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The rumors are true: Tupac Shakur is alive and well and living in Kentucky.
Or, at least, a Tupac Shakur is alive and well and living in Kentucky.
Turns out he's not the Tupac Shakur. But he is a real person, and his recent unemployment claim filed under his legal name was recently denied by Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear's administration, who assumed it was a prank.
And the mishap has caused quite the kerfuffle in the Bluegrass State.
Monday night, Beshear held a press conference to address the progress the state was making in processing the tsunami of unemployment filings received in March due to self-isolation mandates during the ongoing pandemic.
Beshear blamed part of the delay on "bad apples," like people filing for unemployment under the name of a 90s rapper.
"We had somebody apply for unemployment for Tupac Shakur here in Kentucky. And that person may have thought they were being funny, they probably did. Except for the fact that because of them, we had to go through so many other claims."
But after the Lexington Herald-Leader looked into the situation, Beshear had to hold another press conference to walk his comments back.
Turns out this Tupac is very real and still very alive.
The Tupac Shakur most of us know, of course, was a legendary rapper who was tragically gunned down in Las Vegas in 1996. His murder, and that of his equally legendary friend-turned-rival Notorious B.I.G. shortly after, has never been solved.
This Tupac Shakur, however, is still very much alive and working as a 46-year-old Lexington cook and he's been waiting since mid-March for his unemployment benefits to kick in. He told the Herald-Leader that he'd been wondering what the hold up was, but never dreamed it would be because of his name.
As he told the Herald-Leader:
"I've been struggling for like the last month trying to figure out how to pay the bills... I'm hurt, I'm really embarrassed and I'm shocked."
Seems like maybe "All Eyez on Me" isn't exactly Shakur's favorite Pac song.
On social media, of course, people found this whole thing hilarious.
In any case, Beshear called Tuesday to personally apologize to Shakur, which he appreciated.
"I understand, he's dealing with a lot. Mistakes happen."
Guess that's the way it is, huh?
Tupac Shakur's Greatest Hits is available here.