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Former President Barack Obama was wrongly accused of being silent on the shooting that targeted Republican congressmen but then reemerging to publicly praise Jay Z, a former drug dealer. In fact, Obama called Republican Sen. Jeff Flake to give his best wishes to those targeted in the Virginia shooting and recorded a speech honoring musician Jay Z’s induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Where did this false and misleading information originate? The Daily Wire posted the story on June 18, 2017, reporting that Obama was “silent” about the shooting that targeted Republican members of Congress, but broke his silence to praise a “former drug dealer.” You can read the story below.
Former president Barack Obama has been shooting his mouth off about everything lately.
He doesn’t like President Trump’s plan to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border, hates his new budget proposal and really can’t stand the Republican plan to overhaul Obamacare. On each topic, Obama has been highly vocal, seeking out media coverage.
But when a Republican congressman was shot and badly wounded last week during a practice for a bipartisan congressional baseball game — silence. Not a peep.
Yet Obama did reappear to praise former crack cocaine dealer and one-time thug Jay-Z in a video for his induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
What about the attack? On June 14, 2017, Republican Congress members had been practicing for a charity baseball game when a gunman targeted them and opened fire, critically wounding Majority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana and also injuring others including a U.S. Capitol police officer, a staffer and a lobbyist. Indeed, Obama had called Flake who had been at the park but escaped gunfire. The 44th president offered his “best wishes and prayers” to the victims. Politico reported:
“This is particularly raw for those of us in Arizona,” Flake told reporters of Tuesday’s shooting, adding that Obama asked him to let Scalise know the former president is thinking about him. “He went through this a couple of times,” Flake added of Obama.
It is also true that Obama made a video inducting Jay Z into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Jay Z is the first hip hop artist to be inducted. Jay Z has said that in the past he dealt drugs as a teen before finding success in the music industry. In a 2013 interview with Vanity Fair, he further said:
I know about budgets. I was a drug dealer. To be in a drug deal, you need to know what you can spend, what you need to re-up. Or if you want to start some sort of barbershop or car wash — those were the businesses back then. Things you can get in easily to get out of [that] life. At some point, you have to have an exit strategy, because your window is very small; you’re going to get locked up or you’re going to die.
In the recorded speech, Obama congratulated Jay Z and noted their shared difficult beginnings:
I like to think Mr. Carter and I understand each other. Nobody who met us as younger men would have expected us to be where we are today. We know what it’s like not to have a father around. We know what it’s like not to come from much, and to know people who didn’t get the same breaks that we did. And so we try to prop open those doors of opportunity so that it’s a little easier for those who come up behind us to succeed as well.
President Barack Obama to Jay Z: “Nobody who met us as younger men would’ve expected us to be where we are today.” pic.twitter.com/mQhUKYdN1p
— Andres Tardio ✍
(@AndresWrites) June 16, 2017
Based on the above information then the basis for the Daily Wire article that former Obama was quiet about the Virginia shooting and instead favored a “former drug dealer” is false.
The truth of the matter is that Obama reached out to the congressmen who were targeted in the shooting, and also recorded a speech congratulating a musician for a landmark accomplishment.
What did you think of the misleading information about Obama remaining quiet about the shooting but praising Jay Z? Did you believe it or see people sharing it falsely on social media? Let us know in the comments section.
Photo credit: Gage Skidmore, Flickr
Source: B2C
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