Megan Thee Stallion‘s performance at Vice President Kamala Harris‘ first presidential campaign rally turned up the heat. As the rapper coined the slogan Hotties for Harris at the Atlanta event, conservatives got fired up to the point of melting down.
The performance at the Georgia State Convocation Center looked nothing like her headlining set at State Farm Arena in the city earlier this month. Sure, she had her backing dancers and a setlist featuring her sit songs “Savage,” “Girls in the Hood,” and “Body.” But the rapper censored her lyrics, swapped out her shimmering leotard for a sleek blue pantsuit, and reeled in the twerking. Still, by the pearl-clutching, misogynoir-spewing reactions from conservatives, you would think Megan had performed an uncensored version of her NSFW Cardi B collaboration “WAP” with a live-action demonstration of each lyric.
“The Left Wing movement is pure ghetto trash,” one right-wing commentator wrote on X (formerly Twitter). He went on to provide a list of movements favoring the presumptive Democratic nominee: “Hoes for Harris, Hoodrats for Harris, Single Black Momalas for Kamala, White Dudes for Harris.” Many replies beneath the post rightfully call out the racism embedded in this tone, as well as the clear double standard. “Trump has Kid Rock,” one reply reads. “What’s the difference?” Another added: “Using racist inflammatory language to get attention as a grown man is WEIRD.”
The conservative non-profit CatholicVote wrote: “Kamala Harris’ handlers just trotted out talentless rapper Megan Thee Stallion to twerk and gyrate in front of a rally crowd while barely rapping her song because it’s so explicit to advocate for abortion.” The song in question was “Body,” the second to last song in her four-track set. Before it began, she said: “Now I know my ladies in the crowd love their bodies. And you want to keep loving your body — you know who to vote for!”
Another user wrote: “I love that after the ‘rally’ Harris had featuring Megan Thee Stallion ‘Hoes for Harris’ is trending. But it is very interesting to see that Kamala Harris has to resort to a gyrating rapper to pull the crowds Trump can.”
Trump himself chimed into the conversation, further spurring his supporters. “Crazy Kamala Harris, voted the WORST Vice President in American history, needed a concert to bring people into the Atlanta arena, and they started leaving 5 minutes into her speech,” the former president wrote on TruthSocial. “I don’t need concerts or entertainers, I just have to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”
Elsewhere in the performance, Megan declared: “I’m so happy to be here Atlanta! We’re about to make history with the first female president. The first Black female president! Let’s get this done!” Her performance began about an hour into the two-hour long event.
While waiting for Harris to make her entrance after Megan exited the stage, the crowd remained lively. Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” blared through the venue and the camera panned to a section where a group of young people rapped along while waiting for the VP — clips of which are already going viral. Harris walked out to the sound of Beyoncé’s “Freedom,” her official campaign song. Applause for the candidate sustained for nearly two full minutes from the moment she reached the podium, waiting for the volume to subside so she could begin speaking.
One conservative news outlet ran an article with the tagline: “Come check out Kamala’s free Megan Thee Stallion concert in Atlanta last night, featuring the VP’s new accent!” Harris, it should be noted, is from Oakland, California in addition to attending Howard University and being a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha. Despite claims that she was “faking an accent to sound more ‘black,’” other users noted: “This is Kamala in community, not code-switching. Get into it.” A large portion of the critical reactions being wielded at both Harris and Megan lack the same fundamental understanding of the exact culture and identity they seek to critique.
“I am very clear,” Harris said early in her speech. “The path to the White House runs right through this state.”
From Rolling Stone US
