Demi Lovato leaves Twitter after Wale calls her out for her 21 Savage meme tweet
4 February 2019, 12:11
Demi received a torrent of online abuse after tweeting about the 21 Savage memes...
Demi Lovato has deactivated her Twitter account.
Like most of America, the 26-year-old star spent Sunday watching the Super Bowl and tweeted her thoughts about the show while watching it. However, one of her tweets immediately caused controversy online. During the event, TMZ reported that 21 Savage had been detained by ICE and could be facing deportation to the UK. According to reports, 21 Savage moved to the US from the UK at the age of 12 and his visa is said to have expired in 2006, a year after he immigrated.
The situation is, of course, extremely serious but it's sparked a huge variety of memes because people cannot believe that 21 Savage is British. Demi joined in by tweeting: "So far 21 Savage memes have been my favourite part of the Super Bowl" and received huge backlash for it. Artists including Wale and Offset pointed out that the memes are problematic and Demi later deactivated her Twitter account.
Why did Demi Lovato deactivate her Twitter account?
After Demi posted her tweet, Wale retweeted it writing: "Why is somebody freedom funny... I don't get the joke". Others were quick to call her out but it soon escalated into people making jokes about Demi's sobriety and calling her a "crackhead" and a "heroin addict". Demi reacted: "If you're gonna come at me for making a joke, try coming at me for something original and not involving drugs".
She then tweeted: "Fuck Twitter. This is why I don't tweet anymore" and explained: "FYI this is the shit I'm laughing at... not the fact that anyone is getting deported." In response to Demi, Wale retweeted her writing: " A lot of people were sending you love light, prayers etc. When people were making jokes about u at a rough time. A lot of people. Bless up".
Offset also tweeted: "ALL THE MEMES AND SHIT AINT FUNNY WHEN SOMEBODY GOING THROUGH SOME. PRAYING FOR MY DAWG. AINT SHIT FUNNY HIS FAMILY DEPENDING ON HIM". He then added: "SUCCESSFUL BLACK MAN THEY ALWAYS TRY SOME WAY TO BRING US DOWN".
See the original Demi, Wale and Offset tweets below.
ALL THE MEMES AND SHIT AINT FUNNY WHEN SOMEBODY GOING THROUGH SOME
— OFFSET (@OffsetYRN) February 4, 2019
PRAYING FOR MY DAWG
AINT SHIT FUNNY HIS FANILY
DEPENDING ON HIM
SUCCESSFUL BLACK MAN
— OFFSET (@OffsetYRN) February 4, 2019
THEY ALWAYS TRY SOME WAY TO BRING US DOWN ✊🏾✊🏾✊🏾✊🏾✊🏾
Demi then deactivated her Twitter account and took to Instagram to clear things up about the situation. "Wasn't laughing at anyone getting deported. I know that's not a joke... nor have I EVER laughed at that. The meme I posted/was talking about was of him writing with a feather pen. Sorry if I offended anyone. But it's no excuse to laugh at someone's addiction let alone their OD."
She then finished: "Lastly I wasn't making fun of anything having to do with deportation or even anything against him. I was laughing at who the fuck knew 21 was British? Literally no one. That's it. It doesn't go deeper than that. I'm sorry if I upset people truly. Yo @wale if you wanna talk, then answer my dms". She also shared just a few of the abusive comments she was receiving.
Check out Demi's Instagram stories below.
It's understandable why people may have taken issue with the memes but it's also clear that Demi had no ill intent in sharing them. Perhaps most importantly, just like the majority of Twitter, she wasn't making fun of 21 Savage being deported. It goes without saying that jokes about deportation and overdosing are out of line.
