Media Personality Adam22 Defends Interviewing Pop Smoke’s Alleged Killer After Facing Backlash

July 8, 2024 by Ariel Whitely in Music with 0 Comments

Adam22, Pop Smoke

Media Personality Adam22 Defends Interviewing Pop Smoke’s Alleged Killer After Facing Backlash

Adam22 is standing behind his decision to interview Pop Smoke’s alleged killer, Blockstar.

The podcast host recently took to social media to explain why he chose to interview Blockstar, real name King Vermont, on his No Jumper platform.

Adam22

In case you were unaware, Adam22 recently faced major backlash after sitting down with Blockstar to discuss his sentencing, thoughts on the unfortunate situation, and the New York rapper’s tragic murder. Family, friends, and fans of Pop Smoke were not pleased to see the late rapper’s killer interviewed just weeks after reportedly getting released from juvenile detention on his 21st birthday.

Pop Smoke and King Vermont

In one clip from their conversation that trended online, Blockstar admitted that he wasn’t remorseful for the alleged killing of Pop Smoke.

King Vermont (One Of Pop Smoke’s Alleged Killers)

Blockstar said,

“N*gg*s die everyday. Like, he was rapping about it. All types of sh*t. So I ain’t sorry about it.”

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In the new videos uploaded by the 40-year-old YouTuber, real name Adam Grandmaison, he addressed his reasoning for moving forward with the controversial interview.

Adam22 shared,

“I didn’t do that interview because I don’t care. That’s what a lot of people seem to think. ‘Adam just doesn’t give a f*ck.’ That’s not the case at all. I did that interview because I thought it was an important historical record of somebody who was involved in one of the most tragic, insane stories in rap history.”

Adam noted the relationship between him and Pop Smoke and furthered,

“I knew Pop Smoke, I was texting him for probably a year. We spoke on camera for a couple minutes for Rolling Loud in 2019, like, a few months before he passed. I have a huge amount of respect for him. I’m not ignorant to what a gigantic impact he had on New York City. I have nothing but respect for him, and definitely didn’t want to enrage his friends or family. I actually wanted to do a piece of content that I thought they would be able to benefit from.”

He continued,

“By having this conversation, people can really understand what goes through the mind of somebody who’s capable of doing something like that. I think if you watch the interview, it’s pretty obvious that I wasn’t glamorizing it and that I was trying to have the tough conversation with him that I thought this situation warranted.”

Adam concluded,

“The truth is that [these interviews] correct the record for a lot of people and let them know how these situations really went down. I also think that the Blockstar interview about Pop Smoke was important for that reason, too. […] So to me, it was important to have that. I knew at that time that he was going to go do the interview with somebody else if I didn’t do it.”

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As previously reported, rap star Pop Smoke, born Bashar Barakah Jackson, was shot and killed during a home invasion and robbery on February 19, 2020, at the age of 20. Blockstar, who allegedly pulled the trigger and was a minor at the time of the crime, served a four-year sentence for his involvement in Pop Smoke’s murder.