Less than a month after suggesting rich and famous people have it much harder than those living in poverty, Akon is doubling down on his comments.
TMZ caught up with the singer at LAX this weekend, and asked if he wanted to address the backlash over his controversial remarks.
“It’s not really more so a walk back, but what I do want to express is that sometimes when comments like that are made—I always speak according to what I’m personally going through myself,” Akon explained. “Nobody can sit there and tell me I didn’t go through poverty.”
The Grammy-winning artist continued, “I’m having more problems successfully dealing with all that comes with success than I had when I was poor. I was actually happier when I was poor.”
While he didn’t back down from his stance, Akon did address anyone he offended with his previous remarks. “I would apologize to those that felt that comment affected or emotionally put them in a position that made it make seem like I was arrogant, because that’s not the way I wanted to come off,” he said.
Akon’s comments arrive just a month after he was criticized for saying the rich have more problems than the poor.
“You know, this business creates this, like, environment where everyone’s wearing a mask, no one tells you what’s really going on in your life, so real friends can’t even really advise you ’cause we don’t really know what’s happening,” he told TMZ. “’Cause we put on this facade of success but yet behind the face there’s so much happening. The famous and the rich go through more issues than the poor. You know when they say ‘more money, more problems,’ that’s a real thing.”
