Soulja Boy has defended his choice to perform at Donald Trump‘s recent inauguration ball, claiming “it wasn’t even a Trump event” and the President wasn’t there.
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Over the weekend, Soulja (real name DeAndre Cortez Way) performed at the inaugural Crypto Ball in Washington DC, an event described as a “celebratory setting intended to honour America’s first ‘crypto president’”. Many online criticised the ‘Crank Dat’ rapper for aligning himself with Trump and his infamous policies, so he took to Instagram Live and stood by his decision,
“Them n****s they paid me a bag, n****,” he began. “[Barack] Obama ain’t ever put no money in my pockets, n****. Kamala [Harris] ain’t never no money in my motherfucking pockets, n****. Trump put money in my pockets, n****.
“Motherfuckers are trying to say something about me performing at the Crypto Ball party: did Kamala call my fucking phone? Did Obama call my motherfucking phone? Did any of y’all n****s call my motherfucking phone?
Way continued: “Fuck you mean, I do whatever the fuck I want. It wasn’t even a Trump event – Trump wasn’t even there,. Y’all so worried about, ‘He performed: him, Snoop, and them.’ Kamala didn’t even win, n****. Y’all want me not to answer the phone on the motherfucking president? Y’all can suck my dick and cancel me all day.”
🚨HOLY COW: Rap icon Soulja Boy is currently performing on stage at a Trump Inaugural Ball in DC! pic.twitter.com/Ppvg3zQHqq
— Bo Loudon (@BoLoudon) January 18, 2025
Soulja Boy addresses the backlash he’s been facing for performing at the Crypto Ball ahead of Trump’s inauguration.
“They paid me a bag… Trump put money in my pockets” pic.twitter.com/20QBi9Fy2n
— HotNewHipHop (@HotNewHipHop) January 20, 2025
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Snoop Dogg and Rick Ross also performed at the Crypto Ball and clapped back at those who spoke out against their decision. They both uploaded a video of themselves together at the event to their respective Instagram Stories. The former captioned his, “Got a real Crip up in the Crypto Ball, bang bang.”
Nelly meanwhile, defended his choice to perform at the Liberty Inaugural Ball, telling Willie D: “I’m not doing this for money, I’m doing this ’cause it’s an honour,” he said. “I respect the office. It don’t matter who’s in office.”
He continued: “The same way our men and women, our brothers and sisters who protect this country, have to go to war and have to put their life on the line for whoever is in office. So, if they can put their life on the line for whoever is in office, I can damn sure perform for whoever is in office.”
The Village People are also on the same line-up as Nelly and released a statement to address why they wanted to perform at the Liberty Ball: “We know this won’t make some of you happy to hear however we believe that music is to be performed without regard to politics.
“Our song ‘YMCA’ is a global anthem that hopefully helps bring the country together after a tumultuous and divided campaign where our preferred candidate lost. Therefore, we believe it’s now time to bring the country together with music which is why Village People will be performing at various events as part of the 2025 Inauguration of Donald J. Trump.”
Billy Ray Cyrus has since gone viral for his disastrous performance and meltdown at Trump’s inauguration following technical difficulties, while Elon Musk sparked backlash for making a Nazi salute-like gesture. The President soon made headlines when he declared that America will only recognise two sexes, before many figures from the entertainment world spoke out against his stance on gender.
Trump is now in his second term as the President of the United States. His first term in 2016 was controversial due to his policies on immigration, foreign relations and other social-political issues.
In the 2024 election, Trump was re-elected as the President of the United States, becoming the first to do so with a felony conviction.
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