Rapper Blueface accused of 'humiliating' homeless by throwing cash into Skid Row crowds
'Treating human beings in need like animals'
American rapper Blueface's behavior was the opposite of Dickens' Ebnnezer Scrooge, but it seems to have earned him just as many sneers.
The day before Christmas Eve, the musician behind the No. 8 Billboard chart hit "Thotiana," whose real name is Jonathan Michael Porter, threw cash into the wind on Skid Row in Los Angeles, capturing it all in a Twitter video.
Captioned "the season of giving," the segment showed him tossing wads of money from the top of his Mercedes G-truck, with hordes of people racing to grab the green. The 50-second clip, which garnered nearly 300,000 views on Twitter, was met with furious replies.
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Skid Row, a roughly 50-block district just east of downtown Los Angeles, has had one of the largest stable populations of homeless people in the U.S. since its inception at the end of the 19th century.
It's defined "by the mix of cheap residential hotels, industry, and religious missions and the people they serve, ranging from workers to those down on their luck to the poor and disabled," according to Skid Row Housing Trust.
"This is not 'the spirit of giving,'" Marc Lamont Hill, a professor of media studies and urban education in Pennsylvania, tweeted Tuesday. "This is contempt of the poor mixed with narcissism. Even if his intentions were good, this isn’t OK."
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"His intentions may have been good, but it looks like it’s in terrible taste," another user wrote.
"This is gross on so many levels," tweeted Jonathan Higgins, a columnist and scholar who uses the Twitter handle "Dr. Jon Paul."
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"This isn't giving back, it is treating human beings in need like animals," responded Nicholas Ferroni, an educator and former actor who appeared on "Manhattanites" and "All My Children."
Blueface, born in California, became a viral internet meme in 2018 after he released his music video "Respect My Crypn." In February, the Cash Money Records signee's single "Thotiana" broke into the top 10 of Billboard's Hot Rap Songs chart.
Blueface is worth roughly $4 million dollars, according to Celebrity Net Worth.