Lil Wayne’s shocking observation that, because the fans at his recent concert in Westchester, N.Y., were mostly white, America has overcome racism, stunned the black community and pretty much anyone who uses logic to form opinions. “I thought that was clearly a message that there was no such thing as racism,” the rapper said. Making such an absurd statement in the face of the relentless publicity over police shootings of unarmed African Americans, various attempts to enact voter ID laws to hamper minority voting and pretty much every study ever done on the subject of racism in the last 10 years is not just ill-informed — it’s irresponsible.

It’s possible Lil Wayne was merely expressing a naive hopefulness that when he looks out over his mostly white audience, he’s seeing a white America embracing a mostly black art form. Perhaps he imagines that as a step in the right direction. However encouraging this small sign might be, it hardly indicates widespread changes in the American psyche. White kids in the 1950s and ’60s dancing to Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Chubby Checker didn’t mean racism was at an end. We didn’t Twist our way to racial equality.

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Further compromising his Pollyannaish vision is Lil Wayne’s claim to never have experienced racism himself: “I have never, never dealt with racism, and I’m glad I didn’t have to.” This is the same man who, in 2012, accused the Oklahoma City Thunder of racism when he was denied courtside seats because there weren’t any available. In 2014, he had berated Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling for his racist rant.

The only way to end racism is to acknowledge that it still is a major problem. Lil Wayne’s overreaching proclamations gives a ready argument to those whites who have been claiming for years that there is no racism anymore and that, if anything, whites are more discriminated against than blacks. How far away is Lil Wayne’s racial utopia from reality? In July, a New York Times-CBS News poll concluded that 75 percent of African Americans believed that police are more likely to use deadly force against a black civilian than against a white civilian, while only 36 percent of whites agreed with that statement. That discrepancy shows just how far apart the perception of racism is between those who don’t face it daily and those who do.

Not only that, but research has found that whites now believe that prejudice against whites is a bigger problem than prejudice against blacks. As the authors of a 2011 study into this phenomenon point out in The Washington Post, “This perception is … in stark contrast to data on almost any outcome that has been assessed. From life expectancy to school discipline to mortgage rejection to police use of force, outcomes for white Americans tend to be — in the aggregate — better than outcomes for black Americans, often substantially so.”

So the overwhelming evidence says racism remains a problem, but the public incorrectly feels otherwise. That means that when celebrities skew public perception, they are helping perpetuate the social evil. All the great work done by today’s civil rights activists such as what’s happening under the umbrella of Black Lives Matter just received a kick to the ribs because a famous black man, euphoric with pride at his white fans, denied racism. It’s like ignoring that scent of gas until it explodes.

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The same thing can happen with gender. Bill O’Reilly went on the “Today” show on Sept. 13 to promote his new book but instead ended up promoting misogyny. Whether this was just an accident of loose lips or a deliberate statement of personal policy doesn’t really matter. Either way, the effect is just as chilling. When former Fox News head, and O’Reilly’s boss, Roger Ailes was first accused of sexual harassment by Gretchen Carlson, O’Reilly dismissed his fellow anchor’s accusations, saying, “I stand behind Roger 100 percent.” He went on to complain about frivolous lawsuits, implying Carlson’s was without merit. When more women came forward to accuse Ailes, forcing a $20 million settlement with Fox News’s parent company, Fox News correspondents Geraldo Rivera and Gretchen Van Susteren, both of whom had initially defended Ailes, issued statements regretting their support. What did Bill O’Reilly do? As the damning testimony against Ailes piled up, O’Reilly went on TV and claimed he had never addressed the Ailes case.

Perhaps at first, O’Reilly was merely defending his friend and boss and truly believed there was no merit to the case. But by denying he ever challenged Carlson’s accusations — and thereby supported an alleged sexual predator — he’s sending a message to the public that what Ailes was accused of doing is just fine.

Donald Trump joined in that message, too, saying on “Meet the Press” that his friend (and adviser) Ailes was being wronged: “I can tell you that some of the women that are complaining, I know how much he’s helped them.” Suggesting that sexual harassment should be overlooked if your abuser rewards you is the logic of frat-boy rapists who think a drunk girl is asking for it. O’Reilly’s and Trump’s denials are nothing less than a winking endorsement of sexual harassment.

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In 2014, during the Sterling scandal, Lil Wayne took a stand. “If I was a Clippers fan,” he said, “I wouldn’t be one anymore.” He made it clear that, as a form of activism to protest racism, he wouldn’t attend any games they were playing while Sterling owned the team. I, too, am a proponent of activism in fighting anything that attacks our constitutional guarantees of equality for all. Which is why I advocate that we don’t financially support Lil Wayne or O’Reilly until they apologize for their harmful statements. No concert tickets, CDs or downloads from Wayne. No books from O’Reilly or viewing of his TV show.

A few weeks ago, I endorsed Colin Kaepernick’s expression of free speech when he chose to protest widespread racial injustice by not standing during the national anthem. The difference between his exercise of free speech and that of Lil Wayne and O’Reilly is that Kaepernick was attempting to raise awareness of a significant problem that is contrary to American ideas so that we might address it, while Lil Wayne and O’Reilly were denying problems and thereby contributing to their damaging effects.

Of course, one of the great ideals of our country is that free speech allows people to say almost anything they want, no matter how stupid, inaccurate or self-serving. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t hold them accountable for what they say when it can cause significant harm to our communities by perpetuating harmful misperceptions. This lack of social responsibility by a public figure should not be ignored or excused. We, too, are exercising our free speech when we refuse to financially support those who do damage to our country.