Rickey Smiley is not afraid to speak his mind. Recently, while on Jemele Hill’s “Spolitics” podcast, the comedian and member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Incorporated expressed his deep disappointment with his fraternity and the “culture” he believes contributed to the death of 20-year-old Southern University student Caleb Wilson earlier this year.
“I don’t think Bishop Edgar A. Love would have punched anybody in the chest. Just, Love, Cooper and Coleman founded Omega Psi Phi at Howard University in 1911. A lot of these guys that started this culture, I don’t care if it started in the 80s, I don’t care when it started. It is wrong. In 25 years in the frat, I have never put my hands on anybody.”
Smiley who has been an active member of the fraternity since 2000 has been very vocal in his support for the Wilson family. Since news broke of Wilson’s untimely death, the comedian has used his platform to encourage people to pray for the Wilson family in their grief. Having grieved the loss of his own son in January 2023, Smiley says he called Wilson’s father shortly after the incident to offer his support.
“I called Caleb Wilson’s dad and offered my condolences because I’m a dad that also lost his son,” Smiley told Hill. “You know what he said? You are the first member of your fraternity to call and offer your condolences.”
As he supports the Wilson family, the comedian stressed his disdain for the “gang-like mentality,” he’s observed amongst members of the fraternity in recent years.
“I [joined] Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc, because of what it was founded on, not the culture that was created,” he explained. “Culture starts with cult. It’s gang activity…the last physical altercations that I’ve gotten into as a man was with Ques. Why? Why I leave the conclave wondering ‘what am I a part of? Why is it always some issues with my fraternity? With my bruhz?’ Because there’s a culture giving people access to be disrespectful. It’s gang-like mentality and mindset.”
“Some of these people in a lot of these organizations, the founders never would have picked them,” he continued noting how harmful hazing can be. Similar to Wilson who was punched in the chest, Smiley revealed that one of his nephews who also crossed Omega Psi Phi had bruised ribs from being on-line. While his nephew did not die, Smiley says that the fraternity remains an “unspoken” element between them and notes the psychological impact physical hazing can have on people.
“You don’t know what somebody went through to get to where they are. You are already a man if you make it out of the projects to make it to college. Who are you to put your hands on someone?” he stressed. “Hazing has to stop. It’s wrong; stop putting your hands on people. People come to these organizations looking for something they never had. [Hazing] is not what the organization was founded on.”
The comedian noted that while there is a need for major change across all Divine Nine organizations when it comes to hazing, he noted that there are some members who are trying to break “the generational curse of hazing,” particularly in Omega Psi Phi.
“I’m not throwing my frat under the bus because everything the founders founded it on, I still believe it…I understand the culture of [traditions] but that don’t make [all traditions] right,” he said.
And to anyone who may have an issue with his comments, he shared, “I’ll be a Que forever and ain’t nobody going to do nothing about what I just said. Call me cat [a term viewed as a “slur” within the fraternity]. Call me whatever you want to call me, I know who I am. I don’t need no organization for validation.“
