Rap super producer P. Diddy — real name Sean Combs — says he has been silent about the current state politics because black people “don’t give a fuck about” President Donald Trump.
“Politically, the way my mind is thinking—I ain’t with no marching,” Diddy told the Daily Beast. “If I come in the battlefield, I wanna be coming in the battlefield really ready. Also, honestly, that’s why you haven’t really seen me show up on certain things.”
In a political climate that has seen several celebrity-studded marches across the country in protest of President Trump, the Bad Boy Record boss says marching in the streets won’t changed the fact that black people’s lives are still “fucked-up.”
“I think that to be honest, we don’t really give a fuck about Trump, because [black people are] in the same fucked-up position,” Diddy said. “So that’s not what we’re on. The tomfoolery that’s going on in D.C., that’s just regular everyday business to black folks. That’s not surprising.”
To be clear, by at least one major economic measurement black Americans are fairing better than they have in recent years. Black unemployment is currently at 7.5 percent — its lowest mark since December 2000. And black unemployment has seen a steady decline — 8.1, 8.0, 7.9, and 7.5 percent — since President Trump took office.
Nevertheless, Diddy, who in 2004 spearheaded the youth-targeted get out the vote campaign “Vote or Die,” is now encouraging people to turn away from the politics-heavy news coverage dominating the airwaves.
“We’re turning CNN and all that shit off because we’re trying to get ourselves together,” he said. “That’s what I’m about. I’m like, ‘Turn that shit off, let them deal with all that shit. We gotta start dealing with us.’ So my thing is, I gotta keep showing the dream. I gotta keep magnifying that and keep it focused on that self-love that we need to give our race.”
The fashion mogul and New York charter school founder is the subject of Apple’s new documentary film: Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, which is set to debut in Los Angeles and New York on June 23 and exclusively on Apple Music on June 25.
Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter: @jeromeehudson
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