Snoop Dogg addresses uproar over Trump Crypto Ball inauguration performance
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Snoop Dogg appears to have responded to the backlash he received after performing at the Crypto Ball, which celebrated the election of US president Donald Trump.
The rapper born Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr was filmed performing his classic hit “Nuthin’ But a G Thang” at the party hosted by David Sacks, former PayPal COO and newly appointed White House AI and crypto czar.
Many of Snoop’s fans were appalled at his decision to appear, accusing him of selling out and claiming they would no longer listen to his music.
Snoop, 53, had previously been a vocal critic of Trump but appeared to switch allegiances last year, offering him public praise and declaring he had “only done great things” for him.
In the wake of the controversy, Snoop shared a video to Instagram in which he was seen smoking and enjoying “Ain’t No Need to Worry” by US gospel group The Winans in his car.
“Y’all can’t hate enough, I love too much,” he said. “Get your life right, stop worrying about mine. I’m cool, I’m together. Still a Black man. Still 100 per cent Black. All out, ‘til you ball out, or ‘til you fall out.”
He added: “I ain’t going nowhere, I’m right here,” before telling his followers to “get the crypto”.
Organisers of the crypto ball reportedly hailed Trump as “the first crypto president” on an invitation that circulated on social media.
To rub shoulders with tech and cryptocurrency tycoons at the black-tie event, which was held in Washington DC, guests had to spend between $2,500 (£2,010) and $5,000 (£4,021) for tickets.
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Trump himself did not attend, but pitched himself as a pro-crypto currency candidate for his 2024 campaign despite having previously dismissed bitcoin as “a scam against the dollar” during his first term as president.
While fellow rappers Soulja Boy and Rick Ross also performed at the Crypto Ball, Snoop’s attendance was particularly glaring as he had previously stoked controversy with his stance against Trump.
In 2017, he sparked outrage by pretending to shoot a clown resembling the then-president in his remix of the BadBadNotGood song “Lavender”.
He referenced him again in his track “MACA (Make America Crip Again)” that same year, rapping: “The president say he want to Make America Great Again, f*** that s***.”
In another video, posted in 2018, he said “f*** the president” while smoking a blunt outside the White House.
However, in a January 2024 interview, he stated that he had “nothing but love and respect” for Trump after his pardoning of Michael Harris, the founder of Snoop’s first label, Death Row Records, who was in prison for drug offences.
Later on in the video, Snoop remarked: “We gotta learn to big each other up instead of putting each other down.
“That’s what we’re great at as Black people, we great at tearing each other down… But I’m a strong Black man, I’m cut from a different cloth. You can’t tear me down, I’m one of God’s children.”
Many of his followers seemed unimpressed, with some commenting “sell out” or “lost all respect”.
“Snoop you disappointed us,” another fan wrote. “We been riding with you since we were kids. This one hurts for real.”
