Lil Wayne has denied involvement in the alleged use of $1.3 million of a COVID-19 grant on private flights and defended explicit text messages he sent to a reporter.
In an interview with Andre Gee for Rolling Stone, Wayne was asked about the Business Insider report on the $8.9 million COVID-19 pandemic relief grant his team received. In the report, he was accused of spending some of the relief fund on clothing, promotion for his marijuana brand, and flights and hotel stays for various women. Gee noted that the rapper "looked genuinely perplexed" when the topic came up. "I don't know what that mean," he told Gee.
Lil Wayne's manager, Fabian Marasciullo, said that Wayne "ain't got nothing to do with none of that shit," and that his money has been "audited" and is "clean." But the report also included text messages that he sent to reporter Katherine Long, who asked if the rapper had seen emails she sent him. "Did u see my dick?" he wrote in the messages. "I’m sure it’s much longer and better than the email and u like em long right Ms Long."
When the messages were brought up, Wayne said that he frequently sends similar messages to women. "Any female that text me is going to probably receive a sexual comment,” he said. “My phone is a personal phone, so if you even got my number, that means you went out your way and doing too much, and if you texted me and I send you something you don’t like, then suck my dick. Just make sure you suck it right.”
Elsewhere in the cover feature with Rolling Stone, Wayne admitted that he didn't know "Not Like Us" was Kendrick Lamar's diss against his frequent collaborator Drake because he didn't pay attention to the beef. He also said that he was told by the NFL to be more visible.