WASHINGTON, January 21 (RIA Novosti) - Rapper Lupe Fiasco was pulled off the stage by security guards during a performance at a pre-inauguration concert here in which he launched an anti-war tirade and sharply criticized President Barack Obama, US media reported Monday.
The episode was captured on video and reported by concertgoers including a number of journalists who were present at the show and tweeted the rapper’s ejection from the stage as it was taking place. Here are two samples – one from journalist Josh Rogin of Foreign Policy and another from CNN public relations manager Matt Dornic:
Lupe Fiasco just got thrown off stage here at the Hamilton Live after he went on an anti-Obama diatribe mid set.
— Josh Rogin (@joshrogin) January 21, 2013
Things going terribly wrong at @lupefiasco performance during #SURO. Kicked off stage, bashing obama.
— Matt Dornic(@mdornic) January 21, 2013
Fiasco, whose birth name according to the conservative Daily Caller website is Wasalu Muhammad Jaco, is a 30-year-old artist from Obama’s hometown of Chicago. He had been billed as the headline act at the StartUp RockOn inauguration concert event on Sunday.
In a statement released Monday as news of the incident spread, the organizers of the event insisted that he was not removed from the stage because of his acerbic attack on Obama but because his performance was judged “bizarrely repetitive” and “jarring.”
It was not the first time the rapper had publicly voiced his strong opposition to Obama. During a media tour last summer ahead of the release of a new album, Fiasco blasted Obama for the use of drone attacks on designated anti-US militants overseas, Complex magazine reported.
"I'm talking about ordering a drone attack," Fiasco said. "Ordering drone attacks that go and kill mothers, innocent bystanders, children. Militants too, but the collateral damage. You're responsible for that, too."
