Last year, on October 20, XXXTentacion announced that he would be donating $100,000 to domestic violence prevention programs. The promised gift came on the heels of a number of big announcements and controversies. Just the day before, there were reports that XXX had signed a $6 million record deal with Capitol Music Group via their independent distributor Caroline.
While Caroline did distribute the rapper’s new album ?, it appears to be trying to keep the relationship quiet. Neither the album nor its lead single “Sad!” are listed on in the “New & Featured Releases” section of the company’s website, their Instagram account was silent about the record’s release, and the project’s iTunes info makes no mention of Caroline or Capitol. Attempts to reach out to Caroline for clarification were not answered.
A little more than a month before his big donation announcement, XXX released a series of Instagram Story clips where he mocked feminists and made light of charges against him for abusing a girlfriend. “If you want your pussy domestically abused, hit my line," he said.
All of this, of course, goes back to the fact that XXX is charged with aggravated battery of a pregnant woman, domestic battery by strangulation, false imprisonment, and witness-tampering charges. You can—and should—read the details of the case here.
In addition, weeks after the $100K donation announcement, XXX was hit with another batch of witness-tampering and witness harassment charges. The rapper’s legal team had submitted an affidavit from the woman he was accused of beating, saying she wanted to drop the case. The judge had strong suspicions she was coerced into signing it—thus the new batch of charges.
So in the midst of this legal drama, XXX got a bunch of good press for his promised donation. Headlines like “XXXTentacion Champions For Women's Rights With 100K Donation” and the all-caps “XXXTENTACION PLEDGES $100,000 TO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PREVENTION” appeared on seemingly every outlet.
The only problem? Nearly six months later, there’s no proof X has donated anywhere near that amount. Over the past few months, Complex has reached out repeatedly to XXXTentacion’s representative for details about whether he had followed through on his claimed charitable act. At first, his rep sent statements that gave no details, and appeared to show some equivocation: “XXXTentacion expressed to his fans what was in his heart at the time” and “There's no date or time stamp on X's plans.”
As Complex informed X's camp that we were getting ready to publish a story about whether the rapper had broken his public promise, we finally heard back after two months of unanswered emails. The rep claimed that X had donated to Women in Distress of Broward County “and others,” though they didn’t provide a date or amount of the donation, and did not say what the other organizations were. The rep also said that, while X stands by his not guilty plea, he has “taken great steps to educate himself on domestic violence.” The steps were not specified. As of press time, the rep had not responded to follow-up questions about the dollar amount of the claimed donation to Women in Distress of Broward County, a way to verify with the organization that the donation occurred, which other organizations X has donated to, and what he had done to "educate himself" about domestic violence.
Complex reached out to Women in Distress of Broward County to try and confirm the donation. The organization’s marketing and communications manager Matthew Williams said, “Unfortunately, I can't comment.”
So nearly half a year after XXXTentacion got a bunch of good press from a pledge to help battle domestic abuse, we’re left with a single claimed donation of an unconfirmed amount that, if it happened at all, is potentially controversial enough that the recipients refuse to acknowledge it publicly. We’re left with no dollar amount, proven or even claimed. And we’re left with no confirmation of the “great steps” the rapper is taking to educate himself about the issue of domestic violence.
In late March, video surfaced of XXXTentacion appearing to hit another young girl. His lawyers claimed that the incident was a joke. And then they said something else—something that yet again tried to get people on X’s good side by pointing out his charity work.
“Jahseh [XXX's government name] has been more than a changed young man as a result of this ordeal and it is disturbing that people who have negative agendas continue to try to tar him,” they said. “He has dedicated himself to spreading a positive message and has been participating in community outreach and charitable concerns, and, despite these attacks on him, he continues that positive approach and is staying true to his music.”
