Despite being under tremendous pressure to recant his decision to work with the Trump administration on bettering lives for black Americans, rapper Ice Cube is refusing to play politics.
For the third time, the rapper has defended his working with President Trump to institute his “Contract with Black America” (CWBA). During an appearance on “The Daily Show” with Trevor Noah, the rapper said that he thinks partisan politics is corrosive to the current situation, and that he is willing to “talk to both sides” of the political aisle.
“I put out a plan, both campaigns wanted to talk to me about it, and I was eager to talk to both campaigns. I’m done playing this politic game, joining sides,” he said during Wednesday’s broadcast. “To me, that doesn’t get the job done. You know, what gets the job done is to try to make a deal with whoever’s in power, and hopefully they see what we’re going through. Now, we don’t know who’s going to win.”
That doesn’t mean, however, that Ice Cube will endorse Trump or be used as a political pawn for either side. Overall, he just wants to get something positive done and will work with whomever to do it.
“I wanna keep our issues top-of-mind and at the forefront of everything. So, you know, it’s politics. The Trump campaign put out those headlines, but, you know, you’ve got both sides putting out headlines. You’ve got celebrities on both sides with headlines,” said. “You know, campaigns try to use political footballs in any way they can. At the end of the day, American people [are] smarter than that. American people are gonna look at all of the facts and go and vote for the person they believe can win and do a better job.”
When asked if he was worried that the Trump campaign would co-opt him, Ice Cube said he will always speak the truth.
“I knew whoever did and tried to use me like that would be mistaken ‘cause I was gonna come out and tell the real,” he continued. “I’m [going to] always speak the truth, and that’s the problem. I understand the game. I don’t mind people taking shots at me because I talk to both sides of the aisle, but always believe this, you know, is a non-partisan issue. I’ve been saying ‘bipartisan,’ but it’s really a non-partisan issue. No matter what side of the fence you’re on, it’s time for both sides to come together and solve this problem.”
The president made adjustments to his “Platinum Plan” that included some of Ice Cube’s suggestions. According to Fox News, the plan would “include creating 3 million new jobs in the Black community over the next four years, increasing access to capital by nearly $500 billion and strengthening Trump’s immigration policies to protect American jobs.”
When Ice Cube first announced that he was working with Trump’s “Platinum Plan,” he issued a veiled critique of Democrats for kicking him to the curb until after the election.
“Facts: I put out the CWBA (contract with black America),” the rapper said on Twitter. “Both parties contacted me. Dems said we’ll address the CWBA after the election. Trump campaign made some adjustments to their plan after talking to us about the CWBA.”
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