Rapper Travis Scott is about to cap off a landmark 2018 with the gig of a lifetime, and now he has a target on his back to match. In just one month, Scott — who is also Kylie Jenner’s boyfriend — is reportedly booked to perform at Super Bowl halftime.
The social justice mob is furious.
Scott’s explicit crime is failing to follow the orders of Amy Schumer to boycott the Super Bowl. Because the NFL was mean to former quarterback Colin Kaepernick, one can’t both be woke and support the NFL. (This boycott is not the same as the “MAGA” protest of the NFL for being too tolerant of Kaepernick-type stuff.)
This isn’t Scott’s first offense, though.
Scott’s a self-made success who built his career while couch-hopping across Los Angeles after his parents cut him off for dropping out of college to pursue music. Scott joins the likes of Childish Gambino, Chance the Rapper, and Kendrick Lamar in producing artistically ambitious and commercially successful rap while trying to be an involved father to Jenner’s baby.
That’s the first offense: association with the Kardashian-Jenner family.
Commentator Sally Kohn accused the sisters of “exploiting racial bias for profit” in the pages of the Washington Post. BuzzFeed News derided Jenner’s previous relationship with Tyga, who is black, as “another ebony notch on the Kardashian/Jenner belt.” (This is intended to mock Jenner, Kim Kardashian, and Khloe Kardashian, who have primarily dated black men.)
More than just Scott’s problematic girlfriend — though if the rumors are true, his soon-to-be wife — is his association with Kanye West. He won’t only be Scott’s future brother-in-law if he does marry Kylie Jenner; West practically discovered Scott, helping him score his first Grammy nomination as a songwriter for a song on West’s album “Yeezus” and mentoring him as Scott rose to fame.
Now, West is enemy No. 1 for a militant coalition of the Left, since the rapper managed to top the charts while wearing a “MAGA” hat. Also, Scott has been accused of transphobia for not including a transgender model on his album cover.
Al Sharpton lambasted Scott for signing on to the Super Bowl, telling TMZ, “You can’t fight Jim Crow and then sit in the back of the bus.” Jay-Z, Michael B. Jordan, and Karrueche Tran have all derided Scott’s decision.
These offenses sent his critics in search of past transgressions. Some Twitter users unearthed a video in which Scott criticized the dishonest lionization of Michael Brown and lauded West’s fashion, telling a radio host, “Let’s tailor black people up, so we don’t look all hood.”
For that, this admirable star finds himself in the conformist Left’s crosshairs.
