Drake hits back at criticism over blackface photo from Pusha T’s Story of Adidon: ‘It was to highlight the struggle of black actors’

Jennifer ruby
Updated
Hitting back: Drake has released a statement on Pusha T's diss track
Hitting back: Drake has released a statement on Pusha T's diss track

Drake has hit back at criticism over a photo of him in blackface, which his rival Pusha T has used as the artwork for a new diss-track.

The Canadian musician, 31, has released a statement explaining the context behind the photo, claiming that it was part of project to highlight the “struggle of young black actors” trying to get roles.

In a message posted to him Instagram story, Drake said: “I know everyone is enjoying the circus but I want to clarify this image in question.

“This was not from a clothing brand shoot or my music career. This picture is from 2007, a time in my life where I was an actor and I was working on a project that was about young black actors struggling to get roles, being stereotyped and type cast.

“The photos represented how African Americans were once wrongfully portrayed in entertainment.”

The musician went on to say that he was “attempting to use our voice to bring awareness to the issues we dealt with all the time as black actors at audition.”

“This was to highlight and raise our frustrations with not always getting fair chance in the industry and to make a point that the struggle for black actors had not changed much.”

Pusha T, who has had a long-standing feud with Drake, released diss-track The Story of Adidon, in which he alleges that the God’s Plan singer has a secret child.

It references speculation that he fathered a baby who he does not acknowledge publicly with former porn star Sophie Brussaux.

Feud: Pusha T has released a Drake diss track (Getty Images for adidas)
Feud: Pusha T has released a Drake diss track (Getty Images for adidas)

Lyrics include: “Sophie knows better, ask your baby mother, cleaned her up for IG but the stench is on her.

“You are hiding a child. Love that baby, respect that girl, forget she’s a porn star, let her be your world.”

The artwork for the song features an image of Drake in blackface which Thornton claims is a real photo.

He tweeted: “Please stop referring to this picture as “artwork”…I’m not an internet baby, I don’t edit images…this is a REAL picture…these are his truths, see for yourself.”