N.O.R.E. Backtracks On Andrew Tate ‘Drink Champs’ Invite: ‘I Was Joking’

N.O.R.E. has backtracked on extending an invite to controversial media firebrand Andrew Tate for his Drink Champs podcast — and claimed he was “joking” all along.

On Friday (March 31), the rapper-turned-podcaster posed the possibility of having Tate as a guest on the popular, award-winning talk show and podcast.

“Do we want Andrew Tate on drinkchamps?” he asked his Twitter followers, which caused a firestorm of responses.

Check out N.O.R.E.’s original tweet below:

Legendary B-boy Crazy Legs was one of the first to weigh in, snarking: “Would that be considered work release for him?”

Crazy Legs was referring to Tate’s current house arrest, which is due to him — along with his brother, Tristan — still being on suspicion of organized crime and human trafficking, according to The Associated Press.

But other commenters were a lot more viciously outspoken in their opposition. “Absolutely fucking not,” wrote one. “FOH with that mess Pollo Loco.”

Another pointed out the absurdity of the idea in the first place: “Nore asking if he should have Andrew Tate on the pod. N-gga for what? Drink Champs was supposed to be a platform to celebrate Rap. Why the fuck would you have Andrew Tate on there?”

On Sunday (April 2), just two days after posting the original hypothetical question, N.O.R.E. reneged on the idea of having Tate on the show.

“I was joking!” he wrote in response to an outraged commenter.

This isn’t the first time N.O.R.E. has courted controversy on Drink Champs. Last month, the “Oye Mi Canto” rapper was accused of baiting The Isley Brothers into bad-mouthing Beyoncé during their appearance on N.O.R.E. and DJ EFN’s podcast.

The legendary group stopped by for a two-hour conversation that aired on March 16. During part of the interview, N.O.R.E. brought up Beyoncé’s loyal fan base and claimed that people can’t say anything bad about her due to backlash from fans.

“It’s like the mafia — we don’t discuss it. We just follow the rules,” he said to the group. “But Stephanie Mills held it down. She went to The Breakfast Club, she held it down, she didn’t back down. She just said she thought that Diana Ross was on a different level than Beyoncé.”

The Isley Brothers remained tight-lipped while N.O.R.E. spoke about Beyoncé, who they worked with last year on “Make Me Say It Again, Girl,” a remake of their 1975 song and the title track from their latest album.

Meanwhile, N.O.R.E. and DJ EFN recently had to clear the air regarding Chris Rock’s statement in his new standup special that they called Will Smith a “bitch.”

In a segment from Joe Budden’s recent Drink Champs episode, the hosts reflected on Rock’s Selective Outrage, during which the comedian claimed the Drink Champs crew called Will Smith a “bitch” for his infamous Oscars slap.

According to N.O.R.E and EFN, Rock’s comments couldn’t be further from the truth as neither of them could recall referring to Smith by the derogatory term. However, the former admitted that he “loved” the shout-out.