Stephen Jackson has revealed that Lil Yachty has apologized for a controversial lyric about his dead friend George Floyd, after speaking to the rapper.
“Hey, to all the blogs and shows that are calling me about the Lil Yachty–George Floyd situation,” Jackson said in a video he shared to Instagram on Friday (August 15). “Some of y’all don’t respect because y’all never have content — all y’all do is look for me. Some of y’all do respect.”
He added: “I won’t be doing any interviews about it. I spoke to him. He’s a smart young man. He’s winning for a reason. He’s a super smart individual. He made a mistake, he apologized, and we moved on from it. It’s over with. Won’t be doing no interviews. He gonna keep winning. He gonna keep doing this thing. We’re gonna meet up. He made a mistake. Let it go. Stop calling my phone.”
It comes after George Floyd’s brother, Terrence, chimed in on Lil Yachty’s inappropriate reference of his deceased brother’s name.
According to The Breakfast Club co-host Loren Lorosa, Terrence called Yachty’s use of his brother — who was killed at the hands of police in 2020 — in a song he teased recently “inconsiderate.”
“I believe it’s inconsiderate Sometimes this generation doesn’t pay attention to what they say they just want to make a song and just get on the charts and really feel like the people listening will accept it because of who he is,” Terrence Floyd reportedly told Lorosa. “It’s really inconsiderate you should think about what you’re writing ..it may make sense to you but think about the impact to others. People are sending the clip to me. I want the line changed. Let my brother rest in peace. It disturbs the family’s peace. There has to be a better message behind any mention of George Floyds name. So his legacy can live on beyond what [Derek] Chauvin did to him.”
Yachty appeared on Plaqueboymax’s live stream on Thursday and, about 43 minutes in, played an upcoming track referencing George Floyd, who was killed in 2020 by Minneapolis police. “Put my knee up on her neck, I went George Floyd,” Yachty raps on the track. The rapper’s lyric was met with criticism on social media.
Before Terrence defended his late brother, Stephen Jackson took to social media Thursday night to call out the rapper, explaining that it was wrong to use Floyd’s name that way in the unreleased song snippet.
“Lil Yachty, bro. You been wack, my n***a,” Jackson, who grew up with Floyd in Houston’s Third Ward, said. “But you think you saying George Floyd name, and trying to use his name in a bar, that’s gonna make people like your wack-ass music, my n***a? That shit weak. Y’all the only era that feel like demeaning the dead and saying that shit is cool, my n***a. It ain’t.”
Floyd died on May 25, 2020, after former officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for over nine minutes.
