Over the weekend, the rap battle between Kendrick Lamar and Drake inadvertently created another beef between DJ Vlad and New York Times bestseller Morgan Jerkins. It all began on Saturday (May 4) when the VladTV creator complained about the mixing behind Lamar's "Not Like Us" single, which prompted plenty of criticism on Twitter. It was Morgan’s response that got his attention. "You are WHITE. This is a BLACK FOLK AFFAIR," she wrote.
In now-deleted messages, Vlad took issue with Morgan, who teaches for Princeton University's Creative Writing department. “Wait, so a professor... is telling me that a white person shouldn’t be allowed to voice their opinion about Hip Hop?" he asked. "Is that how you interact with your students?” A back-and-forth between the two escalated after Vlad seemingly threatened to get Morgan fired from the New Jersey institution, stating that he’ll be "reaching out to Princeton" about the matter.
The Ukrainian-American interviewer quickly received backlash, with many calling him a "Karen" for his remarks. It was also revealed that Morgan is the niece of famed producer Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins. "I thought my last name was a dead giveaway! Ain’t too many Jerkinses just walking about," she joked.
Things got worse for him after he claimed he was merely trolling in a subsequent tweet. "Let me clear the air and state that I never had any intention of filing a complaint to Princeton," he stated. Morgan retorted by calling Vlad's post "a lie." "He tagged my employer multiple times with the intention to professionally harm me. I didn’t troll. I centered Black people in a discussion on Hip Hop and told him to stand down because it’s not his space," she explained before telling him to "stop contacting my family."
Today (May 8), Vlad provided the “This Will Be My Undoing” author with a formal expression of regret. "After considerable reflection, I would like to apologize... for tagging her job in my replies during our Twitter exchange last weekend," he said. You can see said apology and reactions from others on social media below.