Diddy has retracted his statement from earlier this year, where he declared that “the Black vote will not be free” in 2020, and has revealed he’s starting a political party called Our Black Party.
In a new interview with Charlamagne tha God, the pair discussed Diddy’s controversial comment. “Couple of months ago, I told everybody, ‘Hold their vote hostage,’” Diddy said. “It would be irresponsible of me to have us hold our vote hostage but it would also be irresponsible of me to just let this moment go by. The world is watching—and [I’m doing] everything I can to make sure that going forth, that we’re a part of the narrative. That we own our politics.”
He also shared his plans for a new political party that aims to uplift the agenda of America’s Black community.
“I’m launching one of the boldest movements that I’ve ever launched. It’s called Our Black Party. It’s time for us to have our own Black political party—unapologetically. Because right now, if you look at the debates, we’re not even a part of the conversation. We don’t have any political power, we don’t have any political leverage and so we started our Black party with some young, fearless Black activists, elected officials, and I’ve stepped up and put the money behind it.”
He made similar remarks on Twitter, opening with, “The NUMBER ONE priority is to get Trump out of office. HE HAS TO GO. We can’t allow this man to continue to try and DIVIDE US. The people that have the most responsibility and should be SCARED TO DEATH of this man are white people. WE ARE ON THE VERGE OF A RACE WAR.”
Diddy also endorsed Biden, but let everyone know that if Biden is elected, he will be held to a higher standard: “We need to get Biden in and hold him accountable. Trump has taken things too far. As Black people, we aren’t even a topic of real discussion. We can no longer stand for doing the same thing over and over expecting different results. That’s insanity! It’s time we unify.”
Later on, Diddy tweeted more about the role that he hopes Our Black Party will play, writing that its mission goes beyond the Nov. 3 presidential election.
We can protest all we want, but to win, we have to build our own Black political army. To do that, we have to be trained and organized. @OurBlackParty is doing that.
— Diddy (@Diddy) October 16, 2020
Diddy first made his comment about the Black vote in April via Twitter. In a conversation with Naomi Campbell, he explained that the vote will not be free for either party—and if Biden wants Black folks’ vote, he should clarify how he’s committed to changing their lives.
“It’s business at this point,” Diddy told Campbell. “We can’t trick politicians. So we want to know very clearly—just like Trump made it clear that he wanted to build a wall—Biden needs to make it clear that he wants to change the lives and quality of life for Black and brown people or he won’t get the vote. I will hold the vote hostage if I have to.”
During Diddy and Charlamagne’s conversation, the two also discussed Diddy’s work with his “Vote or Die” campaign, Trump’s “stand back and stand by” threat, and Diddy’s belief that we’re on the brink of a race war. Watch the full interview at the top.
Following the news of Our Black Party, the artist bLAck pARty tweeted a request for Diddy to change the name:
