What you've gotta love about Lil Wayne is that whenever he takes time to address the controversy that his comments have caused, he's probably just going to repeat what he said in the first place. But on Wednesday night, Weezy did want to retract one comment from his rant against the Miami Heat: his verbal middle finger to LeBron James.
During All-Star Weekend in Houston, an irritated Wayne used his mic to air out a few issues with the NBA and the Miami Heat, specifically insulting LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. Since then, Wayne truly regrets including LeBron in the fiasco, but he's standing by the rest of his comments and confirms that he was prevented from participating in All-Star events, including the Slam Dunk contest and Alicia Keys' halftime performance.
"I don't apologize for that night," he said during an interview with Miami's 99 Jamz via Miss Info. "I don't apologize for being who I am. That's who I am, and yes, I did say those things. Only thing I do want to take back from saying that night, I said 'F--- LeBron,' I didn't mean to say that because me and LeBron we are cool and I'm really cool with his mom and we have a real good relationship. That's my homie but it just slipped out. I didn't mean to say that. Other than that though I don't take nothing back."
Despite spending $1.5 million on season tickets annually, Weezy says that he usually receives the cold shoulder from Heat players and his issues with the team boiled over during last week's game against the Lakers, where he and Dwyane Wade had a very unpleasant exchange. "I was at the game, rooting for the Lakers, saying 'Chris Bosh you can't hit a shot; D-Wade stop crying,' I'm saying whatever I wanna say, I'm a fan of who I'm a fan of," he explained. "Then Dwyane Wade comes over and he looks at me. I said, 'Y'all don't f--- with me, so I don't f--- with ya'll. Yall don't f--- with me.' [Wade] looked me dead in my eye and his exact words were, 'We don't.' He didn't say, 'I don't,' he said, 'We don't.' So I said 'OK, well f--- you' then. He said 'well f--- you.'
From that moment on, Wayne says it was "F--- everything about the Heat." Later that night he tweeted that he'd been kicked out of the American Airlines Arena, but he clarified that he actually left early, after conversing with a security official who wanted to have him escorted out for reportedly making an obscene gesture at a fan.
After that incident, Wayne says he wasn't allowed to participate in Gerald Green's Slam Dunk stunt, perform with Alicia Keys at the All-Star halftime show or attend the games due to the NBA's concern for the well-being of their players. He noted though, that this explanation from the league came on Wednesday, days after All-Star Weekend had wrapped.
The New Orleans rapper defended his right to mouth off on the Miami Heat and the NBA since he was at his own party, with fans asking why they hadn't spotted him at any of the events. "That was my fans in there. I wasn't on a television show. I wasn't on a radio station. I wasn't in front of nobody's video camera — I was onstage at my party, I could say what I want."
And don't even try to point at his cup in this situation. "I ain't have a cup 'cause I can't drink anything," he noted. "Actually, I had a little bit too much to 'think' that night. I had too many thoughts on my mind that night."
"I ain't apologetic for being who I am," he said on a closing note. "I am who I am, and doing what I do, is what I do. As far as the city of Miami, I do wanna apologize for the misunderstanding and whatever has everybody thinking that I have something against the city, because that's totally wrong. These people accepted me with open arms since day one, since I was a Hot Boy. It's just totally sports, this ain't got nothing to do with the city of Miami."