When then-Governor Ralph Northam faced a scandal because of a picture of him in blackface, he made a hard pivot into pushing gun control. Sure enough, the media largely ignored the scandal and suddenly started treating Northam as sinless. The same thing happened with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was embroiled in a “brownface” scandal based on one of his notorious costume adventures.

But surely that doesn’t apply outside of politics, right?

You can’t show signs of being a terrible person and all of it be ignored simply because you support gun control right?

Well, yeah, apparently.

It seems that a rapper named Quavo received a humanitarian award for his anti-gun advocacy.

On Oct. 30, 2024, rapper Quavo, known for his role in the iconic hip-hop group Migos, was honored with the Humanitarian Award at the Variety Hitmakers celebration. This recognition comes as a testament to his unwavering commitment to reducing gun violence, a cause that has become deeply personal following the tragic loss of his nephew and fellow Migos member, Takeoff.

Quavo’s journey toward advocacy

Since the fatal shooting of Takeoff on Nov. 1, 2022, Quavo has transformed his grief into action. Takeoff was shot at a bowling alley in Houston during a private event, an incident that shocked fans and the music industry alike. The autopsy revealed that Takeoff died from multiple gunshot wounds, and his death was ruled a homicide. This devastating event propelled Quavo to take a stand against gun violence, leading to the establishment of the Rocket Foundation.

First, I find it morally wrong to call someone a humanitarian because they’re trying to take away people’s rights. What’s next, calling Kim Jung Un a humanitarian for stamping out obesity in North Korea?

In and of itself, that’s bad enough.

However, Quavo’s got a rocky enough history that someone should have at least paused for a moment before honoring him as a humanitarian.

Even if you ignore the drug possession charges he faced in 2015, there are a couple of other instances that should have raised some red flags. Probably the first and foremost of those is the video of him being involved in a physical altercation–read: fist-fight–with his then-girlfriend in 2021. While no charges were apparently filed and we don’t know who started the altercation, the fact that it happened should have at least raised some concern about honoring him, especially in a day and age where so many people are hyper-sensitive over the issue of violence against women, and not without cause. 

Of course, if we don’t know who started it, we can sort of guess considering he also had a lawsuit filed against him for allegedly assaulting his limo driver during an excursion in Las Vegas, all because the driver forgot to pick someone up.

All of this is public record. Variety had to be aware of it. If not, then no one should ever want any award they hand out.

Yet even without this baggage, giving someone a humanitarian award simply because they want gun control is idiotic. If you’re going to do it, though, there are so many gun control voices out there that don’t have this kind of stuff hanging around their necks. It would still be dumb, but it wouldn’t be toward someone who may prefer gun control not just because of the loss of a family member but because they figure sooner or later, someone might need one to defend themselves against him.