T.I. and Killer Mike had a few choice words for Atlanta mayoral candidate Felicia Moore. who claimed she lost the city’s election because of a smear campaign led by local celebrities.
Moore, who lost to Andre Dickens in a runoff election on Tuesday (November 30), told TMZ that misinformation had been spread by T.I. and other artists including Isaac Hayes III in regards to her potentially closing down the city’s strip clubs and recording studios if elected.
“I never even discussed strip clubs since the general election,” Moore said to the outlet. “They just made up stuff, and it’s just sad that, you know, good people try to run to serve because they have a heart for the people in the city and they get torn down by misinformation and used by celebrities and their influence and social media outreach to slander someone’s name and lie.”
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It turns out the video in question that T.I. and others shared did include false information that originated from an article by gossip outlet Media Take Out, but T.I. took to Instagram on Thursday (December 3) to push back on Moore’s claims that he was to blame for her loss.
“If you’re saying you didn’t really plan to close down the strip clubs, whatever… That’s old news now,” the rapper began in his 13-minute response. “You lost sight of one thing: this culture. The creatives in this city, we run this town.”
The 41-year-old took particular issue with Moore telling TMZ celebrities shouldn’t get involved in politics.
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“She say that celebrities shouldn’t even be involved with politics. That sounds eerily similar to when people said to LeBron, ‘Shut up and dribble,'” T.I. said. “You see, it’s that very energy, the tone of that, is the reason why you aren’t fit to sit in the seat of the mayor of Atlanta. You don’t understand, you dig? We run this town.”
Killer Mike further addressed Moore’s accusations during an appearance on The Big Tigger Show and described them as “low class” and “evil.”
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“We have two progressive victories in metro Atlanta and instead of celebrating them we’re on TMZ talking trash,” Mike said. “I think it’s low class, I think it’s evil, I’m glad that we have the mayor we have but more than that I’m glad we have an artistic community.”
T.I. has been supporting his hometown for years now, and in November took it one step further by purchasing his old Bankhead neighborhood to develop affordable housing and community spaces.
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“So yeah, checkin’ on my development here in Bankhead, you know what I’m saying?” he said in a video posted to Instagram. “Right here used to be the old K-Mart … now we got affordable housing … 143 units going up, mixed-use community, you dig? We about 40 percent done. We supposed to be done sometime next year.”
He adds toward the end, “Don’t look at me. Look at my work. Look at my moves. Shit, we can kill all the cap.”
