Rapper and political activist Killer Mike has apologized publicly for an interview he gave to NRA TV that was critical of the March for Life movement. The apology was made in the form of a video posted on social media March 25.

“I’m sorry that an interview I did about a minority, Black people in this country, and gun rights was used as a weapon against you guys,” he said. “That was unfair to you and it was wrong, and it disparaged some very noble work you’re doing.”

Rapper Killer Mike was the recipient of social media heat for criticizing protesters who participated in the March For Our Lives events across the nation. He subsequently . (Photo: Twitter)

During the NRA interview, the rapper, who was born Michael Render, said he has worked with individuals on both sides of the gun issue, but specifically criticized those who participated on National School Walkout Day, March 14.

“I told my kids on the school walkout, `I love you, but if you walk out that school, walk out my house,” he said. “We are a gun-owning family, we are a family that my sister farms, we are a family where we’ll fish and hunt, but we are not a family that jumps on every single thing that an ally of ours does because some stuff we just don’t agree with,” added Killer Mike, who was a visible and vocal supporter of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders during his presidential bid in 2016.

The Atlanta based rapper has also been an advocate against police brutality. While the rapper said the interview with the NRA was recorded a week ago, it aired on March 24, the day of the March For Our Lives rallies across the nation, where hundreds of thousands gathered in cities and towns to protest gun violence and the NRA.

The rapper faced considerable backlash via Twitter and other social media for apparently embracing the NRA, a group whose support of the Second Amendment rights of Black gun owners has seemed dubious.

“Killer Mike clearly has not studied NRA history,” wrote Ebony Noor, The Spiritual Anthropologist, via Twitter March 24. “When the Black Panthers were defending themselves against police brutality…the very thing that 2A (Second Amendment) was meant for, the NRA supported gun control in the form of the Mulford Act.”

The Mulford Act was a 1967 California bill crafted by Republican Assemblyman Don Mulford from Oakland (as well as other Republican and Democratic colleagues), in response to members of the Black Panther Party conducting armed patrols of Oakland neighborhoods, an action called, “cop watching.” The Mulford Act repealed a California law that allowed carrying loaded firearms, and it was signed into law by then Gov. Ronald Reagan, July 28, 1967. In protest, the Panthers marched with loaded weapons to the California State Capitol in Sacramento, May 2, 1967.

AFRO Baltimore Editor