The ongoing feud between LaKeith Stanfield and Charlamagne tha God has heated up again. The pair haven’t been seeing eye to eye for quite some time, and the radio host’s recent comments about Stanfield’s latest movie have reignited their issues. They have been bumping heads since 2019 when the Get Out actor called out specific media outlets, including The Breakfast Club, for “spreading negativity,” ensuing in a back and forth between the radio personality and the Sorry to Bother You star.
The actor is fresh off from starring in and promoting his latest film Judas and the Black Messiah, where he played FBI informant William O’Neal. The biographical drama hit theaters and HBO Max on Feb. 12 and centers around Black Panther Chairman Fred Hampton’s life and how the federal government plotted his assassination with O’Neal’s help. During an interview with the star of the movie, Daniel Kaluuya, Charlamagne asked if the actor viewed his co-star differently after seeing how “well” he played his role as an FBI informant. Never one to avoid conflict, the Uncut Gems actor then took to social media to share his response.
There’s a history between these two. From Charlamagne not being impressed by the actor’s freestyle in 2016 and later deeming him “Donkey of the Day” for his media criticism to Stanfield dissing the podcast host in his song “Automatic,” and so much more. Check out all the details about the feud that has been brewing between Charlamagne tha God and Stanfield.
Stanfield called out certain outlets for being “anti-Black”
Stanfield took to Instagram in November 2019 to share his opinion on several media platforms, pointing out The Shade Room, Lipstick Alley, The Breakfast Club, and WorldStar. In the now-deleted Instagram post, Stanfield blasted the outlets saying they were “feeding grounds for negative reinforcements toward Black nonconformists” and even said that he felt some of them were “anti-Black.”
“The shade room, lipstick Alley, breakfast club, worldstar, and many others are anti-Black,” the post read. “It’s a fact that a lot of these platforms are usually or tend to be feeding grounds for negative reinforcement toward BLACK ‘nonconformists.’ They bolster faux vanity and hold a white supremacists scope over Black men and women, often highlighting negative attributes and downplaying mind-expanding ones,” he added in the caption. “They serve as bottomless coward consumption pits and digital, audio, or otherwise slave mentality museums. @ all you want.”
Charlamagne names Stanfield ‘Donkey of the Day’ after his media comments
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Following the actor’s Instagram post, the media personality defended himself and his syndicated radio show on the air by naming Stanfield the “Donkey of the Day.” Charlamagne accused Stanfield of ignoring Black outlets on the red carpet at events and then encouraged the actor to “be the change you want to see” before criticizing others. “You can say any and everything about me. I’ve damn near heard it all about myself online. But what you won’t do is ever fix your lips to call one of my platforms, especially The Breakfast Club, anti-Black,” the radio host said during the segment. “I’m not going to sit here and act like we’ve got it right all the time because we haven’t. We’ve made plenty of mistakes on this radio. All that critique is fine. But, LaKeith Stanfield, don’t you ever fix your raggedy-ass mouth to call the author of Black Privilege—because I truly believe it is a privilege to be Black—anti-Black.”
“Young king, I know for a fact you don’t take the chances that I do, every day, in the name of Blackness. That’s exactly why you didn’t call out any white media outlets because your publicist, your agent, and those Hollywood executives you work for would have had a fit. You would’ve never taken that chance,” Charlamagne added. “This came from a place of love. Two takeaways I want to leave you with: one, be the change you want to see in the media and stop acting like a damn buffoon in all your interviews. And two, don’t burn those Black bridges just because white folks in Hollywood sent you a boat, because history shows us what happens when white folks put Black folks on a boat.”
Stanfield released a diss track about Charlamagne
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Just days after being named “Donkey of the Day,” the actor shared a song titled “Automatic,” and took aim at Charlamagne. The track’s cover art featured a photo of Charlamagne depicted as a racist caricature and included a line about the Shook One author. “I’m Black, I’m Atlanta, I’m the Hall of Fame/Insecure, you afraid, you’s a Charlamagne/Bitch, that pussy shit that runs your lips I’m born to trip/I’m mixing up my blood with drugs and guns and gangsta Crip,” the actor raps on the track that was reportedly set to appear on his project Self Control.
The actor also addressed the radio host’s comments at length
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Stanfield also broke down Charlamagne’s comments about him in a video posted on social media. He played clips from the “Donkey of the Day” segment and addressed the radio host’s arguments one by one. The 105.1 FM personality defended his stance and mentioned all the positive things the radio show does for the culture, but the actor quickly refuted his argument. “Outlets like yours have a tendency to lean toward highlighting negative things, and that’s true. And if you don’t understand that we’re engaged in a war, that it’s a war to be Black in this bitch, that means if you’re not on the team of moving things forward, then you’re against the god damn team, period,” the actor says in the video. “So if you’re doing more of that bullshit, then that shit goes under the umbrella—which I admit is a generalization—but the umbrella of anti-Black.”
Stanfield said he had ‘no beef' with Charlamagne
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In February of 2020, The Photograph star sat down for an interview on Hot 97, and they asked about his disagreements with the radio host. “Charlamagne had made a video or something that came out, and he misinterpreted what I was saying. Ultimately, I have no issues with Charlamagne as a human being, as a person. I understand he’s doing his job, doing what he does, entertaining. I didn’t agree with a lot of the stuff he said. I haven’t agreed with the things his platform and others have put out, and that’s all I was saying and people that understand, understand,” he told Ebro. “Media in general, most of the people and platforms that I mentioned aren’t even run by Black people, so it’s not really Black platforms I’m talking about. I’m talking about the media, in general, being responsible for putting out shit that you know has integrity, which I know can be difficult. I’m not in the job, so I’m not saying it’s easy, but I’m just saying I want to hold these people accountable. The shit you put out, put out a little more positivity with the negative, that’s all.”
He added: “I wasn’t personally speaking about Charlamagne in particular. It’s bigger than that, it’s bigger than him, it’s bigger than individuals, and there’s no beef. I want everybody to continue to move forward and continue to put out better shit. And I’m going to hold myself to that standard, too.”
The actor also appeared on The Angie Martinez Show in February 2020 and said he doesn’t have an issue with Charlamagne, and that things got blown out of proportion—even though he hasn’t stopped by the radio show since their public spat. “I just say what I feel and sometimes people feel different and they got their opinions and platforms just like I got mine, and sometimes they diverge and go in different places but it would be silly to have a problem,” Stanfield said. “We both want the same things, we both just want each other to be great, we want all Black people to be great and fill the space. I think that’s what’s trying to come out in messed up ways.”
Charlamagne brings up Stanfield in an interview with Daniel Kaluuya
One year later, Daniel Kaluuya appeared on The Breakfast Club virtually to promote Judas and the Black Messiah a week after its release, and toward the end of his conversation with the hosts, Charlamagne brought up his co-star. “Did you find yourself looking at LaKeith differently after the way he played this role? Because he did it too well,” the morning radio show host asked. “You and LaKeith still have beef, Charlamagne? Is that what’s happening,” Kaluuya asked. “I never had an issue with him. I do feel like he was born to play this role, though,” Charlamagne responded.
“No, we’re not having that,” Kaluuya said, quickly shutting down the question. “Charlamagne, what it is, yeah, with LaKeith in this film he makes the biggest sacrifice. In this film, he’s serving Chairman Fred. Because in order to show you what Chairman Fred is, you have to show him what he isn’t. You can’t see the light without the dark, you understand? And he served that.”
“He put himself in a lie. That’s not his politics at all,” Kaluuya added. “That’s not how he feels at all, and it was really tough on him on certain days. I mean, he was really going through it, and for him to not be aligned politically to O’Neal and still give it his all and still humanize him in order to show who Chairman Fred was, to show who the Black Panther Party was, that’s incredible, and I salute LaKeith for that.”
Stanfield addressed Charlamagne’s attempt to diss him
The actor seemed to catch wind of the interview and took to the comments section of a post on social media to share his thoughts about the radio host and give props to his co-star for dodging the question. “Hoes. This is what hoes do,” he commented on an Instagram post of the interview. “Get sonned by reality. Get off me bro u a lame. Daniel ain’t an idiot. Leave me be dog and find somebody else @cthagod.” The actor also reportedly shared a TikTok video of himself waving a gun in front of a photo of Charlamagne and one of William O’Neal—the man who inspired the character he played in Judas and the Black Messiah.
The actor reveals he had to go to therapy after the movie
Charlamagne said the actor loves ‘playing the victim’
The Breakfast Club hosts addressed the situation on their show, including the now-deleted TikTok video. “Don’t dish it if you can’t take it. The brother has a bad habit of throwing rocks and hiding his hands,” Charlamagne said, saying he hasn’t responded to any of Stanfield’s replies to him since 2019. “I gave him a little jab during the interview with Daniel. I owed him that, and that was light. But what LaKeith does is he gets online and plays the victim. He makes it seem like I’m always coming at him. If you’re going to have the energy of saying what you want, don’t play the victim when people say something back.”
