Rapper Snoop Dogg lamented the media’s obsession with Bruce Jenner’s transition into Caitlyn on Wednesday, calling the former gold medal Olympian and reality television star a “science project” in an Instagram post.
Snoop was highlighting a solar energy project his fellow artist and friend Akon is working on in Africa when he decried the way the media is handling each story.
“Shout out to Akon!” Snoop captioned his post. “He is about to supply 600 million africans with solar power. Im really upset that this isnt major news but that science project bruce jenner is #Society.”
Snoop’s comment had garnered about 140,000 “likes” at the time of this post, with many in the comments section calling the rapper out for being “insensitive” or transphobic.
But some stood by the outspoken rapper and questioned the hypocrisy in the reaction to Snoop’s tweet versus the reaction accorded to former Disney star Drake Bell, who earlier this week tweeted that he would still call Jenner “Bruce.”
“[A]ll that sh** drake is getting compared to snoop is ridiculous,” wrote commenter _parka_7. “And I totally agree with snoop. Why the hell isn’t Akon getting more attention for that awesome stuff he doing for Africans but caitlyn Jenner is? [sic].”
R&B star Akon launched the Akon Lighting Africa initiative last year in an effort to provide up to 600 million Africans with electricity using solar technology. Last month, the artist announced plans to build a “Solar Academy” in Bamako, Mali to train African engineers to build, install, and maintain solar power systems.
“I always had a passion for Africa because I am from Africa and I always felt Africa was being taken advantage of,” Akon, who reportedly grew up in a small Senegalese town without electricity, said in a recent interview. “As a regular person there is not much you can do but as a celebrity you can influence millions of people which makes it a lot easier. Things can happen a lot faster so I like to take advantage of that and find more ways to bring opportunity into Africa.”
Jenner is set to star in I Am Cait, an eight-part, one-hour reality TV series about living as a transgender woman on E! this summer.
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