Update (October 15, 2020): Rap legend Ice Cube has been on the receiving end of an avalanche of criticism since it was announced on Wednesday that the reelection campaign for President Donald Trump was working with him on the Platinum Plan.

According to a tweet from Ice Cube, he was invited to speak about the partnership by reps from Cuomo Prime Time, but he said his invitation was later pulled.

So the POWERS that be cancelled my interview on @CuomoPrimeTime tonight. I’ve actually been ban from @CNN for a few months so I was surprised they even asked. But it seems like they can’t handle the truth.

— Ice Cube (@icecube) October 15, 2020

“So the POWERS that be cancelled my interview on @CuomoPrimeTime tonight. I’ve actually been ban from @CNN for a few months so I was surprised they even asked. But it seems like they can’t handle the truth,” he said on Twitter.

In response to the criticism from thousands people online, Ice Cube has denied that he is endorsing Trump and said he only agreed to work with the president on the Platinum Plan because his team responded to his “Contract with Black America,” which he sent to representatives of both parties.

In other tweets, he disputed the idea that he is now a Trump supporter and said he only supported people who could help Black people.

“I will advise anybody on the planet who has the power to help Black Americans close the enormous wealth gap,” he wrote.

Trump campaign adviser Katrina Pierson was the first to tweet out about the partnership with Ice Cube.

According to CNN, the plan alleges that Trump wants to invest $500 billion into Black businesses and neighborhoods but provides few details on where this money would come from, who would get it and what effect it would have on the structural barriers Black businesses face when seeking funding or investment.

The plan follows months of headlines about Trump and Black voters. He called Black Lives Matter a “symbol of hate” during an interview, has publicly supported white supremacist groups and criticized Black people for not supporting him more.

As election day gets closer, the president’s appeals to white voters have increasingly taken a racialized tone, both on Twitter and in speeches. He has repeatedly told white audiences that he is trying to “save” white suburban women from “low income housing” and routinely cites U.S. Senator Cory Booker as someone who he is protecting white mothers from.

“So you have this beautiful community in the suburbs, including women. Right? Women. They want security. I ended where they build low-income housing projects right in the middle of your neighborhood. I ended it. If Biden gets in, he already said it’s going to go at a much higher rate than ever before. And you know who’s going to be in charge of it? Cory Booker,” Trump said during an interview last month on Fox News.

Former Vice President Joe Biden is far ahead of Trump with Black voters, with an average of polls showing that he is leading the president by a 75-point margin, according to CNN.

Original (October 14, 2020): Republican allies of President Donald Trump caused controversy this week by expressing gratitude toward rapper Ice Cube for what they say is an endorsement of the president’s Platinum Plan initiative, but the rapper says he’s just doing his due diligence to bipartisan justice.

In a tweet on Thursday, White House Senior Advisor Katrina Pierson thanked the rapper and social activist for his collaboration with the Trump administration in creating the president’s “promise” to Black America over the next four years, the Rolling Stone reports.

Katrina-Pierson

Get relevant content delivered to you once a week