Rapper T.I. Endorses Sanders, Reviving Sexist Comments

ATLANTA, GA -- Atlanta rapper T.I. endorsed Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders for president on Super Tuesday.

But reactions to the nod from the 35-year-old entertainer focused largely on sexist comments he made in October, in which he suggested a female president, like Hillary Clinton, would make “rash decisions.”

On Tuesday, T.I. -- real name Clifford Joseph Harris, Jr. -- blasted an Instagram post out to his 4.3 million followers. It included images of Clinton and Sanders and included a 1996 quote in which Clinton uses the term “super-predators.”

The term was popular in political circles at the time when discussing legislation targeting repeat violent offenders. But it has been seized upon, particularly by Sanders supporters, as being racially insensitive.

“I’m Goin Wit Bernie.... Who U Got?!?!?!?!” T.I. wrote at the bottom of the post.

Reactions to the endorsement, on social media and elsewhere, immediately honed in on comments T.I. made in October, however.

In a radio interview, the “Rubber Band Man” rapper said he couldn’t vote for a woman for president.

“Just because every other position that exists, I think a woman could do well,” he said at the time. “But the president, it’s kind of like, I just know that women make rash decisions emotionally — they make very permanent, cemented decisions — and then later, it’s kind of like it didn’t happen or they didn’t mean for it to happen.”

“The world ain’t ready yet,” he added. “I think you might be able to get the Loch Ness Monster elected before you could [a woman].”

He later apologized on Twitter, saying his comments “were unequivocally insensitive and wrong.”

Many on social media were quick, however, to draw the line between Tuesday’s nod for Sanders and his October statements.

“Saw that TI endorsed Bernie. Then I remembered the sexist crap he said abt a woman POTUS,” tweeted Zerlina Maxwell, a journalist whose Twitter profile lists her as digital progressive outreach lead for Clinton.

“Shall we introduce him to Angela Merkel, Aung San Suu Kyi, Joyce Banda, Michelle Bachelet?” added Ilyse Hogue, director of abortion-rights group NARAL, ticking off a list of female world leaders.

In the end, the endorsement from the self-styled “Trouble Man” may have not carried much weight, at least in his home state.

Clinton overwhelmed Sanders in Georgia voting on Tuesday, taking the Super Tuesday state with 71 percent of the vote.

(Photo by “Concerttour” via Wikimedia Commons)