Hundreds of fans were shocked at one of their favorite hip-hop and R&B influencers appearing to offer his support to former President Donald Trump.
Now, R&B legend Teddy Riley is clapping back after receiving backlash for his comments on Trump’s recent indictment, seemingly standing strong with the Republican 2024 presidential front-runner despite Trump being indictment in criminal charges for the second time in months last week.
After the news of his 37 felony charges of illegally taking classified documents from the White House after leaving office cracked headlines on Friday, June 9, Trump took to Instagram and captioned a declaration of innocence video.
“I AM AN INNOCENT MAN. THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION IS TOTALLY CORRUPT. THIS ELECTION INTERFERENCE & A CONTINUATION OF THE GREATEST WITCH HUNT OF ALL TIME. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” he wrote.
In the comment section, the “Groove Me” chart-topper, who has produced for Michael Jackson, the Backstreet Boys, Bobby Brown, and more, dropped several strong muscle emojis.
Related: Lil Wayne’s Lawyer Disputes Claim That Rapper Supported Trump to Get Pardon
After posting the flexed biceps, Riley was inundated with people questioning his support. Fans instantly responded in disdain.
One person simply said, “Wow.”
“You could of just wrote #trump a letter while he serve his time big dawg,” wrote one person while another said, “He shoulda kept that to himself.”
A fourth individual wrote, “It’s sad. Teddy is a NYer and I’m really surprised he fell for this con man’s games. So, he freed you brother, you would think he would just say thanks for the free pass sucka, not become a disciple of Trump.”
A Twitter account seemingly offered some reasoning as to why Riley would support him.
“Trump freed teddy Riley’s brother Lou Hobbs who was serving a double life sentence Which is also why Tyson supports him,” one user tweeted, alleging that Riley previously “defended Trump in Doc case.”
On Wed. Jan. 20, 2021, a few hours before he left his post as one of the most powerful political figures in the world, Trump included Hobbs in a collection of 143 people he was granting pardons or commuted sentences. Included in those names were big fish like political strategist Stephen K. Bannon, rappers Lil Wayne, Kodak Black, and former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
After seeing the backlash and criticism, Riley doubled down on his support in an interview with The Shade Room. He claims Trump taught him “how to be a free man of this country.”
Regardless of everyone else’s beliefs, the hitmaker believes that Trump “can do something amazing for us, because he did it for Africa while he was in office.”
But that didn’t stop others from still supporting Riley’s stance.
“If Trump freed my brother, I would be wearing my MAGA hat daily even when im going to sleep. Y’all tripping.”
“Man listen that man freed his brother from doing life n y’all still talking politics Lmfaoo nigga was doing REAL LIFE n y’all talking Politics Lmfaooo.”
Riley joins a list of Black musicians that support the former reality star.
In 2019, Kodak Black was sentenced to 46 months after making false statements on a federal application to buy a firearm. Halfway into his prison sentence, Trump granted him commutation after he made allegations about his mistreatment by prison guards.
Lil Wayne received a pardon while facing 10 years at sentencing after he pled guilty in late 2020 to federal charges of possessing a loaded weapon on a private jet going to Miami.
Days before the presidential elections that year, the “Carter III” rapper tweeted a photo of himself and Trump after a supposed meeting to discuss an initiative to help the Black community. Critics blasted him then for seemingly showing support for the controversial president.
In addition to Kodak Black and Lil Wayne, Kanye West has expressed his support for Trump. In 2018, Ye said Trump made him feel like Superman and described him “as a guy” he could admire.
