Swizz Beatz and Timbaland recently announced that Verzuz has locked in a partnership with Elon Musk‘s social media app, X. The news has however been met with some backlash.
The deal comes just three months after Elon Musk argued that the country should “move on” from its racist history on The Don Lemon Show.
He went on to state that “we are all descended from slaves.” Musk also criticized DEI policies and doubled down on allowing hate speech on X.
However, Lemon in a bid to correct Elon, turned into a tense exchange.
The social media platform owner became irritated with Lemon, with some alleging that it resulted in getting the former CNN anchor’s deal with X canceled after the interview.
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Now, Swizz Beatz and Timbaland have also cut a deal with the tech billionaire.
The duo began with a joint statement shared on their respective Instagram accounts stating, “LIFE BEGINS AT THE END OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE”.
They attached a photo showing both super producers sharing a toast with Musk. The post went on to say, “It’s official, Verzuz is back, and 100% Black is owned again. Let’s give the people what’s been missing!!! We will also be building new entertainment businesses on the @X platform!! Who should be the first to kick off the show? Lets Go!!”
Despite the thrilling news, the partnership has caused a stir online coupled with the timing of the announcement, which was on Juneteenth, couldn’t be worse.
Some fans of Verzuz are not feeling it, and they’re making their opinions known.
One of the most-liked comments under the Instagram post reads: “Trying to force black people back to Twitter with music while you’ve made the site a playground for straight-up white supremacists is an insult to our intelligence. Basically saying, ‘it doesn’t matter how we treat them as long as we give them a hot beat to dance to.’ NO.”
Many other comments echoed the same sentiments on X. One fan wrote, “Yall did bad. For the community, for the brand, and for yourselves. This is wack.”
The irony was not lost on Swizz Beatz, who hopped in the comments to address the critiques about the deal, claiming that his intentions were in the right place.
He went on to reply to some fans, pointing out that Verzuz has been on X since its inception, stating:
“But nobody said anything before we were on that platform since Verzuz started”.