Franklin Graham: Snoop Dogg 'Promoting Hate' by Shooting Donald Trump in 'Vulgar' Video

Mar 15, 2017 11:17 AM EDT

Evangelist Franklin Graham has accused Snoop Dogg of "promoting hate, violence, and unrest" with his controversial new music video, which takes on hot button issues including police shootings and portrays the rapper shooting a clown made to represent President Donald Trump.

"How low can we go?" Graham asked in a Facebook post shared on Wednesday. "We've had so many problems in this country between law enforcement and minority communities, we should be looking for ways to unite and bring people together."

The video for "Lavender" (Nightfall Remix) ft. Kaytranada & Snoop Dogg, dropped this weekend and features the rapper and a cast of clowns. The rapper takes aim at Trump, pointing a gun at a clown dressed like the president, played by actor Michael Rapaport.

The obscenity-riddled single, a remix of a track by BADBADNOTGOOD and Kaytranada, also includes the line "F**k the police, from a black man's point of view" and depicts a police officer pulling a man over and shooting him.

Graham went on to condemn the song's "vulgar lyrics" and criticize the entertainment industry for promoting such content.

"The kind of violence that some in our entertainment industry are manufacturing for consumption by the youth of America is dangerous," he said. "Rather than promoting positive messages, they're promoting hate, violence, and unrest."

Snoop Dogg
(Photo : YouTube)
President Donald Trump is portrayed as an orange clown in Snoop Dogg's new music video

Trump took to Twitter on Wednesday morning to argue that there would be an uproar if Snoop had pointed a gun at former US President Barack Obama instead of himself.

He wrote: "Can you imagine what the outcry would be if @SnoopDogg, failing career and all, had aimed and fired a gun at President Obama? Jail time!"

In an interview with Billboard, Snoop claimed that "nobody's dealing with the real issue with this (expletive) clown as president," as other rappers are focused on releasing "party music."

He went on to criticize President Trump for "ban that (he) tried to put up; him winning the presidency; police being able to kill ... and get away with it (and) people being in jail for weed for 20, 30 years," he said.

The rapper added: "It's a lot of clown (stuff) going on that we could just sit and talk on the phone all day about, but it's a few issues that we really wanted to lock into (for the video) like police, the president and just life in general."

However, the "Gin and Juice" singer said his intention was not to make a "controversial" song, but to be a  "voice of the people who don't have a voice."

"I just put it out because I feel like it's something that's missing," he said. "Any time I drop something, I'm trying to fill in a void."

Senator Marco Rubio also criticized the move, telling TMZ the video could encourage those who dislike President Trump to resort to violence.

"He shouldn't have done that...We've had presidents assassinated before in this country, so anything like that is something people should be really careful about," Rubio said. "I think people can disagree on policy, but we've got to be careful about that kind of thing because the wrong person sees that and gets the wrong idea and you could have a real problem. I'm not sure what Snoop was thinking, he should think about that a little more."