Blueface is pushing back after comments from Mike Epps about celebrating prison releases sparked backlash online. The debate started during Epps' appearance on the November 16 episode of Artist 2 Artist, hosted by Jim Jones. In the conversation, Epps criticized what he viewed as the culture of celebrating people coming home from long prison sentences, arguing that it sends the wrong message to young people. He suggested that returning from incarceration shouldn't be treated as an achievement. He instead urged formerly incarcerated men to instead focus on giving back and helping kids avoid the same path
By Monday (Nov. 24), Epps comments were misinterpreted by social media. Thus, he had taken to Instagram to clarify his stance following the blowback. In a two-minute video, he apologized for how his comments were received and insisted that he supports men who come home and turn their lives around. "Brothers that come home and change their lives need to be celebrated," he wrote, stressing that his intent was to discourage romanticizing prison. Not to diminish people's journeys.
But Blueface wasn't buying it.
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In a sharp response shared to his Instagram, Blueface stood up for people reentering society and called out what he felt was tone-deaf commentary. "People's lifestyles… you can't really speak on people's lifestyle," Blueface wrote. "If they come out, doing things the right way and keeping it solid they definitely should be celebrated." He also added a blunt warning for Epps to "stay in [his] place."
While Epps sought to cool things down, Blueface's response reopened the conversation. But social media seemed to defend Epps this time. "Normalize not going to jail. How about that? Mad cause everyone doesn't celebrate prison or jail life," one person commented. "He not living that life style but he for sure lived that life style coming up so he can speak on it," another defended. "Mike epps wasn't wrong for the first time," another chimed in.
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