Drake speaks out on blackface photo
Drake has responded to what he calls “the circus” in his feud with rapper Pusha-T, explaining a photo that shows the former Degrassi star in blackface was to “bring awareness to the issues we dealt with all the time as Black actors at auditions.”
The latest salvo in the beef between the two rappers came Tuesday night when Pusha-T released a diss track “The Story of Adidon,” that took a number of personal digs at Drake, including a claim that he’s a “deadbeat” father of a child with former porn star Sophie Brussaux.
Perhaps most startling was the artwork used with the track, showing a smiling Drake in blackface. There was no explanation of where the photo came from, and in what context they were taken, which drew immediate questions on whether the picture was real.
“I know everyone is enjoying the circus but I want to clarify the image in question,” Drake posted on his Instagram story late Wednesday night.
He said he and his best friend at the time Mazin Elsadig were trying to “highlight and raise our frustrations with not always getting a fair chance in the industry and to make a point that the struggle for Black actors had not changed much.”
Pusha-T dismissed Drake’s response in a radio interview Thursday.
“You are silent on all Black issues, Drake,” Pusha-T told L.A.’s Real 92.3, despite the Toronto rapper having a huge platform. “You don’t stand for nothing, you don’t say nothing about nothing … You have all the platform in the world. You were so passionate back then? No, you weren’t.”