After coming under fire for his “Wake Up” video, Fetty Wap apologized to the school board in his hometown of Paterson, New Jersey for the visuals that were shot in the high school that he attended as a teenager, according to nj.com.
“I really didn’t think it was gonna be what it was,” the “Trap Queen” rapper says in a Facebook video that captured his speech. “I just wanted to come back home. For me to go out to Eastside High School, that’s just the last thing that was me, the last thing that documented Willie Maxwell before he was Fetty Wap was Eastside High School, so that’s why I wanted to do my single because I wanted to tell people how I felt, where I came from.”
The visuals for the song include references to marijuana and include a scene where a scantily clad woman dances on a pole in a classroom. Many were outraged that the city would allow their school to be used to promote drugs and strippers. Eastside High’s principal Zatiti Moody was suspended and put on paid leave for allowing the video to be shot at the school.
Fetty Wap apologizes to Moody and says that the official has made significant changes to the school since he attended Eastside. He also issues an apology to the people of Paterson, saying he did not intend to disrespect his hometown.
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“If I disrespected anybody, I came today to apologize,” he says, “but I also wanted to let people know that I’m a product of my environment, so I just showed where I’m from.”
Moody joined Eastside in 2009 after graduating from the school in 1993. Many showed solidarity for the principal at the board meeting. According to News 12 New Jersey, students are hoping he can be reinstated to hand out diplomas at graduation, which is scheduled for June 23.
View Fetty Wap’s apology speech to the City of Paterson for this “Wake Up” video below:
