While notorious for making aggressive comments and his unflinching stance on many issues in defense of Donald Trump, rapper Lil Pump has once again set tongues wagging with his latest brash announcement. In a live Instagram video on August 8, 2024, the 23-year-old artist vowed to leave the United States if, during the presidential election, Vice President Kamala Harris was declared the winner.
Lil Pump claims that he will leave the country if Kamala Harris wins the election pic.twitter.com/cxdDxiYl1z
— SAY CHEESE! 👄🧀 (@SaycheeseDGTL) August 9, 2024
Blunt language expressed her disgust with Harris: Lil Pump swore on his father’s grave, should she win, that he would move out of the country. The flamboyant statement was only the most recent in a series that the rapper has made in support of Trump and against his opponents.
Lil Pump was a Trump supporter, as well, in that 2020 election, where he made news for walking out and up on stage with Trump during a campaign rally. A day that was a bit marred when Trump accidentally called him “Little Pimp” since he introduced him to the stage. But in spite of this, Lil Pump is a solid stand supporter for Trump; he’s even gone so far as to get a tattoo of the former president’s face, showing it off on Instagram earlier this year.
His criticism of Kamala Harris, however, has been particularly pointed. In his most recent invasion of Instagram, Lil Pump presented false statements regarding Kamala Harris on two accounts, falsely suggesting both about her being black and condemning her for her record on marijuana convictions while being the District Attorney for San Francisco.
Lil Pump’s social media behavior is usually provocative, meant to elicit reactions from his supporters and, at times, trolls. His most recent remark that he would leave the country if Harris wins only falls in the same line and created quite an uproar online.
Though some in the crowd felt that his comments amounted to publicity, others felt that it was part of the larger narrative of division that helped characterize the overall arc of his public persona. Regardless of his intent, Lil Pump’s reference again placed the young artist at the ground zero of the political firestorm, full of fresh questions about what endorsements and statements from celebrities mean in the political arena.
