Fan backlash is mounting over an incident at a Kendrick Lamar concert, which some are calling a set-up intended to humiliate a fan for publicity.
Lamar was headlining the final night of the Hangout Festival in Gulf Shores, Alabama on Sunday when he invited a white concertgoer named Delaney on stage to sing his song M.A.A.D City alongside him.
Just seconds into the song, Lamar cut the music and scolded the fan for singing the full lyrics of the song, which includes the N-word throughout.
Amid the outrage, some of it directed at Delaney, other fans are wondering if the Pulitzer Prize-winning singer intentionally set out to stir controversy and publicity by inviting a white fan to sing his lyrics.
Lamar's publicists did not immediately respond to requests for comment from DailyMail.com.
Epic fail: A white Kendrick Lamar fan named Delaney took the stage at the Hangout Festival in Alabama on Sunday, but ended up getting booed after failing to censor the N-word in one of the rapper's songs
Delaney was called to the stage to perform M.A.A.D City, which mentions the N-word more than a dozen times. She said it three times before Lamar stopped her
'The biggest set up ever,' said one Twitter user. 'Brought a fan up on stage to sing Maadcity and then flipped when she said the N word. Smh. He knew what he was doing. Ruined her life all over social media. She's gonna have to live with the video of people being mad forever.'
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'This is an obvious attempt by Kendrick Lamar and most likely his record label, to stir the pot,' another wrote. 'How much more hatred has been generated by this little stunt?'
'I lost mad respect for my top 5 rapper,' wrote yet another. 'You cant pick and choose who says "n***a" when u say it in your music and have all your fans singing it... That was a set up.'
A video of the incident has gone viral, showing Lamar inviting Delaney onto the stage to perform MAAD City, from his 2012 album Good Kid, MAAD City - a two-part rap ballad in which the N-word is mentioned more than a dozen times.
As the video shows, Lamar was evidently under the impression that Delaney would censor herself and skip the racial epithet in the song, but she clearly did not get the memo.
A confident-seeming Delaney introduced herself to the crowd and reassured Lamar that she knew all the lyrics, saying, 'I swear, I got you.'
As the song began to play, Delaney chimed in with considerable gusto: 'Man down/Where you from, n****?'/'F*** who you know, where you from, my n****?'/'Where your grandma stay, huh, my n****?'
Force of habit: The woman apologized for the slip-up but explained that she was used to singing the rap the way Lamar wrote it, N-words and all
Second chance: Lamar decided to give her another shot, but the crowd turned on Delaney after she nearly said the N-word again
As the audience members began jeering and giving Delaney the thumbs down, the To Pimp A Butterfly Grammy winner interrupted the amateur rapper, exclaiming: 'wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, no, no, wait.’
Lamar, pictured at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in April, was the headliner at Sunday's Hangout Festival in Alabama
Not realizing yet the error of her ways, Delaney took offense to the disruption, asking Lamar, 'Am I not cool enough for you? What’s up, bro?
Lamar calmly explained to Delaney that she has to 'bleep one single word.'
'Oh, I'm sorry, did I do it?' Delaney inquired.
‘Yeah, you did it,' Lamar replied.
Delaney apologized a second time, saying, ‘I’m used to singing it like you wrote it.’
Lamar decided to give her a chance to redeem herself, but the audience was set against Delaney and Lamar cut her off a few verses into the song after she nearly let the N-word slip again.
Horsepipe on May 22nd, 2018 at 06:29 UTC »
Am I the only person that thinks this trend of musicians bringing random people from the front row for impromptu karaoke in front of 50,000 concert goers is basically the worst idea ever and would be essentially equivalent to social crucifixion for my socially inept ass.
Oblongmind420 on May 22nd, 2018 at 05:07 UTC »
I saw Kanye at Coachella 2006 and when he did gold digger it was the censored version until the ending and he said "okay white people, here's your chance to use the 'n-word'!"
snitchesgetblintzes on May 22nd, 2018 at 05:02 UTC »
I saw him in AZ when this song was about to play he stopped the entire show and said something along of the lines that "I don't care if you're white, black, brown, etc..., you all are allowed to say/sing along with every word". He made a point of it to let everyone say the n word. This is bizarre.