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Artist News
Killer Mike apologises for NRA interview
By Andy Malt | Published on Monday 26 March 2018
Killer Mike has apologised for an interview he did with America’s National Rifle Association, which coincided with this weekend’s March For Our Lives against gun violence. In the video, shown on the organisation’s digital TV channel NRATV, he appeared to dismiss the value of the march.
Speaking to gun rights activist Colion Noir, the rapper spoke about gun ownership and the US constitution’s second amendment. In the video, he appears to speak out against the march and say that he had forbidden his own children from attending. However, he now says that this was not the case.
Following a backlash over the weekend, Killer Mike issued a video statement on Twitter, denying that he was against the march. He said that he had been invited to speak about gun ownership in the black community, but that the interview had been held back and edited to appear as if it was about this weekend’s event.
Addressing the organisers of the march, he added: “I’m sorry that an interview I did about a minority – black people in this country – and gun rights was used as a weapon against you guys. That was unfair to you and it was wrong, and it disparaged some very noble work you’re doing”.
The interview, he went on, “was supposed to be something that continued a conversation or that helped the conversation happen that I felt needed to happen. And that conversation is about African-American gun ownership. It was not in contrast to your march, it was done a week before your march, it should never have been used in contrast to your march and I think it’s wrong”.
He concluded by encouraging young people in America to continue campaigning for changes to US gun laws, saying: “What I wanna encourage you guys to do is keep organising. Keep organising. Keep organising. Plot, plan, strategise, organise and mobilise. This world was far different 30 years ago when you could buy a machine gun. And it’s far different now and it’ll be different 30 years from now. We’re willing to follow your lead. Lead the way. So I do support the march, and I support black people owning guns. It’s possible to do both”.
In a separate tweet, he said that the comment seemingly about forbidding his children from going on the march was in fact a joke about an earlier protest, because his son is failing maths and that protest involved skipping school.
In his own statement, El-P strongly disagreed with his Run The Jewels bandmate’s comments in the NRA interview. On the March For Our Lives, he said that he was “incredibly blown away by the bravery and emotion of an entire generation of young people standing up and trying to change the world”.
He noted that many people had called on him to cut ties with Killer Mike over his comments on guns, but responded: “I don’t drop friends from my life because I disagree with them”.
“He’s a person”, he said. “He stumbles and makes bad decisions sometimes and he doesn’t always get his messages across or even protect himself and I wanna fuckin strangle him cause it’s so stressful to watch when it could have been avoided. But the fact is, Mike is someone I and many of you know consistently and ferociously tried to bring some light and love into this world. You simply can’t deny that. So while I’m bummed at the way this unfolded, I will always fuck with him”.
