UPDATED 10/28, 1:50 p.m. ET: Ice Cube isn’t interested in picking apart Rep. Cedric Richmond’s account of events.
Retweeting an article by the Grio titled “Rep. Cedric Richmond denies Ice Cube was told to hold off demands until after election,” Cube wrote, “Instead of going back and forth Congressman, please release the Zoom meeting so the world can see what was said by all.”
Richmond, who maintains a semi-active account on the platform and retweeted an unrelated tweet on Tuesday, has not responded.
See original story below.
U.S. House Representative Cedric Richmond denied Ice Cube’s claims that the Democrats turned the rapper away when he came to discuss his Contract with Black America. In an interview on SiriusXM, the co-chair of presidential hopeful Joe Biden’s campaign explained that Cube’s platform was merely an “outline” and needed work before it could be taken up by a campaign.
“I like the fact that Ice Cube is getting engaged in policy. I think that is a good thing, however, once you embark on getting into it, one, you have to be truthful, but two, you have an obligation, I think, to see it through and to be thorough with it,” Richmond said in an interview with Joe Madison. “Our plan is very thorough. I won’t say he has a skeleton plan, but he has an outline of things, he has an outline of things that should be done.”
Richmond’s claim runs counter to the one that Ice Cube has shared on social media. The rapper said that he made his much-criticized decision to work with President Donald Trump after the Democrats turned him away, saying they would take up his causes after the election.
Richmond said that their conversation has been mischaracterized. He told Madison that he gave Ice Cube a way to contact him while standing on the belief that the campaign’s already existing platform was more thorough than Cube’s contract.
“It’s not as comprehensive as our plan. And so that’s what we told him, and the offer to stay engaged was not, ‘we’ll talk to you after the election,’” he said. “It went like this: ‘Here’s my cell number, anything else you want to talk about on this plan or anything you think, you know, we need to talk about further, just pick up the phone and call.”
Richmond went on to criticize Cube providing cover for Trump, who has engaged in outright racist policy and rhetoric throughout his time in office. The association of a Black celebrity and the pre-made plan that Ice Cube brings could deflect a few charges leveled at the controversial administration. Richmond followed a similar tack as T.I., pointing out that working together is not an endorsement, but criticized Cube for allowing himself to be used in service of a symbolic and unhelpful platform.
“He’s not endorsing Donald Trump, however, you know, he does give credibility to Donald Trump’s ridiculous plan,” he said. “I mean, the first prong of Donald Trump’s plan is I’m going to make Juneteenth a federal holiday...What does that do to change the lives of Black people that are being discriminated against?”
