Is Oprah Winfrey dissing hip-hop?

(New York - WABC, June 26, 2006) -- Is it artistic difference or censorship? Several hip-hop super stars are accusing Oprah Winfrey of trying to shut them up.

Rappers have battled critics about their graphic lyrics for years, but now some of them are taking on Oprah.

Ludacris, rapper: "I feel like she doesn't respect my opinion and there in lies the problem."

Rapper and actor Ludacris says he was mistreated when he appeared on Oprah with the cast of the film "Crash." Talk turned from the film to explicit lyrics. But the rapper says his response to the criticism was edited out of the show.

"As soon as I got on there, in my opinion, I was automatically judged," he said.

Oprah responded to the rapper's comments during an interview on hip-hop radio station Power 105 in New York City.

"I said to Ludacris, a lot of people who listen to your music aren't as smart as you are. So they take some of that stuff literally. So I think that there has to be some responsibility with it, just like I have to have some responsiblity with what I do and say on my stage everyday," Oprah said.

Ludacris is not the only rapper who's got a gripe against Oprah. 50 Cent and Ice Cube have accused the queen of talk of discriminating against them by not booking them on her show.

"If she don't really like the content that we using, have us on and let's talk about it," Ice Cube said.

Oprah says she doesn't have a problem with hip hop music:

"I listen to some hip hop you know. I've been accused of not liking hip hop and that's just not true. I'm opposed to some of the music that offends my sensibilities and that's when you're degrading women and marginalizing women," she said.

Although Oprah did not single out Ludacris's music, the rapper says he has mixed feelings about going back on her show.

"It is something that we need to address, but being on her show, I mean, my comments got edited out before. Who's to say that the same thing wouldn't happen again," he said.

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