'Ebro In The Morning' Canceled, Sparks Hip-Hop Inter-Media Pettiness

Hot 97 Summer Jam 2024 — Source: Johnny Nunez / Getty

After almost 20 years, on Friday (Dec. 12), Ebro In The Morning was not so subtly cancelled by Hot 97. The show’s demise, for now, has sparked plenty of speculation as to the why, and has also inspired pettiness in the form of mockery from media rivals — including Drake.

Host Ebro Darden took to social media to announce the show’s end, and offered his own speculation as to what led to Hot 97’s decision. “You look around at all the major media outlets… they all gotta fold up because they’re all trying to renew their deals and their licenses,” said Ebro.

The Apple Music host also added that his “progressive” political views and the station’s ownership’s involvement in recent casino endeavors were also to blame. “Bro’s a casino owner. You know the three licenses they got in NY for the casino? The guy that owns the s**t owns one of the casino licenses,” added Darded. “He gotta raise half a billion dollars. They need my s**t talking, anti-Netanyahu, anti-government, progressive s**t out of the way, bro. They need me out of the way.”

Also out of the way are co-hosts Peter Rosenberg and Laura Stylez. Rosenberg took to social media to honor his tenure at the radio station. “Almost 19 years later it comes to a close … longest tenured morning host ever at the station. Became friends with my heroes. The future is very exciting but I’m filled with gratitude for the past. @oldmanebro plucked me out of obscurity in DC and put this mic in my hand.”

However, not everyone is saluting. Drake posted an emoji of a hatchet in the comments of Ebro’s aforementioned video.

Drizzy’s reaction was no surprise since Ebro has been candid with his critiques of the Toronto rapper over the years. Both Rosenberg and Ebro eventually responded. Rosenberg tweeted on X, “It’s behavior like this that has made it impossible for people to defend the wack sh*t that he does … But happy Hanukkah my one time pal .. I truly wish you well even if you’re celebrating what you believe is our demise.”

Ebro was more succinct, tweeting, “Drake is ‘right wing” and so is sAK.”

The “AK” he mentions is in reference to DJ Akademiks, who also isn’t a fan (and went on a long diatribe about Ebro that can be seen below during his stream). Worth mentioning is that there has been plenty of commentary from Ebro and co’s media “rivals” including DJ Vlad, who offered his own take on matters. In a statement he shared on social media, the popular but controversial media host asserted that radio figures are instructed to hate each other, while over on the podcasts/stream/etc. side of things — it’s all about collaboration. But the fact that Vlad mentioned names like Akademiks, Adam 22 and Wack 100 didn’t go over too well.

“Akademiks, Trap Lore Ross, & Adam22…that’s not the Cultural flex he think it is.🤨🤦🏾‍♂️,” wrote one commenter, a sentiment shared by many, respectfully.

Now, plenty more listeners, fans and observers of pettiness are weighing in as they wait to see what’s next in the Hip-Hop media landscape.

See more reactions below.