Icewear Vezzo and Peezy have been in the hot seat ever since they posed for a photograph next to former president Donald Trump, but the two are standing by their endorsement.
On Sunday (June 16), both rappers shared photographs with the businessman-turned-politician on Instagram.
“I Told @realdonaldtrump If We Can Bring The ACT BACK We Can MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN,” the Team Eastside MC wrote about the meeting.
AD LOADING...
When one of his followers took to the comments section and wrote, “Dude using rappers as pawns and y’all going for it,” the Detroit native embraced the jab with “damn right.”
Likewise, when another person complained, “You can’t be fr,” he replied: “you think I’m faking?”
The Iced Up Records boss shared a lengthier message about backing the 78-year-old presidential candidate.
“Told Donald I Made the 6 great again,” he wrote. “But naw in all seriousness everyone not gonna agree with this picture but we don’t all have to agree on everything I just know not many of us will ever have the chance to really speak up for us and address how we may really feel so I stepped out on faith I didn’t meet him as a rapper I met him as a man and a father who understands the only way to attempt change things is to address things.”
Soon after he began receiving criticism for his stance, the Clarity rapper shared a video to emphasize the importance of respectfully disagreeing with one another.
“Why can’t we respectfully agree to disagree?” he began. “You know what build great companies and great civilizations is they all went and got a team with people who think differently from them. If they went and got people that thought the exact same thing as them, then it wasn’t no need of hiring no people.”
AD LOADING...
In the post’s caption, he added: “Don’t be afraid to ask questions, don’t let social media think for you, go see for yourself. Dont agree with everything anybody does it’s not logical, & don’t draw conclusions without actually knowing what you’re talking about.”
Contrarily, John Legend recently elaborated on his disdain for the former president.
In late April, the singer and pianist joined MSNBC to discuss the current state of criminal justice with an emphasis on pre-trial reform. During the chat, host Jen Psaki asked him about Trump signing the First Step Act in 2018 “to reduce the size of the federal prison population while also creating mechanisms to maintain public safety.”
AD LOADING...
This, however, wasn’t enough to change the Grammy winner’s perspective.
“He’s not been an ally,” the Get Lifted hitmaker said right off the bat. “I think the First Step Act was fine — it was a very small reform, and to be honest, most of the reform we need is on the local and state level because most incarceration is local and state, and most of the laws that end up being criminally enforced are local and state laws, so very little impact can happen on the federal level.
“At the same time he’s claiming credit for those small things, he’s also saying, ‘Y’know, if people are stealing something, they should get shot in the middle of the store.’ When we protested the killing of George Floyd, he was advocating for the military to shoot us in the streets.”
He added: “He’s made it clear throughout his life that he believes Black people are inferior; he believes that to his core, in his bones. He won’t let us live in his buildings back in the day, but also when you hear some of the stray comments he makes, he clearly believes in a genetic hierarchy of humanity and is racially determined.
AD LOADING...
“He is a tried-and-true, dyed-in-the-wool racist, like in the core of his being, he is a racist.”
