Last year, Snoop Dogg shocked listeners when he announced his joining the Rastafari movement and changed his name to Snoop Lion. Now, in a recent report from TMZ, it appears that members of the community are outraged by his highly-publicized religious conversion.
Bunny Wailer, Rasta practitioner and original member of Bob Marley & the Wailers, recently criticized the rapper. After viewing the documentary Reincarnated, which documents Snoop’s conversion, Wailer said that Snoop was abusing the tenants of his religion for commercial gain.
“[His conversion is] outright fraudulent use of [the] Rastafari Community’s personalities and symbolism. [Snoop has failed to meet the] contractual, moral and verbal commitments [of the Rastafarian religion],” Wailer said.
Bunny Wailer isn’t the only member of the Rastafari community outraged by Snoop’s new-found adherence to the religion. The Ethio-Africa Diaspora Union Millennium Council recently released a seven-page statement about his conversion, saying that, “smoking weed and loving Bob Marley and reggae music is not what defines the Rastafari Indigenous Culture!”
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The Council is threatening to sue Snoop Dogg is he does not cease to use the name “Snoop Lion,” make a public apology and pay fees to the group for financial and moral support.
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