On Friday (Jan. 22), Chingy became a trending topic on Twitter after sending out tweets endorsing Republican candidate Donald Trump. In his tweets, the St. Louis rapper said that he believes Trump could run the country. As expected, the social media blurbs sparked an online debate and later prompted an apology video.
"Politics vs society. People should innerstand that politics is a business jus like the job you work at. I vote for @realDonaldTrump YEP 3," he wrote. "[Donald Trump] knows how to conduct business. This country is a business an needs to be ran by a businessman. It's not personal people!"
Politics vs society. People should innerstand that politics is a business jus like the job you work at. I vote for @realDonaldTrump "YEP" 3
— ChingyJackpot (@ChingyJackpot) January 22, 2016
A good portion of Chingy’s Twitter followers, as well as other users, seemed to disagree with his choice. One user called in to question Chingy’s authority to speak on political matters, noting his hiatus from the mainstream hip-hop world.
“Fams worry about making a hit. you clearly don't acquire the necessary knowledge to speak on politics.”
Following a slew of backlash, the “Right Thurr” rapper decided to release an apology video where he retracted his endorsement and apologized to anyone who may have been offended. He also thanked his fans for making him aware of some of Trump’s previous controversial viewpoints, particularly towards minorities.
“In no way do me and Donald Trump share the same personal views, especially when it comes to minorities,” he said in the video. “So I do not endorse him. I actually want to thank the fans who brought this to my attention and made me aware of the negative things he stated.”
Prior to publishing the video, Chingy tweeted that his previous comments had been “taken completely out of context.”
Everything I wrote has been taken completely out of context...but I'm trending though. lmao #LiveofACeleb #TwitterIsTheDevil #NoEndorsement — ChingyJackpot (@ChingyJackpot) January 22, 2016
