UPDATED May 8, 1:25 p.m. ET: DJ Vlad has apologized to Morgan Jerkins for their Twitter exchange over the weekend.
"After considerable reflection, I would like to apologize to @MorganJerkins for tagging her job in my replies during our Twitter exchange last weekend," he wrote.
Jerkins has not publically accepted Vlad's apology as of press time.
See original story below.
DJ Vlad found himself in hot water after going toe-to-toe with a Princeton professor over the weekend.
Vlad, a Ukrainian-American interviewer who has sparked debate for his controvesial conversations with rappers, took to X to share his opinion on Kendrick Lamar’s Drake dissing track, “Not Like Us.”
“Kendrick's ‘Not Like Us’ needed a better mix,” Vlad wrote. “It takes away from the song.”
His tweet went viral, prompting many to respond, including Princeton professor Morgan Jerkins. “You are white. This is a Black folk affair,” she wrote.
The pair went back and forth, with Vlad tagging Princeton in his response to Jerkins. “Wait, so a professor at @Princeton is telling me that a white person shouldn’t be allowed to voice their opinion about Hip-Hop? Is that how you interact with your students?” he wrote.
Jerkins, a Black woman, responded: “What I’m saying is that you put your opinion in a discussion that’s not needed. This conversation is and should center Black people, not you.”
Vlad then threatened to contact Princeton, again tagging the university. Vlad went on to seemingly suggest she won't have a job at Princeton after contacting them.
"It's called a "permanent record". Every university has one. I went to Berkeley myself. People spew ignorant & bigoted comments at you publicly and then act like they're getting bullied when they get a response. Typical victim mentality. Go ahead and take that @princeton out of your profile, sweetie. You just admitted it's not even true anymore. lol."
On Monday, Vlad once again attempted to explain his position. “I never had any intention of filing a complaint to Princeton for former professor Morgan Jerkins saying that white people aren’t allowed to comment on Kendrick Lamar’s music,” he wrote.
He continued, “She trolled me and I trolled back. At the end of the day, it created an interesting discussion about race relations in America. I will be discussing it further in my future interviews.”
Jerkins fired back by bringing up the fact that Vlad did, in fact, contact her employer by tagging the university and suggested that he did so “with the intention to professionally harm me.” She added, “I centered Black people in a discussion on hip-hop and told him to stand down bc it’s not his space.” She also told him to stop reaching out to her family.
Also of note, Vlad got into it with Marc Lamont Hill, an academic, writer, and activist who responded to the incident by criticizing the media personality.
K.Dot and Drizzy were at each other's necks over the weekend, dropping off new diss records. After Kenny shared "6:16 In LA" on Friday, Drake followed with "Family Matters." Lamar then shot back with "Meet the Grahams" and "Not Like Us" on Saturday, and the 6 God followed suit on Sunday, dropping off "The Heart Part 6."
Metro Boomin also still has a dog left in this fight: on Sunday, he shared the diss beat "BBL Drizzy," to which Drake responded, “You just cheffed a beat about my ass?”
