Lil Yachty is facing backlash online over a song lyric that references George Floyd in an offensive manner.
On Thursday night, Stephen Jackson took to social media to call out the rapper directly, stressing that it was wrong to use Floyd’s name like that in the unreleased track snippet.
“Lil Yachty, bro. You been wack, my na,” said Jackson, who grew up with Floyd in Houston’s Third Ward. “But you think you saying George Floyd name, and trying to use his name in a bar, that’s gonna make people like your wack-ass music, my na? That shit weak. Y’all the only era that feel like demeaning the dead and saying that shit is cool, my n***a. It ain’t.”
The All the Smoke co-host continued, “Don’t ever say his name, bro. None of y’all knew G, nothing about him. But y’all wanna say his name for clout. That’s some weak-ass shit, Yachty. Let somebody die in your family, we gonna do a whole skit about it. And see how funny it is, bro. Cut that shit out.”
The backlash began Thursday (August 14) when Yachty joined Plaqueboymax’s livestream. Around the 43-minute mark, he previewed a track from his upcoming It’s Us Vol. 2, where he raps, “Put my knee up on her neck, I went George Floyd,” a line that quickly sparked outrage online.
Floyd was killed on May 25, 2020, after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for over nine minutes. Chauvin was convicted of unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter, receiving 22 and a half years in state prison, along with a 21-year federal sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights.
