Yes, you heard that right. Snoop Dogg, born Calvin Broadus, notorious for having a strong dislike toward Donald Trump, has said that he has “nothing but love and respect” for him.
This was said by Snoop Dogg in an interview with The Sunday Times, along with, “Donald Trump? He ain’t done nothing wrong to me. He has done only great things for me.”
This is coming from the guy who had someone dress up as a clown that resembled the former President, just so he could pretend to shoot him in the head for a music video. The song that this comes from is called “Lavender”, and was released in 2016, the same year that Trump won the election.
This display didn’t go unnoticed by Trump, and he responded on Twitter (now X) by saying, “Can you imagine what the outcry would be if @SnoopDogg, failing career and all, had aimed and fired the gun at President Obama? Jail time!”
In a separate instance, Snoop said that anybody who might vote for Trump is “stupid”. He also said that anyone who liked Trump is racist.
These are just a few examples of the abhorrence the two have for each other; they are familiar with taking personal cheap shots.
However, Snoop and Trump have had a few somewhat friendly encounters in the past.
In 2007, Snoop Dogg appeared on Trump’s TV show ‘The Apprentice’. The winning contestants from the show would get to rap with him as a reward at the end of the episode. Trump and Snoop would have had to at least be on moderately good terms for anything like this to ever happen.
The relationship between Trump and Snoop up until recently could have been described as ‘love-hate, but mostly hate’.This may be the beginning of a new, happier chapter in their storybook, which has otherwise been so full of dark and twisted tales.
What was the catalyst for the sudden shift from hate to love? From scorn to respect? It may have had something to do with the numerous pardons that Trump issued.
During the closing hours of his Presidency, Trump pardoned a total of 74 individuals. Included among them was Snoop’s friend Michael “Harry-O” Harris, co-founder of the well-known Death Row Record label.
Snoop has been friends with Harris since at least 1992, which is the year that Snoop signed onto the label. It was here that Snoop spiked in popularity, with his debut album selling millions of copies.
Harris had served more than 30 years in prison for drug-related crimes and attempted murder. However, Harris’ attorney felt that this sentence was wrong. He said, “Mr. Harris’ federal prison sentence for involvement with drugs was unduly harsh.”
Snoop, wanting to get his friend out of prison, had apparently been petitioning for the White House to have Harris’ sentence commuted, which was finally accomplished on January 20th.
Snoop was glad to have his friend back. He said, “That’s great work for the president and his team on the way out,” and, “They did some great work while they was in there and they did some great work on their way out. Let them know that I love what they did.”
It would now be difficult for Snoop to go back to hating Trump after he just released his friend from prison. Trump has managed to connect with Snoop on a personal level. Although the two may not stand on the same side of the political spectrum, they have been able to find some common ground with each other recently.
Even though Snoop’s recent statements about Trump may initially appear to be only because he personally benefited, it seems to be more than that. If you really didn’t like somebody, would you go on TV and say that you have ‘nothing but love and respect for them’, even if they did something nice for you?
Looking past as to why he said it, Snoop’s statement could have a long lasting impact on people’s minds.
As it’s well known, many celebrities have come out in the past against Trump. People like Alec Baldwin, George Clooney, John Legend, Camila Cabello, and hundreds of others have been vocal about their dislike of former President Trump, and remain to this day adamant about their stance.
And don’t forget, half of America (about 167,946,619 people) agrees that it isn’t good to support Trump.
So it doesn’t really seem like Snoop’s sudden approval of Trump would have that big of an effect on the nation…except for one thing: Biden’s falling popularity and the lack of a Democratic backup candidate. Just take a look at Biden’s miserable 38% approval rating.
Given this circumstance, more people are looking for a new idea, and especially Democrats who disagree with Joe Biden. Snoop’s opinion alone will by no means turn the tides in favor of Trump, but it may begin to lessen resentment toward him.
It is undeniable that celebrities have a certain political influence on regular people. In the past, people like Frank Sinatra and Harry Belafonte have endorsed John F. Kennedy, which contributed to his presidential win in 1960. More recently, many celebrities were big supporters of Hillary Clinton in 2016. Even though Hillary ended up losing despite all the support, she was definitely assisted by the backing.
What Snoop said may give previously uncertain voters ground to stand on in favor of Trump.
Whether intentional or not, Snoop Dogg has picked the perfect time to make such a controversial statement. If he had said something like this just four years ago, the backlash would have been much worse.
The impact of the statement on the US can already be seen in the sheer amount of news coverage flooding the media about this exact topic. Fox News, Billboard, USA Today, The Independent, Newsweek, Business Insider, Entertainment Weekly, Newser, The Sunday Times, and many, many others have posted about what Snoop said. It’s almost impossible for people not to take notice.
Overall, it was fairly unexpected that Snoop Dogg would say what he did, and now that he’s said it, others may follow suit. A door shut for years has been cracked open, all thanks to the D-O-double G.
