In separate videos, Charlamagne Tha God and Stephen A. Smith boldly defended rappers who partook in performances surrounding the presidential inauguration.
On the latest episode of The Stephen A. Smith Show, the sports and media personality discussed Nelly, Snoop Dogg and Soulja Boy's controversial involvement in inauguration-related events in Washington, D.C. While Nelly performed at President Donald Trump's inaugural Liberty Ball, Snoop and Soulja entertained Crypto Ball attendees, as did Rick Ross.
In an intense rant, Smith spoke up about the rappers' right to perform for the right-wing audience and claimed that Snoop was at the Crypto Ball in support of David O. Saks. To many, Snoop's 2017 words came back to haunt him, as he once trolled Black artists who considered performing for Trump's inauguration, which came to be Chrisette Michele.
"David Saks is someone who Snoop has had a relationship with for decades!" Smith said around the seven-minute mark of the video below. "David Saks is that cat when nobody else put their hand out offering dollars to Snoop's football league and beyond–that brother does it!"
Smith also called Nelly "not political" and said that the St. Louis rapper took up the opportunity for financial reasons. Despite saying similar things about Soulja, Smith criticized the rapper's Instagram Live session as "abrasive and excessive." Elsewhere, he explained that Snoop never voted until 2020, when he put in a ballot for former president Joe Biden.
Later, Smith said, "Now that the brothers come along and make something of themselves, and they got opportunities that they’re willing to exploit, and they choose to be apolitical, you wanna get in their ass?"
On Tuesday (Jan. 20), Charlemagne spoke on The Breakfast Club about the "hypocrisy" surrounding the rappers' performances.
"The hypocrisy that people display in regards to who they like and don't like is mind-blowing to me," Charlemagne said around the four-minute mark of the video below. "There is no way you are more mad at rappers for performing at these inauguration events than you are at the elected officials who told us Trump was a fascist a threat to democracy a danger to our country and the Constitution."
Charlemagne added that Biden "welcomed" Trump back into the White House and noted that the twice-impeached president laughed alongside former president Barack Obama at Jimmy Carter's memorial service.
"We know why the rappers you know did what they did. ... They got paid. What's the politicians' excuse for normalizing Trump?"
Elsewhere, he said that Nelly and Snoop don't hold as much "weight" as Biden and Obama.
"Honestly, those performances are inconsequential but what are people going to remember two years from now in midterms? Or four years from now when it's another presidential election? They're going to remember when 'You likened this guy to Hitler and this guy was a threat to democracy. But then we saw you showing all your teeth with him at a funeral."
While Nelly and Soulja explained their performances in separate streams, Snoop has not publicly spoken on his participation in the pre-inauguration event.
