Facing heat over a leaked Kobe Bryant lyric, Meek Mill has issued a private apology.
On Feb. 23, the rapper took to his Twitter yet again amid backlash over a Kobe name drop in his unreleased song. While the line first spurred criticism nearly a week ago, the late basketball legend's widow Vanessa Bryant called him out publicly on Monday, Feb. 22.
"I apologized to her in private earlier today not to the public," the "Dreams and Nightmares" rapper explained in a Feb. 23 tweet. "Nothing I say on my page directed to a internet viral moment or the family of a grieving woman! If you care about someone grieving change the subject!"
Although Meek said he wasn't going to respond to the "viral moment," he tweeted earlier that day, "I don't think we on the same signal y'all .. I don't see what y'all see... I be looking at the net laughing like I did whet…I say random s--t all day on social ... it becomes a trend to hate on me every once in a while but I feed off that s--t ima beast literally."
He followed this tweet up with, "Ima stay on this 100m chase to feed the kids ima dip from the crowd and stay in the vip."
For those that missed it, Vanessa caught wind of the line—where Meek raps, "Yeah, and if I ever lack, I'm goin' out with my chopper, it by another Kobe"—and took to her Instagram Story with a message for Meek.
"Dear @meekmill, I find this line to be extremely insensitive and disrespectful," she wrote. "Period. I am not familiar with any of your music, but I believe you can do better than this. If you are a fan, fine, there's a better way to show your admiration for my husband. This lacks respect and tact."
Kobe, along with his and Vanessa's 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others, died in a tragic helicopter crash on Jan. 26, 2020.