Lil Wayne, whose Uproar Hip-Hop Festival is set to begin in Los Angeles on Friday, believes he received no pushback after his widely panned meeting with Donald Trump last year.
In a a recent interview with August Brown for the Los Angeles Times, Weezy was asked about the October 2020 meeting, which you’ll recall was announced via a tweeted photo. At the time, Weezy told fans the meeting was “great” and that it convinced him to offer his support for the then-president’s Platinum Plan.
Asked this week if he felt that progress was “actually possible” with someone like Trump, Weezy kept his answer brief.
“Progress is always possible,” he told Brown.
And when asked if he got “a lot of pushback” for the meeting, Weezy continued:
“Nah, not at all,” he said.
However, the meeting was indeed met with pushback, including from a number of disappointed fellow artists. 50 Cent, Questlove, Royce Da 5’9”, and more were among those who were quick to call out Weezy for the Trump photo op. The former Apprentice host later granted pardons and commutations to Weezy, Kodak Black, Steve Bannon, and others.
Elsewhere, Weezy was asked if he’s been keeping up with the ongoing fallout from DaBaby’s homophobic comments, which have been rightfully met with a slew of festival cancelations. Weezy first noted he has not been keeping up with DaBaby-related developments, suggesting he wasn’t even aware of the comments themselves. However, when given summary of what happened, Wayne spoke generally about social media.
“You know how it does,” he said. “The spotlight on artists and celebrities is absolutely crazy. You don’t even have to be a celebrity. Even normal people can feel like they’re wrong because their 200 followers said something. But that’s the power of social media today.”
Read the full interview here.
As for DaBaby, a group of 11 organizations—GLAAD and the Black AIDS Institute among them—earlier this month shared an open letter addressing the artist’s “inaccurate and harmful comments.” The letter also saw the organizations urging DaBaby to become “an agent of truth and change” by promoting education on such issues.
