Nelly Pulls Out of Charity Event After Students Protest

The women of Spelman College are so outraged by his portrayal of women in his videos they don't even want his help with bone marrow donations.

The prestigious Atlanta based college has pressured Nelly and his foundation, 4 Sho 4 Kids, to cancel a bone-marrow drive on campus, reports MTV.

When it was announced that Nelly's foundation was sponsoring the drive and he would make an appearance on campus today, several students raised objections, according to Vice President of Student Affairs Dr. Zenobia Hikes.

"Spelman is concerned about the negative images of women in popular culture," Hikes explained, "particularly the misogynistic lyrics and images that constantly portray women in a sexual nature."

But Spelman isn't alone. Their brothers across the way at Morehouse support their sisters and was in the process of organizing a demonstration on campus. But, when word got to Nelly's foundation, Hikes said, it canceled the bone-marrow drive.

Students at both colleges are outraged by an unrated video for Nelly's song "Tip Drill," which bears a scene where the rapper is swiping his credit card down a woman's behind.

Spelman is an all-female college enrolling about 2,200 students. The curriculum features some classes that profile hip hop, popular culture and its portrayal of Black women.

“Every time I see it, I just get really, really upset,” said student Moya Bailey. “Even the idea that they’re making money from this, the amount of money they’re making is not comparable to like being degraded in this manner.”

With the need for bone marrow being so great within the minority community this is a massive statement.

Finding a bone-marrow match is a time consuming and costly search for people battling different diseases including Leukemia, Sickle Cell Disease, Hodgkin’s Disease and different forms of cancer. Nelly has been trying to raise awareness of the need for marrow and blood-stem-cell donors among minorities since last summer, when his sister, Jackie Donahue, was diagnosed with Leukemia. His spokesperson for the foundation could not be reached for comment.

Students at Spelman said they were still very interested in sponsoring a bone marrow drive. They said they were talking with agencies such as the Red Cross to plan an event.