Lana Del Rey Keeps Trying to Explain Her Comments on Trump, but Fans Aren’t Having It
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Mat Hayward, Getty Images
In a January 11th interview on BBC Radio 1's Future Sounds with Annie Mac, Lana Del Rey said some concerning things regarding Donald Trump's presidency and the January 6th attack on the Capitol. Now, Del Rey is walking back on her statements, saying that they were taken out of context, but fans aren't ready to let her off the hook.
"I think the madness of Trump—as bad as it was, it really needed to happen," Del Rey told Mac. "We really needed a reflection of our world's greatest problem...the problem of sociopathy and narcissism, especially in America."
"I was surprised we didn't have a live-television-psychopath-crazy-person as a president a long time ago because that's what we see on TV and that's what we see on Instagram," she continued. "I think it was a huge wakeup call."
"[Trump] doesn't know he's inciting a riot, I believe that," Del Rey said, blaming his narcism for the president being unaware that he's "hurting other people." When Mac said that she disagrees, Del Rey continued, "Because he's got delusions of grandeur...I think he's unwell."
And as for the Capitol rioters, Del Rey blames "dissociative rage" rather than radicalization. "They want to wild out somewhere and it's like, we don't know how to find a way to be wild in our world. And at the same time the world is so wild."
Lana stans gonna be doing some mental gymnastics to explain this one pic.twitter.com/cJWdzm7UGp
— 🌞✨𝕭(jörk)𝖊𝖓✨🌞 (@papi_lechuga) January 12, 2021
a facist was in office and it affected not only minorities in america but people in other countries as well. "as bad as it was..." is an understatement. your ignorance, privilege, and inability to read the room is outstanding. have you always been this tone deaf? @LanaDelRey
— kariz (@LETHERM0UTH) January 12, 2021
Once Del Rey began seeing the backlash from her stance on Trump, she released a statement on Twitter in an attempt to clarify her comments. "Trump is so significantly impaired that he may not know what he was doing due to his significant lack of empathy," she tweeted on January 12th, "and the wider ranging problem is the issue of sociopathy and narcism in America."
Just to take a moment to say that what I was describing w the bbc was that Trump is so significantly impaired that he may not know what he was doing due to his significant lack of empathy and the wider ranging problem is the issue of sociopathy and narcissism in America.
— Lana Del Rey (@LanaDelRey) January 12, 2021
However, her shifting of the blame for what happened at the Capitol, and for the radicalization of white America could not be patched up—nor could Del Rey's statement that Trump's presidency "needed to happen" when she was not nearly as affected by his presidency as a large percentage of American citizens were.
i cant even defend this. a privileged rich white woman saying the atrocity of Trump’s presidency needed to happen and that capitalism isn’t the root of our problems. just apologize and stop defending the crappy things you say pic.twitter.com/g3OdnAKyml
— aditi (@westeggbesteggg) January 12, 2021
psychological traits are not the cause of the issues, complex systemic realities are. but u don’t seem too open to try and learn that
— weyes blood lovebot (@ANTIFASClST) January 12, 2021
I have to disagree with you. There’s no way Trump caused that much damage and just “didn’t know” what he was doing. He has half of an entire country agreeing with him. Are they just all significantly impaired, too? Should we really be cutting these people slack?
— carly (@trxpico) January 12, 2021
He watched the whole thing and delayed the National Guard.
He knows what he’s doing.— SpaceMonkie 👾 (@DannieM1) January 12, 2021
Her "clarification" didn't make things better for her, and Del Rey fired back at Complex Magazine and Rolling Stone for "inferring that I thought it was right to storm the [Capitol]." She later wrote in a separate tweet, "It's fucked up...I am the one helping bringing the problem with narcism to light."
It’s fucked up. You know I’m real. You know I voted for Biden. I’m super steady in everything I’ve ever said. You probably listened to my entire interview. So whoever wrote this is a genuine piece of shit. I am the one helping bringing the problem with narcissism to light. Gfys
— Lana Del Rey (@LanaDelRey) January 12, 2021
Del Rey also made a video on Instagram to further backtrack and call out magazine headlines. "I said that when someone is so deeply deficient in empathy, they may not know that they're the bad guy," she said. "And that may be a controversial opinion. But don't make the controversy that I don't think he meant to incite the riot. It's not the point, is what I was saying."
"The general point is the wider ranging issue of sociopathy in our system that's being reflected in our government and right back to us," she continued. "I really don't appreciate being painted as some kind of white Republican who's always been given everything and supports the incite of a Capitol riot."
"I was deeply concerned about the storming of the Capitol," she concluded. And hopefully, this video puts the controversy and social media back-and-forth to bed.
