Lil Wayne is facing accusations that he lied about his marijuana use to get a pandemic loan approved.
Last week, Business Insider published an article investigating loans that Weezy and other artists, like Post Malone, took out in 2021 that were designed to help indie artists. According to their report, Wayne and his team told the government that they were a drug-free workplace and warned their staff about using drugs. The Small Business Administration (SBA) took the claims for what they were and approved an $8.9 million check to be issued to Young Money Touring Inc.
However, Wayne has been explicitly open about his use of marijuana for years, and Business Insider felt the need to investigate the loan approval by filing a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the SBA. The SBA responded to the article via e-mail explaining how the drug certification process worked.
According to the SBA, the certification process didn't cover Wayne or Post's "personal actions" or any drug use outside of March 2020 to June 2022. However, they claimed they're still looking at loans they've already approved.
"The SBA's process of monitoring and auditing of grant recipients is actively ongoing," the agency wrote. "To date, about $40 million has been returned from SVOG grantees and additional files have been referred for ongoing criminal investigation or civil recovery. To date, none of the recoveries relate to the drug-free certification."
While he's facing accusations, Wayne is hopeful he'll get selected to perform at the Super Bowl Halftime Show in New Orleans next year. During a recent appearance on YG and Stevie's 4HUNNID podcast, Wayne reflected on performing but revealed he hadn't got any calls yet.
"I will not lie to you," Weezy told the co-hosts. "I have not got a call or nothing. But we are praying. We praying. We keeping our fingers crossed. I'm working hard. I'mma make sure this next album and everything I do is killer. I wanna just make it hard for them not to holler at the boy."
