#FiascoGate: Lupe Fiasco Kicked Off Stage at Inauguration Party
January 21st, 2013
Notorious political rapper, Lupe Fiasco made waves tonight at Hamilton Live in Washington DC where he was booked to perform at a celebration of Obama’s reelection. Those who know his work realize immediately that asking Lupe to celebrate Obama’s reelection makes about as much sense as George W. Bush inviting Stephen Colbert to speak at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in 2006.
Who ever did the booking should probably be fired. You can’t Google Lupe Fiasco without coming across his 2011 CBS interview in which he said, “To me, the biggest terrorist is Obama and the United States of America. I’m trying to fight the terrorism that’s actually causing the other forms of terrorism.” The comments later got him interviewed on Bill O’Reilly where he refused to retract his statement. His performance tonight did not disappoint.
It’s being called Fiasco Gate. Lupe Fiasco was forcefully removed from the stage after performing an anti-war song that transformed into an anti-Obama rant for over 30 minutes straight. When he refused to go on to the next song he was then ejected from his own show.
Foreign Policy reporter was at the scene and tweeted:
Lupe Fiasco just got thrown off stage here at the Hamilton Live after he went on an anti-Obama diatribe mid set.
and
So Lupe played one anti-war song for 30 min and said he didn’t vote for Obama and eventually was told to move on to the next song.
and
Lupe refused to move to the next song so a team of security guards came on stage and told him to go.
Born Wasalu Muhammad Jaco, Lupe Fiasco has made a career for himself with rap that could easily be construed as preaching against American military imperialism, drone warfare and the prison industrial complex.
The concert’s organizers, StartUp Rock On, have denied that his anti-Obama statements where why the set was cut short. They said, “We are staunch supporters of free speech, and free political speech. This was not about his opinions.” Although… every reporter on the scene disagrees.
Relax guys. It’s not about free speech. It’s a private show. You’re perfectly free to kick someone off stage because you don’t like their message. You should really be more concerned about how stupid you look for booking him.
UPDATE: This is the best video I’ve found. I’ll keep looking.
Here’s his Bill O’Reilly interview:
It’s always been disappointing to me that a public discussion about the definition of “terrorism” never grew out of this controversy. The closest we got was Bill saying “Obama is not a terrorist. He’s trying to do what he believes is the right thing to do.” As if every terrorist everywhere isn’t trying to do what they believe is the right thing to do.
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