By now, the Drake and Pusha T beef is in full swing. When the DAYTONA rapper responded to Drake’s “Duppy Freestyle” with “The Story Of Adidon,” it came with some controversial single art.

In the photo, Drake is donned in blackface and wearing a Jim Crow shirt, which left many people wondering, well, why?

On Wednesday night (May 30), the OVO Sound mastermind released a statement on his Instagram Story that explained where the photo originated.

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“I know everyone is enjoying the circus but I want to clarify this image in question,” he wrote. “This was not from a clothing brand shoot or my music career. This picture is from 2007, a time in my life when I was an actor and I was working on a project that was about young black actors struggling to get roles, being stereotyped and type cast.”

Drizzy went on to say it was an attempt to “bring awareness” to the issues he and other black actors had to deal with during auditions.

The photographer who took the photo, David Leyes, asked Pusha’s manager Steven Victor to take it off Twitter shortly after the song’s release and Instagram pulled it from Pusha’s account.

Pusha kicked off the back-and-forth spectacle on Friday (May 25) with the release of “Infrared,” which was included on DAYTONA. The song took aim at both the 6 God and Cash Money CEO Bryan “Birdman” Williams.

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As of now, the ball is in Drake’s court. [apple_news_ad type=”any”]