Drake posted his old opp, Anthony Fantano, for a good laugh as the music critic became embroiled in controversy over his past use of the N-word.
Drake’s Instagram Story was the platform of choice for the rapper and his fans to laugh at Fantano. The Toronto rapper posted a close-up picture of Fantano along with several laughing emoji to let the world know that he’s cracking up at Fantano’s expense.
Fantano has been dealing with the fallout after some of his old, offensive comments resurfaced, including one where he appeared to quote someone who called him “n****r faggot” during an online feud.
“In case you haven’t noticed, I’m getting torn apart on Twitter,” Fantano began his response, addressing the situation. “The discourse seems to have reached a fever pitch that’s making a lot of people concerned and angry and even thinking I’m covertly a racist, bigoted person. Now, these are the same sorts of allegations that I have fought against and won before.”
“Early on in my YouTube career, I had some pretty lax views when it came to quoting the language of others,” he said. “My point of view was: What does it matter? It’s not me saying it. I’m relaying a lyric or sentiment or point of view expressed by someone else.”
“It is also clear I am quoting someone, even in the tightly edited state this clip has been presented in,” he continued. “The reason I’m doing so is to voice disagreement with calling people racial and homophobic slurs as a bit, which was what the original content I was quoted was doing. He himself has since apologized for this whole era of his career. … The fact of the matter is, I could have and should have just censored myself while pointing this out.”
Fantano said he needs to be “careful about who I talk to and what platform I appear on. Because in the eyes of the wrong person, any association or appearance can be read as a deep tie or an endorsement of an idea I don’t fucking agree with.”
His last comment, in particular, was a response to a 2017 Spin article that pointed out some of the controversial, far-right personalities whom he interviewed on his channel in its early days.
“I’m gonna continue to do my best to make sure that I’m not sending across the wrong idea,” Fantano concluded. “Especially considering a lot of the music I review and endorse on a regular basis deals in some heavy and serious topics. Topics I would be completely in opposition to, were I a bigoted weirdo.”
In 2022, Drake publicly attacked Fantano after the music critic shared a video where he claimed Drizzy sent him a vegan cookie recipe.
“I know we don’t really see eye-to-eye about music and that you are not the biggest fan of most of my albums,” read the fake messages. “But it is what it is, you know. Can always hope you’ll like the next one! But I’m not messaging you about your videos. I’m actually messaging you cause I found a really great vegan cookie recipe I’d love you to try!”
But Drake didn’t really say that. Instead, he reviewed Fantano similarly to how Fantano reviews musicians’ albums.
“Your existence is a light 1. And the 1 is cause you are alive,” Drake wrote at the time. “And cause you somehow wifed a Black girl. I’m feeling a light to decent 1 on your existence.”
