Ice Cube On Donald Trump: ‘Stealing Endorsements,’ ‘Leave My Name Out Ya Mouth’
Actor and rapper Ice Cube endorsed Donald Trump? He says there’s no chance, and that “stealing endorsements” is no way to become president. Though he has said that he sees why Trump appeals to many Americans, and that being “a rich white guy” doesn’t automatically make a person “bad,” Ice Cube has now responded to rumors of an endorsement by referring to Trump using an expletive (“mothaf****”) and declaring that he would never endorse him.
The Twitter account Trump 4 America shared a meme in July indicating that Ice Cube had declared his support for Trump.
The meme uses an image of Ice Cube holding open his jacket to show a Trump t-shirt, along with a quote.
“I think he’s gonna do anything he can to help poor people that are struggling.”
Beside the photo is a legend in large print, calling Donald Trump a “common-sense President” and indicating that Ice Cube has endorsed him.
However, not much in the meme is accurate. The shirt appears to be Photoshopped from an image of Ice Cube in the same jacket and a shirt bearing an Oakland Raiders logo.
Ice Cube gives @RAIDERS players an early sneak peek of #StraightOuttaCompton http://t.co/rq1cPkiAkb pic.twitter.com/HOv2Upz9pS
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) August 13, 2015
As for the quote? It’s a distortion of what the rapper said in an April interview that previously spurred rumors of an endorsement. Rolling Stone reports that Ice Cube said he could see why many Americans support Trump.
“Donald Trump is what Americans aspire to be. Rich, powerful, do what you want to do, say what you want to say, be how you want to be. That’s kind of been like the American Dream.”
“Do I think he’s going to do anything to help poor people or people that’s struggling? No.”
The words are similar, but in context, the statement is the opposite of what the meme claims.
On Saturday, however, Ice Cube seems to have noticed the meme making the rounds, and unequivocally denied it, not only saying that he had not endorsed Donald Trump, but also that he would never, and calling the candidate a vulgar name.
Stealing endorsements is not how you become the president of the United States, homie. Leave my name out ya mouth… pic.twitter.com/31hEnMKbbz
— Ice Cube (@icecube) August 28, 2016
However, don’t think that means the actor has expressed full support for Trump’s opponent, either. In the same interview, via Bloomberg, he discussed Hillary Clinton’s use of the term “superpredator” and said that Democrats shouldn’t think they are exempt from Black Lives Matter protests.
He has also called out President Obama on what he suggests is a failure to act, and told those who say the President has no options without the cooperation of Congress they should take a class in government.
Though Ice Cube did not dismiss either Clinton or Obama with the ferocity he used for Trump, it’s reasonable to recognize that no memes circulated falsely attributing to him an endorsement of either.
Nearly 100 thousand retweets and “likes” combined for Ice Cube’s Donald Trump tweets — three in all, since he shared the meme twice — indicate that a large portion of his fan following shares, or at least supports, his stance on the Republican Presidential nominee.
[Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images for NAACP Image Awards]
