Wale is revisiting the second that changed into some of the talked-about clips from this 12 months’s BET Awards, his surprising interplay with streamer Kai Cenat. What appeared like a lightweight trade rapidly spiraled on-line after Cenat admitted on digicam that he didn’t acknowledge the Grammy-nominated rapper. The fallout, Wale says, affected him extra personally than viewers assumed.

During an interview on Shannon Sharpe’s Club Shay Shay, Wale defined how the scenario struck a nerve. “Kai Cenat talking about mental health. He gets it now,” he mentioned, utilizing the incident to spotlight how simply on-line reactions can affect somebody. He continued: “Imagine giving your life to this game, then you go to support the culture that you’ve been a part of for 13 years. Then you go online, and everybody’s like, ‘Yo, @KaiCenat, he didn’t know who you were.’”

Social media customers have since debated Wale’s emotions, with some questioning why the mix-up bothered him in any respect. “Wait is he saying his mental was affected bc a 23 year old who listens to Michael Jackson didn’t know him?” one particular person wrote. Another argued that Cenat’s age and streaming surroundings defined every part: “Kai was too young to recognize someone who is not as relevant anymore… Like just go back under the rock you been in bruh.”

The discourse started the evening of the awards, after Cenat greeted Wale and later confessed he had no concept who he had simply spoken to. When Wale spoke to him afterward, he expressed frustration about how the second regarded on-line. “That sh*t making me look crazy now, just so you know,” he informed Cenat. “That’s making me look crazy, the exchange we had in the hallway. I mean, they running with it, but we’ll talk later.”

Cenat ultimately apologized publicly. “I’mma go ahead and say to Wale, I hope he didn’t take my interaction personal,” he mentioned on livestream. “How can you blame me from being who I am? You feel me? I’m young!” He additionally reminded viewers that he was solely 9 years previous when “Lotus Flower Bomb” dropped.