Lil Wayne, the American Flag, and Obama

Obama appreciates Lil Wayne's talent.

"My iPod now has about 2,000 songs, and it is a source of great pleasure to me," Obama told the magazine. "I am probably still more heavily weighted toward the music of my childhood than I am the new stuff. There's still a lot of Stevie Wonder, a lot of Bob Dylan, a lot of Rolling Stones, a lot of R&B, a lot of Miles Davis and John Coltrane. Those are the old standards."

In addition to his old standards, and a little opera every now and then, the president revealed that, thanks to his personal aide Reggie Love, his "rap palate" has greatly improved.

"Jay-Z used to be sort of what predominated, but now I've got a little Nas and a little Lil Wayne and some other stuff," he revealed. "But I would not claim to be an expert. Malia and Sasha are now getting old enough to where they start hipping me to things. Music is still a great source of joy and occasional solace in the midst of what can be some difficult days."

Watch this video of then-Senator Obama talking hip-hop:



Obama respects Lil Wayne enough to mention him in a positive manner during a speech.



I think it's sick that Obama elevates Lil Wayne like that.

Watch Lil Wayne discuss being Obama's example of American success:



Wayne is no role model for kids. He's not someone Obama should be referencing at all.

He's a felon. He spent a year in prison and has been arrested several times. Wayne is a great role model for kids aspiring to be gun-toting thugs and drug abusers.

Does Obama approve of Lil Wayne stomping on the American flag, literally?

From TMZ:

Lil Wayne trampled the American flag over the weekend ... and there's footage.

Weezy performed the stunt while shooting his new music video for "God Bless Amerika" in New Orleans.

During the shoot, Wayne begins rapping in front of a giant American flag ... which is released to the ground. After it's on the floor, Wayne continues to rap ... while stepping all over the stars and stripes.

The lyrics to Wayne's song are just as controversial ... "My country 'tis of thee / Sweet land of kill 'em all and let 'em die / God bless Amerika / This ole' godless Amerika."

This song is so odd given that Wayne has lived a life of lawlessness and violence and utter irresponsibility. He's in no position to preach, given what he practices.

Here's video of Wayne walking all over the American flag after it's intentionally dropped on the pavement:



Wayne is so flagrantly disrespecting the symbol of the country that made him a rich man. He's disrespecting all the patriots who fought for his freedom and insulting the survivors of our war dead.

From Billboard:

Even before the premiere of the music video for new single "God Bless Amerika," Lil Wayne has already sparked controversy after behind-the-scenes footage from song's video leaked earlier today (June 17).

Shot in his hometown of New Orleans, the footage features Weezy singing in front of an American flag, surrounded by a crowd of locals from his former neighborhood in Hollygrove. As the flag falls to the ground, the rapper dances across it, a stab in the heart to U.S. Flag Code and patriots alike.

The video isn't the first time the rapper has come into hot water for getting "political." His track "Georgia...Bush" heavily criticized the Bush administration for its efforts overseas and in Hurricane Katrina relief. More recently, Wayne lost his endorsement with PepsiCo after his lyrics on Future's "Karate Chop" remix were deemed insensitive towards civil rights icon Emmett Till.

I hope Obama regrets endorsing Wayne.

Wouldn't it be nice if Obama would condemn Wayne for trampling on the flag?

Isn't it amazing that the U.S. government under Obama uses the IRS to harass Tea Party patriots and hacks the computers of members of the press but a thug like Wayne is praised by Obama as a hero?
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UPDATE: Lil Wayne claims, "I didn't step on the flag on purpose!"

From TMZ:

Lil Wayne is lying through his diamond-encrusted teeth ... claiming he didn't INTENTIONALLY step on the American flag during a video shoot ... despite the fact he can be seen looking down on Old Glory several times during the performance.

Wayne just tweeted about his controversial video shoot for "God Bless Amerika" in New Orleans ... saying, "I didn't step on the flag on purpose! It's a scene in a video where the flag drops behind me and after it drop it's just there as I perform."

Translation -- I swear it was an accident ... please don't hate me.

Problem is ... during the video, you can see Wayne look down on the flag at several points in the shoot ... yet continues to trample all over the stars and stripes.

This is so lame.

Idiotic excuses just make things worse.

Wayne should own up to what he did.

The flag didn't fall. It was dropped. Then, he tramples on it, clearly seeing it. Wayne didn't stop the shoot, jump off the flag, and pick it up.

It's impossible to buy Wayne's claims that he didn't realize what he was doing.

It is possible that Wayne and every person involved with the video are completely clueless about flag etiquette. They could be that unpatriotic and stupid.

So, it's matter of Wayne lying or being an uneducated buffoon.

Bottom line: He could have apologized for the incident. He didn't.

Case closed.