Lupe Fiasco gets kicked off stage at inauguration party for anti-Obama rant

Anti-Obama rant expels rapper from event

Lupe Fiasco may not have been the best choice to headline a pre-inauguration party in Washington, DC, and President Obama followers and attendees of the event found this out the hard way. 

Lupe Fiasco was selected to perform at a party celebrating the inauguration of President Barack Obama Monday. What the event planner didn’t know was that Lupe Fiasco is decidedly anti-Obama–and he didn’t hold back his sentiments during his performance. 

Midway through his set, Lupe Fiasco began playing the anti-war song “Words I Never Said”, a track with lyrics that reference President Obama directly. One such inflammatory line:

“Gaza strip was getting bombed, Obama didn’t say s—t
That’s why I ain’t vote for him, next one either”

The song goes on:

“I really think the war on terror is a bunch of bullshit
Just a poor excuse for you to use up all your bullets
How much money does it take to really make a full clip
9/11 building 7 did they really pull it
Uhh, And a bunch of other cover ups.”

Lupe Fiasco reportedly played the song on repeat for a half hour, refusing to stop playing when asked by security guards to get off stage. Eventually, he was escorted off stage before he could finish his set. 

Josh Rogin tweeted updates during the strange event. 

“Lupe Fiasco just got thrown off stage here at the Hamilton Live after he went on an anti-Obama diatribe mid set…So Lupe played one anti-war song for 30 min and said he didn’t vote for Obama and eventually was told to move on to the next song,” Rogin tweeted. “He kept playing the same song again and again for half an hour…They asked him to play another song, and he refused.”

His last update: “Lupe refused to move to the next song so a team of security guards came on stage and told him to go.”

Hypervocal, the group hosting the event, released a statement on the incident Monday. 

“We are staunch supporters of free speech, and free political speech,” their statement said. “This was not about his opinions. Instead, after a bizarrely repetitive, jarring performance that left the crowd vocally dissatisfied, organizers decided to move on to the next act.”