The 'Toot It and Boot It' rapper pulls the plug on a planned rally appearance for fears of the safety of the participants and releases an anti-police song instead.
- Jun 3, 2020
AceShowbiz - Rapper YG pulled out of a planned rally appearance to protest the death of George Floyd in Hollywood, California on Tuesday, June 2, 2020, just before releasing his new track, "F**k the Police".
Hundreds of fans still showed up to the event, which the "Big Bank" hitmaker, real name Keenon Daequan Ray Jackson, promoted on Twitter and Instagram on Monday, writing, "LA meet me. Hollywood Blvd & Vine tomorrow Tuesday 12 noon."
He later added, "All positive vibes tomorrow. No looting!" But minutes before the rally's planned start time, YG shared a video on both social media sites, announcing he was cancelling his appearance at the event because he feared for the safety of participants. He added a caption on Instagram, "#F**KTHEPOLICE link in bio, they kant censor me (sic)!"
"So I got bad news," he said in the footage. "I was told today that my protest is not safe and that people could get hurt or shot and I'm not trying to get none of my people hurt or shot, so I'm going to cancel the date."
"It's f**ked up but I'm going to come back bigger and better. I'm a part of the Black Lives Matter and we're going to do this s**t the right way for the people, the city and for all the artists that want to pop out and participate. But that being said, F**k The Police is out right now, it's in my bio, I couldn't wait for the label, so yeah, I'll see you outside."
Despite the fact that June 2 had been designated #BlackoutTuesday by entertainment industry chiefs, who agreed to refrain from all promotional activity on the date to support the Black Lives Matter movement, he then dropped the new song on YouTube, apparently without the participation of bosses at Epic Records, with whom YG signed a distribution deal in February 2020.
The track amassed more than 100,000 views in its first hour on the site.
It's not the 30 year old's first protest anthem - ahead of the 2016 U.S. Presidential election, YG teamed up with the late Nipsey Hussle for the protest anthem "FDT (F**k Donald Trump)". The song has allegedly been played at many of the U.S. demonstrations in support of the Black Lives Matter movement in the days following the death of 46-year-old African-American man George Floyd, who died at the hands of Minneapolis, Minnesota police officers last week, May 25, 2020.
