Benny the Butcher had a change of heart.
The Buffalo-raised rapper received backlash last year after he threw his support behind Donald Trump, the leading presidential candidate in the Republican Party.
“I’m votin Trump 2024,” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter) back in August.
Benny, birth name Jeremie Damon Pennick, addressed his controversial endorsement during an upcoming appearance on the MSNBC special Black Men in America: The Road to 2024 hosted by award-winning journalist Trymaine Lee and acclaimed civil rights attorney Charles Coleman Jr. The latter pressed Benny about the pro-Trump post and questioned whether he still felt that way following all the controversy.
“This what I’m gonna say: I learned a lot that day,” Benny began. “But honestly, that just come from frustration about things not being right in my community and wanting to try it a different way. But what I learned is I’m not a political person, I’m just boots on the ground, in the city everyday. There’s very few changes that reach down, that trickle down to our community.”
He continued: “I got a lot flack for that. But what I did realize is this — I did realize a lot of Black people voted Trump; they just don’t put it out there like I did.”
The Black Men in America special premieres at 9 p.m. ET. this Sunday on MSNBC and streaming on Peacock. The hosts will also be joined by Jeezy and other guests.
Benny's appearance comes fresh off the release of Benny’s fourth solo studio album, Everybody Can’t Go. The Griselda founder also referenced the former president in the Kyle Banks-assisted titular track, in which he declared a Trump victory for 2024: “Know I’ma win, like the election if Trump run again.”
Although Benny recently told The Breakfast Club he was unsure if he would vote for Trump come Election Day, he made it clear that President Joe Biden had yet earn his support. He shed more light on his position in an interview with Complex last week.
“I really don’t know,” he said when asked what it would take to vote for Biden. “... I don’t know to be honest with you, and it’s fucked up, but you know that shit really don’t be affecting us. So that’s maybe why a guy like Trump or [former president Barack] Obama, those guys get support. The presidents where they do things and immediately affect a group of people. It immediately benefits them. So I don’t know. But I know one thing he could do is motivate me to vote. That’s on him. I don’t know what it is. Spark something inside of me to say, ‘You know what, I’m getting up and I’m going to go vote for this dude.’ If he hasn’t done that, he hasn’t done that. For the candidates who have, pat them on the back. It’s hard to get Americans to vote.”
