Rapper explains Twitter rant in new post on his website, goes for damage control

Feb 15, 2014 11:46 GMT  ·  By
Drake apologizes for lashing out at Rolling Stone magazine after they replaced him on the cover with Sir Philip Seymour Hoffman
   Drake apologizes for lashing out at Rolling Stone magazine after they replaced him on the cover with Sir Philip Seymour Hoffman

The latest issue of esteemed magazine Rolling Stone was supposed to feature Drake on the cover, as this had been the only condition he had for doing an exclusive interview with them. However, at the last moment, the editors opted to leave Drake out from the cover and have Sir Philip Seymour Hoffman on it instead.

Drake didn’t take the news kindly, even taking to his Twitter to say that he was “disgusted” by it: “it” being, in this situation, the fact that he’d lost the cover to a dead Oscar-winning actor. Hoffman died of a suspected overdose at the beginning of the month.

He realized the damage he was doing to his own image right after he posted this online, so he deleted all his tweets on the topic but it was already too late. So here he is now to offer a proper explanation for his outburst.

He starts his message, posted on his official website, by saying that the day the issue came out had been an “extremely emotional day.” As a side note, in response to Drake’s tweets, Rolling Stone said he’d actually known Hoffman would be on the cover for days, so the timing of his outburst was dubious.

“I completely support and agree with Rolling Stone replacing me on the cover with the legendary Phillip Seymour Hoffman. He is one of the most incredible actors of our time and a man that deserves to be immortalized by this publication,” Drake says.

“My frustration stemmed from the way it was executed. The circumstances at hand are completely justifiable (on the magazines behalf), but I was not able to salvage my story or my photos and that was devastating. They ran the issue without giving me a choice to be in it or not. I would have waited until it was my time because I understand the magnitude of the cover they chose but I just wasn't given that option and that made me feel violated,” he continues.

The actual apology follows.

“I apologize to anybody who took my initial comments out of context because in no way would I ever want to offend the Hoffman family or see myself as bigger than that moment. I am still the same person. Today I was forced out of my character and felt the need to react swiftly. These days are the worst ones,” the rapper says.

He concludes his message by saying that he is actually grateful to Rolling Stone for giving him a shot at the cover, even if he never really made it on it. While his entire apology feels heartfelt, voices online are saying his choice of the word “violated” in this context is not the most inspired he could have made.