Rapper and actor Ice Cube is clapping back at criticism on social media after White House senior advisor Katrina Pierson publicly thanked him for his “willingness to step up and work with” the Trump administration.
“Leaders gonna lead, haters gonna hate,” Pierson tweeted. “Thank you for leading!”
People were quick to slam Ice Cube for seemingly propping up Donald Trump. "Ice Cube is going to have to change his name to Warm Water. The heat he is receiving...," one noted. Another read: "From NWA to MAGA(?). 2020 got some wild subplots."
To discuss Black liberation with Trump in the waning days of an election shows that you’re willing to be used as a pawn who will make people think that Trump is seriously willing to discuss Black liberation. He is not.
— Touré (@Toure) October 15, 2020
California media personality Danny Morrison shared: “My Hip-Hop HERO @icecube is working with the Darkside. I haven't felt this low since Kobe passed. HEARTBREAKING. Cube, I'm not sure you understand how much we value your voice. And when we see you ‘jumping the shark,’ it KILLS us. Especially in 2020.”
Ice Cube, 51, replied: “Every side is the Darkside for us here in America. They’re all the same until something changes for us. They all lie and they all cheat but we can’t afford not to negotiate with whoever is in power or our condition in this country will never change. Our justice is bipartisan.”
In July, Ice Cube called on political leaders to sign a “Contract with Black America” (CWBA) which proposed specific improvements to issues like police reform and bank lending. The Trump campaign incorporated some of the CWBA in its “Platinum Plan” to boost opportunities for Black communities.
“I thought IceCube was streetwise and can recognize when being played,” read one tweet. Another opined: “Being straight up played by Trump’s people is somehow worse than if you had just been paid.”
Ice Cube explained that both the Republican and Democrat parties contacted him after he put out the CWBA. "Dems said we’ll address the CWBA after the election,” he explained. “Trump campaign made some adjustments to their plan after talking to us about the CWBA.”
Before the 2016 U.S. election, the rapper tweeted that he “will never endorse a mothaf**ka like Donald Trump! EVER!!!” In 2018, ahead of the mid-term U.S. elections, Ice Cube released "Arrest the President."