When Snoop Dogg’s Music Video Included a Mock Assassination of Former President Donald Trump

In March 2017, rapper Snoop Dogg stirred up controversy with a music video that showed him pointing a fake gun at a clown resembling then-President, Donald Trump. Dogg pulls the trigger at a character called 'Ronald Klump' and a flag pops out with the word 'bang' written on it. The video in question was of the song Lavender, which quickly went viral, sparking heated debate about its messaging. Some praised Dogg's right to artistic expression, while others deemed the video harmful and reckless. 

Netizens were shocked by the video's imagery. One YouTube commenter opined, "I don't know what is worse, the music or the message." Another wrote, "No matter your political affiliation, whether you are Right, Left, or neither...mock killing the POTUS is not okay" The video touched on several controversial topics— police violence, the incarceration of Black people, and Trump's bid to impose a temporary ban on people entering the United States from several Muslim-majority countries.

Dogg, defending the same, argued, "I feel like it's a lot of people making cool records, having fun, partying, but nobody's dealing with the real issue with this...clown as president," as per Reuters. Trump's lawyer, Michael Cohen, was among the many who felt the rapper had gone too far. Cohen deemed the video "totally disgraceful" and demanded an apology. He said, "There is absolutely nothing funny about an assassination attempt on a president. I certainly would not have accepted it if it was President Obama. I certainly don't accept it as President Trump. And in all fairness, it's not funny, it's not artistic."

Republican senators also voiced their disdain. Marco Rubio warned, "We have got to be careful about that kind of thing because the wrong person sees that and gets the wrong idea and you could have a real problem." Meanwhile, the Republican leader penned on X (formerly Twitter), "Can you imagine what the outcry would be if @SnoopDogg, failing career and all, had aimed and fired the gun at President Obama? Jail time!"

In 2017, seven months after Dogg mocked Trump in Lavender, he released yet another Trump-bashing song M.A.C.A. (Make America Crip Again). The lyrics went, "The president says he wants to make America great again. F–k that s–t, we going to make America Crip again…don’t you look strange having all that power but you won’t make change."

Despite the provocative clip criticizing Trump, Dogg, years later, praised the former president. In a 2024 interview with The Sunday Times, the rapper said, "Donald Trump? He ain't done nothing wrong to me. He has done only great things for me. He pardoned Michael Harris." Harris, a co-founder of Death Row Records (Dogg's first label), had his sentence commuted by Trump in 2021. The musician added, "I have nothing but love and respect for Donald Trump."