Snoop Dogg posted a photo of his latest album on Instagram showing the rapper standing over a deceased President Donald Trump. In the now deleted post, the American flag-clad cadaver had a toe tag that read, "TRUMP."
Not only was the image on the nose, but it also proved to be a little too reminiscent of Kathy Griffin's earlier indiscretion where she held up a fake, severed head of the president for an ill-advised photo op.
Snoop Dogg's new EP - Make America Crip Again, is a nod to Trump's campaign mantra, "Make America Great Again," was scrawled on red hats worn by supporters. And the rapper takes flagrant aim at Trump in the EP's title track with the lyrics: “The president said he wants to make America great again. F— that s—, we gon’ make America crip again.”
Snoop told Rolling Stone, “It’s not a statement or a political act: it’s just good music,” he said. “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.”
Right-wing conservatives were very displeased.
Snoop Dogg's original EP cover was an homage to Ice Cube's Death Certificate that released on October 29, 1991.
But even the homage was viewed differently.
Despite provocations like this that prompt the secret service to open an investigation, the artist is not breaking any laws by depicting a desire for the assassination of the president through artistic impression.
Snoop's gone after Donald Trump before with a music video released earlier this year. In the video "Lavender," Snoop targets police brutality where a clown parody incarnation of Donald Trump, "Ronald Klump," is shot dead by a glitter gun. The song was in response to Philando Castillo, who was fatally shot by traffic cops after being pulled over last July.
The video's director, YouTube personality Jesse Wellens, told Billboard in an interview, "When I originally wrote the idea of the video, the video of [Philando Castile] getting shot came out online and it was causing riots. We just kind of wanted to bring the clowns out, because it’s clownery -- it’s ridiculous what’s happening."
Snoop fans chided Trump supporters who spoke out against the original album cover for his latest EP.
Life goes on.
Snoop's publicist told Variety that the EP is now available with a subdued variant of the original cover. A graphic featuring a blue hat with Snoop's slogan, "Make America Crip Again."
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