Gay rapper to Macklemore: ‘Gay people don’t care about your video about gay people’
An openly gay rapper and producer from New York City went on a tirade denouncing straight rap star Macklemore after his performance at the MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) at the weekend, of a hit which carries a strong message of support for equal marriage.
Le1F, real name Khalif Diouf, tweeted following Sunday’s performance by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis of their equal marriage themed song Same Love, that “gay people don’t care about your video about gay people”, and accused Macklemore of plagiarism.
The rapper tweeted to say: “That time that straight white dude ripped off my song then made a video about interracial love and made a million dollars.” He continued to ask: “Do proceeds go to any gay people? the HRC? Aids foundation? or does this straight white man keep the money?
Quoting a lyric from Same Love, he continued:
He later tweeted: “Gay kids don’t come out cuz of Macklemore vids. They come out to Bjork concerts YA DIG?”
Le1F has since deleted the tweets, claiming that his comments were taken out of context.
He said: “My issue was with plagiarism, less about the gay rights movement.”
The VMAs took place at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on Sunday evening.
After performing Same Love, Macklemore said: “Gay rights are human rights. There is no separation.”
The song Same Love, from the pair’s latest album, addresses Macklemore’s personal experiences and feelings around the issue of same-sex relationships and equal marriage, and features a video spanning the lives of a gay couple, including a happy marriage.
