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Rapper Nelly seemingly took aim at former Vice President Kamala Harris and her "white husband," Doug Emhoff, while defending his decision to perform at President Donald Trump's inauguration.
During a recent interview, Nelly addressed backlash over his inauguration performance. The rapper claimed he's not "pro-Donald Trump," but he decided to accept the gig out of "respect for the office." Nelly also argued that he did an event with Harris before she became the Democratic candidate for the 2024 presidential election, but "nobody ever brought it up."
As social media users reacted to his comments, Nelly took to Instagram to double down on his defense.
Nelly shot back at his critics, saying he and Snoop Dogg, who also faced backlash for performing at Trump's inauguration, “do more in the community and have been doing for over 20 + years against any of you that are just on here talking trash.”
“From the black families that we employ to the black children that we help every day and all year through our nonprofits, whether we’re sending kids to schools on scholarships to HBCU or helping young black boys in la “gang central “ with his junior football programs which many players have went on to go to the NFL and live their dreams," Nelly wrote under a post on "The Shade Room" Instagram page.
Nelly added that he and Snoop should be viewed as "inspiring" Black men who married "beautiful" Black women with Black children, an apparent jab at Harris and what he called her "white husband."
“Some of y’all have a problem with [us] because the “prosecutor who has probably locked up more black men that we’ve helped woman of color with the white husband and white kids Did not win the election,” he wrote.
The rapper reiterated that he didn't campaign for either Trump or Harris, but he performed at the inauguration out of "respect and love" for the country.
“It’s my respect for the office meaning any president that calls upon Nelly it would be a honor.. nothing to do with money,” Nelly said. “Nothing to do with race but if you wanna make it about race, then let’s goooooooooooooo I find it very interesting.”
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