Posted by Lil Wayne stirred up some controversy while speaking to Fat Joe about the police killing of George Floyd on his Instagram Live show last month.
When asked about fired Minnesota police officer Derek Chauvin “stepping on his neck and all of that,” Wayne replied, “We have to stop viewing it from such a broad view, meaning we have to stop placing the blame on the whole force and the whole everybody of a certain race, everybody with a badge,” which promptly led to an onslaught of backlash.
During a recent episode of Young Money Radio, Wayne once again reminded his fans a white police officer, Deputy Robert Hoobler, saved his life when he was 12 years old.
“My life was saved when I was young,” he said. “Shot myself. My life was saved by a white cop. Uncle Bob. So from, therefore, you have to understand the way I view police, period. … There was a bunch of black cops that jumped over me by that door with that hole in my chest. He refused to.”
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Wayne detailed the incident during his I Am Hip Hop Award acceptance speech at the BET Hip Hop Awards in 2018.
“There’s a man in New Orleans,” Wayne recalled. “His name is Uncle Bob. Came into an apartment one day, he bust in the door, guns drawn. He saw nobody. He saw legs on the floor. It was my legs. He saw blood everywhere. A bunch of police hopped over me, he refused to do so.
“I never knew — I talked to him the other day — I never knew EMS was on the scene. He said EMS tried twice and they told him there’s nothing. He refused to let that die. Forget an ambulance, he brought me to the hospital himself. He refused to wait, kicked in the doors and said, ‘Do whatever you gotta do to make sure this child make it.’ Not only that, that day Uncle Bob was a homicide detective. He was off on detail. He just heard the call and came. Not only did he refuse to sit … he refused to leave. He stayed and made sure I made it.”
Despite Wayne’s positive interaction with Hoober, he reportedly has a seedy past. According to NOLA.com, Hoobler was fired from the Jefferson Parish Sheriff Department in 2012 after repeatedly tasing a Marrero, Louisiana man during an arrest. He allegedly called the victim a “stupid n*gger” during the confrontation.
Lil Wayne Applauds White Cop Who Saved His Life During 2018 BET Hip Hop Awards Speech
Elsewhere in the episode, Wayne touched on the militarized police in New Orleans.
“I’m from New Orleans, 17th, Hollygrove,” Wayne continued. “We have a thing called ‘Jump out boys.’ Uptown New Orleans. That’s the police. They pull up on you they already got they door cracked. … So many of them jump out. They ain’t coming after you to ask you ‘How you doing? What’s your name? And how’s your day?’
“Understand that I go through situations too,” Wayne said. “We all got our situations. Don’t judge no one for no reason. Don’t judge. Do you. … Help out in any way that you can. We can only win it together.”
Watch the clip above.