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Public Enemy’s Professor Griff Says “White Police Officer” Accused Him Of “Training Snipers” After Photo With Dallas Shooter Surfaced

By Tom Williams

Public Enemy member Professor Griff (real name Richard Griffin) says he has been accused of “training snipers to kill cops” by a “white police officer” who he claims to have received a phone call from after a photo of him with Dallas shooter Micah Xavier Johnson surfaced online.

Griffin, who says he’s received death threats since a Facebook photo of him shaking Johnson’s hand made its way around the internet, has denied reports that he was associated with the killer, and has insisted he only met Johnson briefly after giving a lecture in Dallas earlier this year.

Speaking with the Daily Mail, 55-year-old Griffin says he’s received a number of threats since he was linked to Johnson, who fatally shot five police officers and injured seven others in downtown Dallas on Thursday night, after a peaceful Black Lives Matter protest was hijacked by armed individuals.

“I get a call from a white police officer who said, ‘So you’re training snipers to kill cops.’ I said, ‘No I don’t train snipers to kill cops, I don’t train snipers,'” Griffin says.

“Then I’m driving by my house and I’m seeing the police sitting out front. You know what I did, I tweeted out so that people know, so that the world knows my position.

“And I was very clear, I don’t know this guy, I’ve no association with him, I don’t train snipers to kill cops, I don’t advocate killing police. You don’t find it in my songs, my music, my lectures, I don’t do that.”

Griffin’s claims about the call from a “white police officer” have not been verified, and the rapper has admitted that the caller could have been someone impersonating a police officer.

On Friday, Griffin posted a series of tweets denying any link to Johnson, after the Dallas Police Department mentioned Griffin by his real name in a press release about their investigation into Johnson.

“I will not sit back and let these people assassinate my character and tie me to the Dallas shootings,” he posted.

“As you seek to detained me and or arrest me, I will not sit idle and watch you frame me. The police and FBI have been watching me and tapping my phone they know who I talk too, I DO NOT KNOW THE SHOOTER. I do not advocate killing Cops.”

Griffin was backed up by his Public Enemy bandmate Chuck D, real name Carlton Ridenhour, who took to Twitter to day, “Stupid SHT. News Media associating PE with Dallas is like accusing TheBeatles of the fkn Manson murders.Or do I KNOW too much Music history?”

Griffin says he met Johnson while signing autographs and posing for photos outside a community centre in Dallas a few months ago, after he spoke at a lecture about the recent loss of musicians like Prince, Maurice White and Phife Dawg.

“When I’m scheduled to do a lecture I do a lecture and I take pictures with a hundred people in the room and one just happens to be this guy,” he says.

“He said it was nice to meet me and how he was a fan of my music and I said, ‘Peace, cool,’ that was it.

“We exchanged pleasantries that was it. After that I’ve never met the guy, I’ve never talked to him.”

Griffin is known for having held controversial views in the past, and was once a member of the Nation of Islam — an organisation often considered to be a black supremacy or hate group. Griffin defends his past, however.

“It depends on who’s looking at it. Some people look at it (The Nation of Islam) as a savior, when you’re talking young black kids in the hood reaping havoc, this has saved my life, they taught me how to be a real man,” he says.

“I don’t discuss my beliefs in lectures, in songs, I just don’t.

“Your belief is anything that you want it to be, it’s a choice, but that don’t make it factual, that don’t make it true.”

Catch Griffin and Ridenhour’s series of tweets, below.

Tom Williams
Tom Williams

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