Ice Cube is apparently not welcome on Oprah Winfrey’s platform and hasn’t been for some time, according to the West Coast icon in a new interview.
The former N.W.A. rapper addressed his issues with both Oprah and The View during a sit-down with Tucker Carlson on his new Twitter show on Tuesday (July 25).
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“I tried to go on The View. They didn’t have me on The View,” he began. “A few of the hosts just really didn’t like where I was coming from. That’s what I was told by the producers. I don’t know if it was the producers was just copping out and using some of the hosts to have me not explain myself. I’ve been on there before. It’s just when I’ve become an independent thinker. I don’t follow their brand of politics I guess.”
He continued: “I’ve been excluded on Oprah. I don’t know that it is. You know, I had a movie called Barbershop that I wasn’t invited to participate with the cast [on Oprah’s show]. I produced a show called Black White. It was a very controversial show and once again [Oprah] had the whole cast on and I wasn’t invited. So I don’t know what that’s really about. I really don’t know [why]. That’s something that I would love to find out.”
Ice Cube has been voicing his issues with the legendary talk show host for many years. In 2006, he told FHM magazine about the aforementioned issue with the cast of Barbershop: “For Barbershop, she had Cedric The Entertainer and Eve on, but I wasn’t invited. She’s had damn rapists, child molesters and lying authors on her show. And if I’m not a rags-to-riches story for her, who is?”
Other rappers have called Winfrey out in the past for being “anti-Hip Hop,” including Ludacris and 50 Cent. In 2020, 50 even admitted in his book Hustle Harder, Hustle Smarter that Gayle King once confronted him over the negative comments he’s made about Oprah Winfrey over the years.
“Gayle is the real deal — a very sophisticated, secure, and smart lady,” he writes. “She’s never afraid of a situation … so she marched right up to me and basically said, ‘Why you talkin’ shit about my girl?’”
The tenured rapper’s past comments about Winfrey include “Oprah’s audience is my audience’s parents, so I could care less about Oprah or her show.” He also named his dog after the celebrated talk show host.
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Subsequently, King booked him for an appearance on Winfrey’s Oprah’s Next Chapter in 2012 and they made peace.
“Before meeting me, they had bought into the 50 Cent persona … Someone who got into beefs and drama because he just couldn’t help himself,” he writes. “But when I said, ‘At least let me be an enemy,’ they understood that when I got into a beef, it was never driven by emotion. Instead, I was moving off of strategy.”
