Yet Greene can hardly contain his glee over the fact that the gay-bashing, misogynist rapper was nominated last week for four Grammys, including the prestigious album of the year award.

Hired years ago by NARAS to give the group's hopelessly out-of-touch awards show some desperately needed buzz, Greene succeeded in raising the Grammy's profile during the '90s in two key ways. One, he weeded out potentially embarrassing nominations and wins -- no one wanted a repeat of 1984, when Lionel Richie's "Can't Slow Down" beat out Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the U.S.A." for top honors. And two, he boosted viewership for the annual network telecast.

Now, with the hand-picked selection of Eminem's hate-filled record as album of the year, Greene's work is complete; the once-respectable albeit feckless Grammy has transformed itself into just another trend-chasing music awards show.

The predictable outcry accompanying Eminem's nominations virtually guarantees the Grammy telecast -- undoubtedly featuring a performance by the rapper -- will be another ratings hit.

As for the message Eminem's honor might send, Greene -- one of the industry's most eloquent spokesmen when it comes to the powerful role music plays in society, and particularly the importance of teaching music to children in school -- simply reads off the standard Eminem apologist talking points: "There is racism and homophobia in this country, and it's an artist's responsibility sometimes to throw things like that in our face in a way that [infuriates] everybody," he told the Washington Post. (His lame defenses were echoed elsewhere in medialand: While hyping Grammy's Eminem picks, VH1's Rebecca Rankin hit a new low: "Some people didn't like what Shakespeare had to say.")

Somewhere there's a hateful white kid in a basement studio who's thrilled: He's seeing strong evidence that if his raps about coons and kikes sell enough units, the music industry establishment will have to accept him. He, like Eminem, is merely throwing things in people's faces and using "the microphone as a therapist," as Greene puts it.

It's interesting Greene threw "racism" into the mix when defending Eminem, since the topic has nothing to do with the "Marshall Mathers LP" controversy. (The record's strictly an anti-woman, anti-gay thing.) Unless of course, you count the fact that it took a white artist to become the first hardcore rapper nominated for album of the year.

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