Snoop Dogg draws controversy with Trump shooting video

Rap great Snoop Dogg has drawn controversy for appearing to shoot US President Donald Trump in a new video that also takes aim at police brutality.

Snoop Dogg, an early figure in California gangsta rap who had mellowed in recent years, this week released a video for “Lavender” in which most actors are clowns.

One clown is unmistakably Trump, sporting bouffant hair and a red tie that dangles below the waist as he gesticulates wildly at the podium of “The Clown House.”

The clown – named Ronald Klump – puts his hands up as if under arrest as Snoop Dogg draws a pistol, with a flag popping out that says “Bang!”

Earlier in the video Snoop Dogg references last year’s killing of Philando Castile, whose shooting by a Minnesota police officer during a traffic stop was live- streamed by Castile’s girlfriend.

“It’s all on camera and they still don’t believe you / Clownin’ around – don’t come your clown ass ‘ round here, nigga,” Snoop Dogg raps in “Lavender,” his take on an instrumental track by Canadian group BadBadNotGood.

Senator Marco Rubio, a member of the Republican Party who has spoken of his fondness for hip- hop, criticized the video and recalled that “we’ve had presidents assassinated before in this country.”

“The wrong person sees that and gets the wrong idea, you can have a real problem. I’m not sure what Snoop was thinking,” the Florida senator told celebrity site TMZ when approached at an airport.

Snoop Dogg said he wanted to make a video that was “not controversial but real.”

“I feel like it’s a lot of people making cool records, having fun, partying, but nobody’s dealing with the real issue with this... clown as president,” Snoop Dogg told music magazine Billboard.