When Nelly stepped onto the stage at Donald Trump’s Inaugural Liberty Ball, he likely expected to perform, collect his fee, and move on to the next show. Instead, the St. Louis rapper ignited a cultural wildfire that has consumed social media feeds and fractured friendships across Black America.
Now, months later, the “Country Grammar” chart-topper finds himself not just defending his decision to perform for the president but launching unexpected attacks on former Vice President Kamala Harris and her multiracial family in a desperate attempt to justify his decision.
The controversy began when it was announced in January that Nelly would take the stage at Trump’s Liberty Ball, a decision that immediately sparked backlash from fans and critics who questioned why the rapper would align himself with an administration many view as hostile to Black Americans.
During a June 27 appearance on Hot 97’s “Ebro in the Morning” podcast alongside his wife Ashanti to promote their new Peacock reality series “Nelly & Ashanti: We Belong Together,” the 50-year-old rapper found himself pressed about his politics.
When host Ebro Darden asked at about the 14:33 mark of the interview if Nelly was still on his “pro-Donald Trump stance,” the rapper pushed back firmly.
“See, this is what I’m saying. Where did you get pro-Donald anything?” Nelly began. Where did you get pro? What you had was respect for office.”
“And it’s great how people spin narratives to things that I think best fit whatever they’re against. You know what I’m saying? Instead of giving a brother the exact fundamental of what he did, what he said, nobody’s doing that anymore,” he added.
The hosts heard the St. Louis hip-hop star continue to push back at the backlash he’s gotten for what many saw as an endorsement of Trump.
”Everybody’s, oh, if you did this, you’re for him. And it’s amazing how you could do something. But if you don’t agree with everything that somebody does, which I plainly said that — I don’t agree with everything my wife does. So to be in a situation to where, no, I have respect for the office. This person does some things good. And what I didn’t see is that just a year before that, I actually did an event with Vice President Kamala Harris at that time,” Nelly said.
“Nobody ever brought it up.”
After The Shade Room posted a clip from the Hot 97 appearance, the rapper jumped into the comments section with a lengthy defense that took an unexpected turn toward attacking Harris and her white husband and stepchildren.
Nelly defended himself, writing that he and Snoop Dogg “do more in the community and have been doing for over 20+ years against any of you that are just on here talking trash.”
He highlighted their charitable work, from providing scholarships to HBCUs to supporting young Black boys through Snoop’s junior football programs, emphasizing that “we are ‘Black Men’ married to beautiful Black women with Black children.”
The rapper then turned his focus to Harris, making pointed references to her family composition.
“We are ‘Black Men’ married to beautiful Black women with black children… should be inspiring to most, but that some of y’all have a problem with because the ‘prosecutor who has probably locked up more black men than we’ve helped. Woman of color with the white husband and white kids. Did not win the election,” he wrote.
This reference to Harris’s blended family struck many as particularly problematic, given the tapestry of her background.
Harris’s family reflects a rich multicultural heritage that includes her husband Doug Emhoff, a white American of Jewish heritage who made history as the first second gentleman. Through marriage, Harris became stepmother to Cole and Ella Emhoff, who are white and Jewish.
Her own background spans continents and cultures — her mother, Dr. Shyamala Gopalan, was an Indian Tamil immigrant and breast cancer researcher from Chennai, while her father, Donald Harris, is a Black Jamaican American economist. This unique blend of South Asian, Afro-Caribbean, and Jewish American influences has deeply shaped Harris’ worldview and political identity.
Nelly also positioned himself as a military family member, referencing his “grand uncle who is a Tuskegee airmen and red tail” and explaining his respect for the country “from top to bottom good and bad.”
He emphasized that his decision to perform was about honoring any president who would call upon him, stating it was “nothing to do with money. Nothing to do with race.”
The response to the comment, when posted, from Shade Room readers was swift and critical.
“The speech was cool without the Kamala shot. It makes the rest of what he said look shaky in the light,” one commenter observed.
Another expressed disappointment directly: “Nelly I like you. But this just smooth pissed me off.”
The criticism grew sharper as users called out what they saw as unnecessary divisiveness.
“The unnecessary Kamala diss proved the point. You supported dump just stand on it,” one person wrote, while another pointed out, “The way he just disrespected a black women to try and make his point…sooooo unnecessary.”
Perhaps most pointedly, one commenter highlighted what they saw as selective accountability: “So he calls out the wrongdoings of Biden and Harris but has nothing to say about the President erasing our history (including his great uncles) is very very telling. You can always tell a Trump supporter by the way they can NEVER hold him accountable like they do everyone else.”
The controversy has revealed deeper tensions within the Black community about political allegiance, family structures, and what constitutes authentic Blackness.
While Nelly maintains his performance was about respecting the office rather than endorsing policies, his comments about Harris have overshadowed his message about community service and created new divisions in an already polarized moment.
