Snoop Dogg has explained why he has “nothing but love and respect” for Donald Trump in a surprising U-turn.
The rapper made the comments in a new interview, years after being embroiled in something of a feud with the the former president, who is running for office again in the 2024 US election.
Seemingly putting his days of trolling Trump behind him, Snoop told The Times on Sunday (28 January): “Donald Trump? He ain’t done nothing wrong to me. He has done only great things for me.”
The rapper then specifically referred to the time Trump “pardoned Michael Harris”, the co-founder of Snoop’s first label, Death Row, who was in prison for drug offences.
He added: “So I have nothing but love and respect for Donald Trump.”
Prior to this admission, Snoop Dogg has repeatedly taken aim at Trump’s controversial views, and in 2017, provoked a reaction from the former president after releasing a music video for “Lavender” featuring BADBADNOTGOOD.
The video showed him aiming a gun at a clown dressed like Trump, which he pulled to reveal a red flag with the word “BANG” written on it. At the time, Trump’s lawyer said he was “shocked” by the video and demanded an apology, while Trump went so far as to suggest Snoop should be arrested.
Later that year, he released a song titled “Make America Crip Again” – a riff on Trump’s trademark campaign slogan “Make America Great Again”.
He said in the song’s opening line: “The president said he wants to make America great again. F*** that s***, we’re going to make America crip again.”
The Crips, also known by their moniker Original Crip Homies, are a predominantly African-American gang who were founded in Los Angeles back in 1969.
He said in a statement: “Certain people feel like we should make America ‘great again,’ but that time they’re referring to always takes me back to separation and segregation, so I’d rather Make America Crip Again.
“What I mean by that is, in my lifetime, that’s when young Black men in impoverished areas organised to help their communities and to take care of their own because society basically left them for dead.”
Elsewhere, in 2018, Snoop shared a video in which he could be seen smoking a blunt outside the White House, exclaiming: “F*** the president.”
