It looks like Chance The Rapper (seen above at the 2016 ESPYs performing in front of a Muhammad Ali backdrop) now isn’t going to be involved with ESPN’s upcoming town hall forum Thursday on athletes, violence and responsibility, or the subsequent special edition of First Take on Friday. Both events take place in Chance’s home city of Chicago, and ESPN’s initial release said he would be a special guest on First Take Friday. Other outlets then started reporting he would be on the forum Thursday as well. However, there’s now no mention of Chance in the ESPN release, and he tweeted Tuesday that these reports were inaccurate:
Here’s a screenshot of the initial release’s mention of Chance:
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The worlds of hip hop and basketball will join together once again when Chance The Rapper, Chicago Bulls point guard Rajon Rondo and Milwaukee Bucks forward Jabari Parker headline ESPN’s upcoming forum on race, gun violence and police this Thursday (Aug. 25). The invitation-only forum, which is titled “An Undefeated Conversation: Athletes, Responsibility and Violence,” will take place at Chi-town’s South Side town hall.
After stating that he wouldn’t be at the forum, Chance elected to send several tweets stating his thoughts on violence and responsibility:
it is the responsibility of all first responders to deescalate unlawful situations and restore peace without committing murder.
— Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) August 23, 2016
and it is the responsibility of athletes and celebrities to say all that out loud whether at a forum, on twitter or at work.
— Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) August 23, 2016
So, although some wires appear to have been crossed here somewhere, people still got to hear Chance’s thoughts on police violence, just not on an ESPN platform. There appear to be no hard feelings, either; Chance finished by tweeting a Kanye meme and saying he had “no issue” with ESPN: