Kentucky governor trashes Lil Wayne, and the rapper’s fans aren’t having it
PLENTY of people had plenty of thoughts about the bizarre outfit that rapper Lil Wayne wore on Monday during his halftime performance for the College Football Playoff National Championship. ( The Washington Post’s headline: “Was that Hamburglar at the national championship halftime show? Nope, just Lil Wayne.”)
But Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin weighed in with a more substantive complaint, grumbling on Twitter that the “Uproar” artiste had spoiled what he considered an otherwise perfectly enjoyable concert. Apparently, the Bluegrass State Republican favours the musical stylings of the band Imagine Dragons, which was ostensibly the halftime show’s headliner — although the group has its detractors, too. ( Post pop music critic Chris Richards savaged them as a bland-yet-ubiquitous “everlasting Glade PlugIn of the world.”)
“Way to ruin an entertaining @ Imaginedragons half-time concert with the weird rantings of a tired, has-been like @ LilTunechi ...” Bevin tweeted after the show, using Lil Wayne’s Twitter handle. “One act still rising ... The other, not so much ...”
And because it’s Twitter, the governor’s page was quickly overrun with clapbacks. Some were clearly political.
Others questioned the relevance of a critique of a rapper by a 50-something former bell manufacturer. Many tweets featured a meme from a scene in the sitcom “30 Rock” in which actor Steve Buscemi goes ( poorly) undercover as a high schooler. “How do you do, fellow kids?” it reads.
Still others were pure defences of the writers’ perceived superiority of Lil Wayne over Imagine Dragons — and the governor himself. As one aggrieved Twitter user wrote: “Wayne’s much more of a legend to the people of KY then you ever will be.”