Rapper Lil Yachty calls Black Lives Matter a 'scam,' BLM issues blistering response
Rapper Lil Yachty told cooking show host and influencer Quenlin Blackwell that Black Lives Matter (BLM) "was literally a scam" on an episode of her popular YouTube show.
Blackwell, who hosts "Feeding Starving Celebrities" on the video-sharing platform and talks to various famous guests, asked Yachty how much he's spent on charitable contributions so far this year. When the rapper mentioned that the year had just started, the host asked what contributions he'd made over the previous two years, also asking if BLM was one of the causes he's donated to.
"What about the year before last year?" asked Blackwell.
Yachty responded, saying, "Well, that year, yeah, that's a good year. It's just blurry because I be doing so much."
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The host immediately followed up his response, asking, "BLM? Since you want to be so Black power?"
"BLM is a scam," Yachty responded, to the shock of the host.
"Clip that! Send it to the f------ news!" Blackwell responded.
Yachty, who has 5.3 million followers on social media platform X, expanded on his statement, explaining to the host why he believes the social justice group is a "scam."
"BLM was literally a scam. They had bought mansions, and you probably wouldn't know anything about it because you don't care about Black people, and don't follow Black news," Yachty jokingly asserted.
Blackwell, who is African-American herself, told the rapper that she does "care about Black people," and that she's "literally the most pro-Black person in this room."
BLM came under fire in 2022 after their lavish home purchase was exposed by New York Magazine. According to the report, "The California property was purchased for nearly $6 million in cash in October 2020 with money that had been donated to BLMGNF (Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation)."
The report caused the activist organization to respond on Twitter.
"There have been a lot of questions surrounding recent reports about the purchase of Creator’s House in California," the Black Lives Matter official Twitter account posted.
"Despite past efforts, BLMGNF recognizes that there is more work to do to increase transparency and ensure transitions in leadership are clear," it added.
In subsequent tweets, BLM called a flurry of reports looking into the group's finances "inflammatory and speculative" and blamed them for "causing harm." The reports "do not reflect the totality of the movement," the organization claimed.
At the time, BLMGNF board member Shalomyah Bowers emailed a statement to the New York Magazine reporter claiming that the organization purchased the property "with the intention for it to serve as housing and studio space for recipients of the Black Joy Creators Fellowship," a program that was reportedly announced the next day as providing "recording resources and dedicated space for Black creatives to launch content online and in real life focused on abolition, healing justice, urban agriculture and food justice, pop culture, activism, and politics."
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Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation responded to Fox News Digital's request for comment on Yachty's claims with strong words for the rapper: "It’s clear Lil Yachty has been drinking the white supremacist ideology Kool-Aid. His comments are wrong. They are misinformed, unoriginal, and crafted to please the same people who profit from Black suffering."
The statement continued, "The real scam isn’t Black Lives Matter. It is watching Black artists with massive platforms recycle the same tired attacks on Black movements while ignoring the actual systems killing us. Black Lives Matter has supported Black families who have lost loved ones to police violence. We have built programs, funded mutual aid, and fought in courtrooms and on the streets to protect our people."
Fox News Digital's Kristine Parks and Ronn Blitzer contributed to this report.