication doesn't cut into inefficient land lines and cables they want the public to subsidize is absurd, disgusting, abusive, and, immoral!

What's next?

What the fuck is next?

I know.

Charging more for services they'll help restrict!

This story should have listed the individuals who made the decision on removing AKON from tour. Please do if you have the time. I'd very much like to write them a letter telling them what scum they are!

PS (Just in case the Right Wing Weirdos think people can't read between the lines let me add that IMUS ain't coming back. No matter how many African-Americans are blamed for his failure IMUS is done....and that's a good thing!)

Actually, from what I hear, seeing Wentz's willy made many of those mallgirls quite happy.

First, Akon isn't a rapper, he is a singer. I'm not sure why he would be called a rapper if the writer did hear his songs. Second, is talking about sex in a song now misogynist? If so alot of songs throughout history need to be reclassified.

Then if it's racism, it's finely tuned. Or it's biased towards dudes who can actually write credible tunes about the ass and the freaking thereof.

I haven't seen the video clip, but I'll assume for the sake of argument that it's egregious. If Verizon "fired Akon for doing the kind of thing it hired him for," then I want to see that contract, if only because I never knew "grinding on high school freshmen" was a corporately-prized skill set. R Kelly's consequences include indictments. Urban's and Wentz's were relatively victimless crimes (unless we insist on being heartbroken for, respectively, Nicole Kidman and legions of underage female mallpunks). Akon humped an young girl in public. He loses a couple sponsors. Two more hooks on Jeezy tracks and he'll be back in black. He and R can hook up for "The Sort of Best of the Same World" tour in 2011.

Aand does Michelle Malkin really have that much clout? I mean, O'Reilly and Luda, fine. But Malkin? I didn't think she could influence a TRL lineup. I hope she's good at reedy, faux-soulful choruses. America's got needs, Shelly.

And Akon's a singer, not a rapper. He's got cadences 'n' stuff, sure, but his calling card is that diluted jar of molasses he calls pipes. In the vast spectrum of hip-hop, he is nowhere near "hardcore".

I don't think it's a fair comparison, what Akon did involved another human being. Yes, he's apologized and yes it was a 21 and over club so I don't think Akon is some horrible person but I can understand Verizon not wanting to promote a person who would "mistake" a 14 yr old for an adult when we have TV shows like to Catch a Predator and our nation is pretty obsessed with the pedophiles.

But taking drugs or taking pictures of your penis are things you do to yourself, not really to other people, though others can be effected by those actions. So I don't really think it's hypocritical.