Nikki Giovanni — A Thug Poetess

Poet Nikki Giovanni, who recently nabbed her third NAACP Image Award for her book of poems titled Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea, got gully on that ass [translation: slammed sacred cows] during her talk with students last Wednesday at South Carolina State University's annual Awakening Lecture Series. During her speech, the beloved author took pot shots at a few luminaries including Tiger Woods and President George W. Bush.

"It's embarrassing that we have a head of state that says, 'I want to kill Saddam,'" said Giovanni of Bush. "That's embarrassing! By any other standard, that's mass murder. He's a war criminal."

Giovanni also expressed glee over Tiger Woods losing last week at the Masters golf tournament. She dissed the golf king for not supporting the protests by women's rights' leader Martha Burk who is demanding that women to be allowed to become members at the Augusta National Golf Club. The establishment currently has a "men-only" policy and club President Hootie Johnson says it will stay that way even after he's dead and buried six feet under.

"That little Negro (Tiger) wants to act like, in 1990, people didn't have to picket Augusta National for his kind to play golf," she said, chastising the putt master. "No, Tiger, it was a private club [when African-Americans were not welcome] and people opened that door. You can't make your mouth say, 'Of course women should be admitted as members'? You have a $100 million contract going on and you can't do that?