Ice Cube has responded to criticism after it was revealed on Tuesday, Oct. 13, that he worked with Donald Trump‘s administration on what White House senior adviser Katrina Pierson called the “Platinum Plan.” This $500 billion package will supposedly help Black communities.
The plan reportedly aims to create 3 million new jobs, push for criminal justice reform, improve access to better education and job opportunities, reduce health-care costs, and designate Juneteenth as a national holiday.
News of Cube’s work with the Trump organization came from Black Voices for Trump advisory board member Diante Johnson. The conservative tweeted, “So @icecube has officially given the Trump campaign permission to reveal that he has been helping us develop President Trump’s groundbreaking black Trump platform: The Platinum Plan! “Leaders gonna lead, haters gonna hate! Thank you for leading,”- @KatrinaPierson.”
Cube responded, “Facts: I put out the CWBA. 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.”
The following day, the rapper took to his Twitter account to defend his involvement in the project after receiving backlash from fans and critics online. More specifically, the “Are We There Yet?” actor responded to a tweet from a fan who wrote, “My Hip-Hop HERO @icecube is working with the Darkside. I haven’t felt this low since Kobe passed. HEARTBREAKING.” They added, “Cube, I’m not sure you understand how much we value your voice. And when we see you “jumping the shark,” it KILLS us. Especially in 2020.”
Ice Cube retweeted the supporter’s post and replied, saying, “Every side is the Darkside for us here in America.” The West coast rapper continued, “They’re all the same until something changes for us. They all lie and they all cheat but we can’t afford not to negotiate with whoever is in power or our condition in the country will never change. Our justice is bipartisan.”
Critics online were still unconvinced by the rapper’s justification, including one person who wrote back, “This both sides bullsh-t is nonsense. Trump is still intentionally separating brown kids from their parents and caging them.” They added, “Some of those kids will never, ever be reunited with their parents. But you got a call back and what will inevitably be nothing more than broken promises.”
Another person replied to the rapper’s tweet stating, “Quick question, Cube: Do you know which party has been trying to suppress the Black vote and which one has been trying to prevent that suppression?”
The Big3 founder’s partnership with the Trump administration comes on the heels of the star making several controversial comments suggesting he would not vote for the Democratic ticket. Throughout the 2020 presidential race, Cube had continuously called out both parties to explain how they would help Black Americans should they win the upcoming 2020 elections. The “No Vaseline” rapper also called on politicians to sign his “Contract with Black America,” which presented many commitments related to prison reform, bank lending and more.
On Tuesday, Oct. 13, Cube doubled down on his comments, questioning the country’s current two-party system. He has also refused to endorse Democratic nominees Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, claiming that they were taking the Black vote for granted and further expressing that he had zero trust in either party.
“No president has done right by us,” he said in an almost eight-minute-long video. “So, I don’t trust none of them. Putting our hopes and dreams behind any of them just don’t work. … I’ve been making contacts with them, trying to talk about these real issues. Straight up, I believe the Democrats have been nice. … I don’t really see them pushing their policies in any different direction.”
He continued, “We also met with the Republicans. … They’ve moved their agenda a lot because of what we’ve said. They put $500 billion on the table. But who knows what’s really gon’ happen. I just know one of them is gonna win. And I don’t know if it really matters to us.”
Fans slammed the Hollywood star for not being transparent and falsely pretending that he was on neither side when that wasn’t the case. “3 weeks ago Ice Cube acted as if he was still vacillating between Biden and Trump while quietly working with Trump. I called it manipulation of the Black Male Vote and I was right,” one critic wrote.
