WASHINGTON ― Michael Render, better known as Killer Mike, has crafted a T-shirt inspired by an email leaked from the server of John Podesta, Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman.
“I guess Killer Mike didn’t get the message,” a Clinton staffer writes in the email, which was leaked from Podesta’s private server and published on WikiLeaks. U.S. government officials claim Russia has been supplying the site with emails hacked from the Democratic Party in hopes of getting Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump elected.
The staffer is referencing comments Render made in February while campaigning for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
“I talked to Jane Elliott a few weeks ago, and Jane said, ‘Michael, a uterus doesn’t qualify you to be president of the United States. You have to be, you have to have policy that’s reflective of social justice,’” Render said at the campaign event. “Paying women a fair wage is social justice. Making sure that minorities have jobs is social justice.”
People were quick to condemn the “uterus” portion of the statement, prompting the rapper to explain his comments on Twitter:
So why did Render decide to turn the email into a shirt?
“I turned it into a shirt first because I’m a capitalist,” he told The Huffington Post. “And since I did not ― and will never ― take money to back a candidate, I decided I should and could make money using my name since it was used.”
“I also wanna be very public about any government official noticing me because this country has a grand history of killing the shit outta folks that don’t ‘get the message,’” he added.
Render popped up in the leaked emails a few other times, including one that credits the artist for improving Sanders’ outreach to black voters. Podesta also received an email calling Render introducing Sanders at a rally in Atlanta “a classic shot.”
The Huffington Post is launching a podcast, hosted by Killer Mike, on Reconstruction. If you know anything about Reconstruction, you’ve probably been told that it was a brief moment of ill-advised revenge that the North took on the South just after the Civil War. But the real history of Reconstruction is one of great hope and promise mixed with tremendous violence. Sign up here to get an email when the podcast goes live.
Before You Go
