Boosie Badazz is waging a legal battle against Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
During a recent sit-down with VladTV, the 38-year-old rapper claimed he was suing the tech titan over his Instagram ban back in August. He claims the platform's decision to deactivate his account took a heavy toll on his business ventures, so much so that he is supposedly suing Zuckerberg for $20 million.
"[Zuckerberg] made some of my business ventures go down, so I'm suing him now. I'm filing a lawsuit against him now," he said. "... He stopped me off Instagram and he didn't put me back on Instagram. And that's affecting my business."
Boosie alleges he was targeted because of his race, pointing out that there were other "worse" policy violations that didn't result in permanent deactivation.
"This is the first time my Instagram has ever been [taken] from me," he said. "So you can give other 2 million people their Instagram back for derogatory things they did? ... This is discrimination. Something is wrong. Somebody must be mad 'cause I said their name wrong and they're trying to chastise me."
He continued: "And my Black people are starting to tell me, 'Boosie, this man is a racist. He knows you affect the Black community and make them smile every morning? Why is he not giving you your page back? ... He might be trying to stop us from smiling' ... You're going too far."
Instagram, which was purchased by Facebook in 2014, deactivated Boosie's account due to sexually explicit content featured on his Instagram Live broadcasts. Shortly after his account was taken down, Boosie released a video in which he asked Zuckerberg to reactivate his page, claiming it was one of his largest sources of income.
"I don't even know what I did, but this is how I feed my family," he said in an August video, before mispronouncing Zuckerberg's name. "... We ain’t making no show money Mark Zuckenberger, none of the rappers. I need my Instagram back Mark ... I told everybody, 'Call Mark Zuckenberger. At him right now. Tell him call my sister. We need to talk.' I need my Instagram! I got people's money I gotta post."
Boosie also offered the billionaire Facebook founder $100,000 to get his account back. But his efforts ultimately failed and he ended up creating a new, unverified account. However, Boosie tells VladTV his new page is also being targeted, as he can no longer use the live broadcast feature.
"I had 10 million followers. You're fuckin up my income," Boosie says. "... I'm not suing for $300 billion ... I'm only suing for $20 million."
You can hear Boosie's full comments above.
The rapper made headlines last month after he was reportedly hospitalized with a gunshot wound. According to TMZ, the 38-year-old was struck in the leg on Nov. 14 in Dallas. Boosie showed off his wounds about a week ago when he announced his in-person Thanksgiving concert in South Carolina.
