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And Finally Artist News
Lil Pump pledges support for Trump after misunderstanding tax system
By Andy Malt | Published on Tuesday 27 October 2020
If you’ve been dutifully updating your ‘which rappers support Donald Trump?’ wallchart, you should have crossed off Ice Cube and 50 Cent by now (maybe just lightly in pencil for the latter). However, as of this morning you can add Lil Pump’s name.
Lil Pump kicked things off yesterday by posting a photo to Instagram featuring his head superimposed onto the body of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who is shaking hands with Trump. Concerned that this left any ambiguity about his voting plans, the rapper later posted an Instagram story in which he shouted, “Fuck I look like paying an extra 33 in tax for Biden?”
Pump, you see, is concerned about Joe Biden’s plans for tax increases for the rich. Although he has seemingly misunderstood the tax system, assuming that he would have to pay increased tax on his entire annual earnings. In fact, the higher rate would only kick in for anything over $400,000. And then, it’s unlikely that he (or anyone else) would actually end up paying the full higher rate.
This is a stance (and misunderstanding) which also prompted 50 Cent to come out in support of Trump recently. Earlier this month he urged fans to vote for Trump in an Instagram post, saying, “I don’t care Trump doesn’t like black people”. Confirming his tax concerns in another since deleted post, he said: “I don’t want to be 20 Cent”.
Responding to all this, comedian Chelsea Handler, who briefly dated 50 Cent a decade ago, tweeted: “Hey fucker! I will pay your taxes in exchange for you coming to your senses. Happily! Black lives matter. That’s you, fucker! Remember?”
She then joked on ‘The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon’ that she would consider going “for another spin” with 50 Cent if he denounced Trump. Which he promptly took on board.
In another Instagram post over the weekend, he wrote: “A what? Another spin? Fuck Donald Trump, I never liked him”.
So that’s that. Although the voting both is private, so who knows what he’ll actually do when it’s voting time, or if he’s actually now properly got to grips with the tax system.
Ice Cube, meanwhile, who I think I mentioned about a hundred years ago, is still fending off claims that he’s a big Trump fan. Although he’s not been dubbed a Trump supporter because of any concerns he’s expressed about having to contribute more money towards his country’s potential future greatness. No, Cube’s error was lobbying the Trump campaign to improve its policies towards African Americans.
The former NWA member has pointed out already that he has attempted to get both the Trump and Biden campaigns to adopt his Contract With Black America project. However, while the Biden campaign apparently said that it would be considered after the election, Trump’s team updated their campaign literature earlier this month.
Speaking to Hot 97 last week, he said that he was a “real, true undecided voter”, although he had never voted anything other than Democrat. But, he added, white supremacy was something that needed addressing whoever got into power, saying: “It’s everywhere, and it’s on both sides of the aisle. That’s just the reality that we live in, and I’m not naive to that. We’re engulfed in white supremacy, so that’s just something we’re gonna have to fight our way out of”.
Anyway, one week to the election, everybody! One week until Trump tries to argue that postal votes shouldn’t be counted and moves to have them all destroyed.
