Vince Staples saw that video of a mom crying over hearing his song “Norf Norf” and reacted better than just about any of us. Instead of joining the waves of folks heaping scorn on the mother of four for her rant, Staples high-roaded the whole internet with a call for understanding and compassion.
Speaking to The Independent, Staples said he didn’t find the attacks on the maker of the video funny, that everyone has a right to their opinion and that the reaction of the internet is merely piling more misunderstandings on top of the situation.
“I don’t really have much to say about the video — I don’t think it’s funny at all,” Staples said. “It’s not right to attack someone over their stance, their opinions, and their religion. I think that’s very immature.”
He continued, “We already have a lot of issues between black and white relations in this country based on misunderstandings. In my eyes, she doesn’t look like a racist. She doesn’t look like a mean person. But it’s not very responsible for people to try to take that and jump, looking for some sort of commentary on these issues [in the community].”
However, Staples wasn’t happy with the way that the UK paper represented his words. So he went on Twitter to clarify what he meant. In a series of tweets, Staples revealed that he thinks the reaction to this video was a missed opportunity to open up a dialogue that would help explain Vince’s community to outsiders rather than forcefully shutting her out with jeers.
https://twitter.com/vincestaples/status/783960246033215488
https://twitter.com/vincestaples/status/783962141443358720
https://twitter.com/vincestaples/status/783962237232906240
https://twitter.com/vincestaples/status/783962457073152001
https://twitter.com/vincestaples/status/783962535494123520
https://twitter.com/vincestaples/status/783962605517991936
