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Muzik shooting turns into PR headache for Drake

Nearly two weeks after two people were fatally shot at the after-party for Drake’s OVO Fest at the dance club Muzik, the Toronto rapper spoke out about the incident.

On Friday, August 14, Drizzy denounced gun violence in Toronto and offered condolences to the families of Ariela Navarro-Fenoy and Duvel Hibbert in a statement posted on his website.

“It’s tough in situations like this where there’s a tragedy and I consider the advice of my trusted advisors and counsel who worry that anything I might say could be misinterpreted,” he said. “However, today I am choosing to follow my heart. I am plagued and pained by the violence that continues to escalate in our city. I stare into the eyes of so many young people and I wish to see them all shine as bright as they possibly can in this lifetime. I encourage my generation to show as much value and gratitude as you can for the lives we have been gifted.”

In the wake of the shootings, the hip-hop superstar was under intense pressure from the media to say something about gun violence, as he had done in 2012 when he dedicated that year’s OVO Fest to the victims of a mass shooting in Scarborough.

Friday’s statement was not enough for Toronto Sun columnist Joe Warmington, who called it “a start” because Drake did not use the opportunity to urge potential witnesses – up to 4,000 people were reportedly in the club when shots rang out – to cooperate with police.

Warmington had penned an earlier column criticizing Drake for remaining silent as Crime Stoppers and one victim’s mother urged him to cooperate. That prompted his New York-based publicist, Melissa Nathan of Hiltzik Strategies, to go into damage-control mode. She called Warmington to insist there would be no comment, adding that his column “left a little bit of a bad taste in one’s mouth.”

In the absence of an official statement, the media began dissecting Drake’s lyrics for possible explanations. CBC ran an article asking, “Do Drake lyrics explain silence on Muzik nightclub shootings?” and speculated that he would refrain from cooperating with police because his song No Tellin’ includes the lyrics “Yeah, police comin’ ’round lookin’ for some help on a case they gotta solve, we never help ’em.”

music@nowtoronto.com | @nowtoronto

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