Lil Wayne has hit back at criticism over being photographed with Donald Trump in 2020, saying he “don’t care about no backlash”.
A few months after posing for the pics together, Trump pardoned Wayne in the final days of his first term in office. The rapper had been facing up to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to one count of illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition by a convicted felon.
Speaking at the time, Wayne said: “I want to thank President Trump for recognizing that I have so much more to give to my family, my art, and my community.”
In a new Rolling Stone interview, Wayne addressed the situation directly. Asked whether he regrets the photos, he said: “Fuck no, I don’t care about no backlash for nothin’ I do, you know me, man. My mama woulda been mad if I ain’t smile. That might have been the only backlash I would have worried about.”
He was also questioned about whether he would’ve considered endorsing Trump in the 2024 election. “I would’ve told him, ‘You probably don’t want that,’ because I don’t know what’s going on,” he said. “I can tell you who won the last game, but I can’t really … you know what I mean?”
In the same interview, Wayne said he will never play a Super Bowl Halftime Show after claiming they “fucked up” by not inviting him to play it in his hometown of New Orleans this year and choosing Kendrick Lamar instead.
As for Trump, his drastic cuts to the foreign aid budget have prompted Elton John and Brandi Carlile to launch a campaign to restore the funding for HIV/AIDS research.
Explaining the need for action, John has said in a statement: “Without prompt action, decades of progress in the global fight against HIV could be reversed, creating a global health crisis that we have both the power and the tools to prevent.”
Meanwhile, a pointed Seth Rogen jab at Trump at the Breakthrough Prize ceremony was edited out of the YouTube broadcast. “It’s amazing that others [who have been] in this room underwrote electing a man who, in the last week, single-handedly destroyed all of American science,” Rogen said at the so-called science Oscars. Many of the tech giants who support Trump were in attendance.
