Why Was T.I. Upset That His Son King Was On A Club Flyer?

There’s a meme that’s been circulating on the internet for the past decade or so making light of the fact that urban club promoters will put literally anything on their flyers to make their events relevant. Examples range from Martin Luther King Jr. in a durag (for MLK Day parties, of course) to flavor of the month video vixens who certainly won’t be attending.

But that tendency apparently came back to bite a party promoter in Atlanta after they referenced recent public discord between trap rap OG T.I. and his song King Harris to promote an event in the city. A video of T.I. reading the club’s employees the riot act surfaced online, drawing amused and amazed reactions from fans on social media who couldn’t help noting the rapper “stands on business.”

But why was T.I. so angry that his son was on the flyer? The trouble goes back to another viral video that captured the 18-year-old King arguing with his parents about his upbringing during a recent Atlanta Falcons game. In the video, King tries to assert his hood credentials to a father who literally sold drugs to make a living (by the way, the video was shot in a suite at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium), eventually getting so heated at his parents’ joking provocations (he sucked a pacifier ’til he was 12, according to Tiny) he appears to physically challenge his father. While the video is hard to make out, from the audio, it doesn’t sound like that went well for him.

Obviously, this is an embarrassing situation for the family — especially for T.I., who’s had something of a rough couple of years in the public eye (partly his own fault) — so it makes sense he wouldn’t want other folks making light of his troubles. Undoubtedly, when he got wind of the club flyer, which PhotoShopped him putting King in a chokehold, he wasn’t too happy about it. In the video posted online, T.I. tells club employees “ain’t nothing goin'” until the flyer is changed. To make a long story short, the flyer was changed.

If there’s a lesson in this, it’s probably to remember that despite the money and notoriety, entertainers are people too, and deserving of some amount of decency and privacy. You might think everything is fair game, but if they disagree, it can go badly for you — expeditiously.