Pusha T may have leveled many scathing accusations against rival Drake in his headline-making diss track — includingthe claim that he has an illegitimate child he’s ignored— but there’s one point the Canadian rapper wants to clear up.
On Wednesday, the 31-year-old star issued a statement regarding the controversial blackface photo of him that Pusha used as the cover art for “The Story of Adidon,” explaining that the picture was meant to represent the challenges black Americans face in Hollywood.
“I know everyone is enjoying the circus but I want to clarify this image in question. This was not from a clothing brand shoot or my music career. This picture is from 2007, a time in my life where I was an actor and I was working on a project that was about young black actors struggling to get roles, being stereotypes and type cast,” Drake wrote in a statement shared to his Instagram story.
George Pimentel/WireImage
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Drake had collaborated with “best friend at the time” and fellowDegrassicast member Mazin Elsadig.
“The photos represented how African Americans were once wrongfully portrayed in entertainment,” he wrote. “[We] were attempting to use our voice to bring awareness to the issues we dealt with all the time as black actors at auditions. This was to highlight and raise our frustrations with not always getting a fair chance in the industry and to make a point that the struggle for black actors had not changed much.”
Drake/Instagram
Hours after the release of “The Story of Adidon,” Instagram removed Pusha’s reposting of Leyes’ photo because “a third-party reported that the content infringes or otherwise violates their rights.”
“First time this has happened to me,” Pusha, 41, wrote on Instagram, sharing the message from the social media network.
His photo of Drake — an image intended to correspond with Pusha’s claim that Drake grew up insecure about his mixed race heritage — still remains on Twitter as of Thursday, where Pusha links to Leyes’ website.
Pusha T; Drake.Roy Rochlin/Getty Images; George Pimentel/WireImage
Drake has not yet responded to many of the other accusations Pusha made in “The Story of Adidon,” including the aforementioned alleged illegitimate child.
This isn’t this the first time the rumor has circulated.
Back in May 2017, Brussaux — who was spotted with the rapper that January following his split fromJennifer Lopez— claimed she was three-and-a-half months pregnant with Drake’s child and hired two major New York City attorneys to begin the proceedings to prove paternity and seek child support,TMZ reported. She also told TMZ that she had text messages from the rapper asking her to get an abortion.
Brussaux apparently gave birth to a son on October 24 (Drake’s birthday), according to her Instagram account —which has since gone private,Vulturereported. Drake has yet to speak out about the child’s birth.
Meanwhile, Pusha is not without controversy of his own.
He and producerKanye Westwere slammed forusing a photo of Whitney Houston’s drug-strewn bathroomas thecover for his albumDaytona.
The late singer’s estate responded to the album artwork on Tuesday, saying that they were “extremely disappointed in Kanye’s choice” for a cover image. “Even in Whitney’s death, we see that no one is exempt from the harsh realities of the world,” they saidin a statement toET’s Kevin Frazier.
source: people.com
