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George Zimmerman And Celebrity Boxing: A Bread And Circus Affair?

Photo of George Zimmerman
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George Zimmerman, the man who shot Trayvon Martin but was acquitted, is signed up to fight in a pay-per-view celebrity boxing match. The most likely opponent for the March 1st match-up is rapper DMX. The proposed fight has elicited an array of responses, from proponents asking DMX to avenge Martin’s death to people pleading with DMX not to participate. In many ways the fight resembles the activities of ancient Rome, where gladiators would fight for their lives in a public arena and the spectacle distracted the masses from other concerns.

Host Frank Stasio talks with , professor of communications at Elon University; , professor of African-American Studies at Duke University; and , professor of Classics at Duke University; about the fight, criminality and celebrity in the public sphere.

Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's app Director.
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