Rap star Offset demands that Elon Musk stop “playing in Black people’s faces” as he supports the bid to release Derek Chauvin, the crooked cop who murdered George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020.
Conservative political commentator and staunch Trump supporter Ben Shapiro launched a campaign to promote Chauvin’s release, and Musk reposted the campaign on Twitter, writing: “Something to think about.”
Offset registers disgust on social media
This prompted the former Migos member to blast Musk for his rather flippant comment.
“Elon Musk playing in black folks faces,” Offset wrote on Instagram Stories for his 25 million followers to read. “Crazy work smh!!!.” The rapper felt that Musk’s consideration of a pardon was an affront to the suffering George Floyd did at the hands of Chauvin. The former police officer is currently serving 21 years in a Texas prison.
Legal experts state that Trump cannot pardon Chauvin for murder
According to legal experts, President Trump does not have the authority or jurisdiction to pardon Chavin for the crime of murder even if he wanted to.
While Trump could pardon Chauvin for the federal civil rights and tax evasion convictions, the murder of Floyd was a state charge, which means he’d remain in prison regardless of what Trump decided to do.
“A federal pardon would have no effect on how long he’ll be in prison,” wrote legal expert Andy Craig, according to Newsbreak.
A Reuters crime reporter, Brad Heath, added to the discussion, saying that the only thing that could change with a pardon by Trump on the federal charges would be Chauvin’s prison location.
“Pardoning him for one wouldn’t impact the other. (But a federal pardon would move him back to state prison),” said Heath.
The Associated Press wrote in 2024 that Chauvin is currently serving his sentence in a federal prison in Big Spring, Ark., about 140 miles north of Little Rock.
Chauvin will be ‘rotting’ in prison for murder, experts say
The conclusion? Reason reporter Billy Binion said Chauvin will not get his freedom papers.
“He’ll be ‘rotting in prison’ regardless,” he said.
Perhaps both Shapiro and Musk knew this information in advance of the social media posts and were ingratiating themselves with their far-right constituency. In other words, the two powerful men were trying to score political points and were using the inflammatory issue of George Floyd’s murder as a political football.
Some prominent critics called the move by Shapiro and Musk diabolical.
“As I was saying, any person supporting Derek Chauvin is a sociopathic racist devoid of humanity,” said Radicalized Podcast co-host and journalist Jim Stewartson.
