U.S. hip-hop rapper Lil Pump is under fire for his new song "Butterfly Doors." After releasing a 40-second preview of his latest music on Instagram, the artist has been swamped with criticisms for the song's racist lyrics.
According to CNN, part of "Butterfly Doors" had Lil Pump blurting out an insult to Yao Ming's Chinese features and while he performed the song, the rapper pulled his eyelids as a form of mockery. Lil Pump also uttered "Ching chong" in his song, which is a derogatory term against the Chinese.
Asian-American comedienne Awkwafina was one of the first ones to call out Lil Pump for his offensive lyrics. In a post on Twitter, the "Crazy Rich Asian" star took issues with the rapper's ridicule of the Chinese's eyes. The actress also said that the rapper lacked the creativity to come up with better words for his single so he had to ad lib with a derogatory term.
A group of Chinese hip-hop rappers also slammed Lil Pump for the insulting song. Chengdu Revolution's (CD Rev) member Li Yijie (Pissy) said in a statement that "Butterfly Doors" made him angry as a Chinese. But as a rapper, he is ashamed of what Lil Pump has done because he "humiliated the spirit of rap."
CD Rev also posted a new song on the widely popular social media and streaming site Weibo to address Lil Pump. The group rapped about the American musician's attacks and implied that he's from a country that has a history of racism against immigrants, Africans, and Native Americans.
Other rappers from China have also posted clips of their songs to diss Lil Pump. Even the group Higher Brothers, who has been touring in the United States, responded on the American rapper's Instagram page to say that they will be coming out with a remix dissing Lil Pump.
Lil Pump, born Gazzy Garcia, is an 18-year-old musician who grew up in Miami, Florida but has Colombian roots. He gained infamy on social media, where he first posted his songs before becoming a mainstream artist.
He is most popularly known his hit single "Gucci Gang," which reached the Billboard Top 3 charts in 2017. Lil Pump has previously worked with Kanye West.
But this isn't the first time the rapper has been marred in controversy. Early in December, Copenhagen police arrested him for disorderly conduct and was banned from visiting Denmark for two years. He also has numerous traffic arrests in his hometown in Miami.
