Ice Cube explains how he was linked to Trump campaign through his Contract With Black America

Ice Cube was branded a ‘sell-out’ and ‘hypocrite’ on social media on Wednesday night, after it was revealed the rapper has been working with President Trump to help craft his ‘Platinum Plan’ for black Americans.

The controversy was first stirred after Trump’s campaign adviser Katrina Pierson gave him a ‘shoutout for his willingness to step up and work with [the Trump] administration’ on Twitter.

‘Leaders gonna lead, haters gonna hate – thank you for leading’ Pierson added, along with a black first-bump emoji.

Although news of the unexpected collaboration was not a direct endorsement for Trump, Ice Cube, 51, has faced a swell of backlash in the hours since from shocked and confused fans who are asking ‘how do you go from NWA to MAGA?’

Trump senior advisor Katrina Pierson took to Twitter with a series of posts lauding the rapper-actor, whose real name is O’Shea Jackson, for working with the Trump administration on his proposed Platinum Plan for the Black community

Author Roxane Gay tweeted the same question, and also asked ‘Good lord … how much are they paying Ice Cube?’

Another user lambasted The Boyz in da Hood for allowing himself to become a pawn in Trump’s apparent bid to ‘buy the black vote’.

‘I think it’s sad that we as BLACKS can see what this man has done to divide this country and to destroy the black race for years!!!,’ the user wrote. ‘He is only reaching out for a platinum plan to try to BUY the black vote. My vote is not for sale. My ice cube just melted!!!! Boy bye’.

‘My Hip-Hop HERO Ice Cube is working with the Darkside,’ added Danny Morrison. ‘I haven’t felt this low since Kobe passed. Heartbreaking.’

Morrison continued that he believes Ice Cube has overlooked how much his voice means to the black community, and ‘when we see you “jumping the shark”, it KILLS us. Especially in 2020.’

TV writer and personality Toure shared a similar opinion, insisting: ‘To discuss Black liberation with Trump in the waning days of an election shows that you’re willing to be used as a pawn who will make people think that Trump is seriously willing to discuss Black liberation. He is not.’

 Flack: The It Was A Good Day artist was widely criticized on social media for working with the Trump administration

Other fans of the rapper and actor also resurfaced one his tweets from 2016, in which he insisted, ‘I will never endorse a motha****a like Donald Trump! EVER!!!.’

‘No Vaseline’, the title of his famed 1991 diss-track which includes the line ‘I never have dinner with the president’, also began trending with observes branding Ice Cube a hypocrite in light of his meetings with the White House.

‘Ice cube is just water to me now,’ one user tweeted in response.

Amid the backlash, The Barbershop star sought to assure critics that his decision to work with the Trump campaign comes as part of a bigger purpose.

The President’s Platinum Plan is a four year program that pledges to help create three million new jobs for African Americans.

Ice Cube tweeted that his efforts were bipartisan, as he’d reached out to both sides about his proposed Contract With Black America.

Confidence: Ice Cube touted his plan as including the ‘most comprehensive reform documents’

The latest: Ice Cube, 51, took to Twitter on Wednesday to address a brewing controversy after a surrogate for President Donald Trump congratulated him on a collaboration with the administration

Ice Cube defended his stance saying that he was able to check his ego at the door amid the need for reform with the Black community in mind

Ice Cube – real name O’Shea Jackson – formed the programme in August with the intention of ‘striking at the heart of racism and [presenting] a blueprint to achieve racial economic justice,’ he said.

‘Facts: I put out the CWBA. Both parties contacted me,’ Ice Cube tweeted. ‘Dems said we’ll address the CWBA after the election. Trump campaign made some adjustments to their plan after talking to us about the CWBA.’

According to Ice Cube’s rep, Trump’s campaign responded more enthusiastically to the initiative than Biden’s.

But fellow actor Don Cheadle asked: ‘what “adjustments” specifically? and what’s your endgame?’ 

On Wednesday night, Ice Cube also responded to Danny Morrison’s tweet voicing disappointment he was working for the ‘Darkside’.

‘Every side is the Darkside for us here in America,’ Ice Cube replied. ‘They’re all the same until something changes for us. They all lie and they all cheat but we can’t afford not to negotiate with whoever is in power or our condition in this country will never change. Our justice is bipartisan.’

Earlier this week he took to the site with a clip titled ‘DON’T KILL THE MESSENGER’ in which he said he’d met with reps for both parties to detail his plan, and was focused on being involved regardless of whether Trump or former Vice President Joe Biden won the upcoming presidential election.

‘We gotta just push whoever’s in there, because ain’t nobody really solved our problems,’ he said. ‘People say we can’t take another four years of this – black people, s***, we can take anything.’

Ice Cube has not yet publicly endorsed either Trump or Joe Biden, however he has used his Twitter account to offer his political opinions including a critique of Democratic nominee Joe Biden and his plans for the Black community.

‘I believe Joe Biden still needs to show us his MAJOR plan to help heal the BLACK community to totally secure the vote,’ he tweeted back in June.

Feedback: Many Twitter users took the rapper to task for working with the president