Hip-hop artist Lil Wayne received a great deal of backlash after a recent interview with ABC’s Nightline surfaced.
In the interview, Wayne was asked about Black Lives Matter. According to BET.com, he admitted he did not know what the movement was or that it was even a movement.
“What is it?” Wayne said. “What do you mean? That just sounds weird. I don’t know, that you put a name on it. It’s not a name, it’s not ‘whatever, whatever.’ It’s somebody got shot by a policeman for a f****d up reason.”
The interview began to spiral even further when Wayne argued that his fame is what matters.
“I am a young, black, rich motherf****r,” he continues in the clip. “If that don’t let you know that America understand Black motherf*****s matter these days, I don’t know what it is. That man white, he filmin’ me. I’m a n***a. I don’t know what you mean, man. Don’t come at me with that dumb s**t, man. My life matter. Especially to my b*****s.”
The Louisiana-bred rapper said the Black Lives Matter movement had nothing to do with him.
“I don’t feel connected to a damn thing that ain’t got nothin’ to do with me,” he said. “If you do, you crazy as s**t. You. Not the camera, you. Feeling connected to something that ain’t got nothing to do with you? If it ain’t got nothing to do with me, I ain’t connected to it.”
Black Lives Matter was created in 2012 after Trayvon Martin’s murderer George Zimmerman was acquitted for his crime.
BLM was a direct call to action and the people’s response to anti-Black racism.
Despite Lil Wayne’s comments, he took to social media directly after Zimmerman’s trial.
The hip-hop artist Tweeted his thoughts on the “not guilty” verdict.
“Tampa was amazing but kame bak to my bus and saw da news…ain’t shit change, and I may never get to see it do so. I pray 4my kids & yours,” he wrote on Twitter.
The tweet many can say was a nice gesture of support, so why would the rapper say he is not connected to the movement of BLM when he took to social media to express his concerns?
Following the release of the Nightline interview, fans took to Twitter to voice their feelings on Wayne’s statements.
Many were upset and said they believe the rapper thinks he is exempt from racism in America because of his fame and fortune.
Since the release of the interview, Wayne has apologized for his remarks.
However, is it really an apology when he blames his own comments on interviewer Linsey Davis?
“When the reporter began asking me questions about my daughter being labeled a bitch and a hoe, I got agitated,” he said in a statement to TMZ. “From there, there was no thought put into her questions and my responses. Apologies to anyone who was offended.”
The apologies seemed a little too late as hip-hop star T.I. Harris called the “Lollipop” rapper out by saying the statements he made were unacceptable. Harris claimed Wayne instead should have focused on being a leader.
“You have sons & a daughter that depend upon your leadership,” he wrote on Instagram. “Bro if you don’t stand for something out here, all the money, jewelry, cars, mansions bandannas & hit records don’t mean [anything]!”
Harris offered to help educate Wayne on the many things he believes African-American people have dealt and are currently dealing with.
“Our people are being oppressed!!!” Harris wrote on Instagram. “We are being hunted, captured & slaughtered out here daily!!! I’m always here to share whatever knowledge or understanding I may have to assist your growth & development, but u MUST STOP this buffoonery.”
