April 6, 2020
Rapper Plies Blasts CEOs Who Allow Employees to Risk Catching Coronavirus For Low Wages
Algernod Lanier Washington, professionally known as Plies, has come out to defend low-wage workers who are risking their lives by continuing to work through the coronavirus crisis while their employers are quarantined at home, according to HipHopDX.
The rapper went on a profanity-laced rant to his almost 8 million followers on Instagram about CEOs not paying their workers enough money while they risk catching COVID-19.
“I woke up this morning, and I thought about it… this s–t about, ‘We the richest country in the world,’ I get all of that,” Plies said in his Instagram video clip. “But what I don’t get, you tell us 100,000 people gonna die from this pandemic. Only 3,000 people that died so far. So that means 97,000 more people gotta die.”
“And you got people out here, still on the f##### frontline working,” he said. “Whether they at Publix, whether they at Walmart, whether they work at the bank, (are) an airline stewardess or f**** doctors. “People out here on the front line, still risking their f–king life, while all of you CEOs home, quarantining with your g–damn family.”
“You don’t risk your f–ing life but no $9 an hour, no $11 an hour, no f–king $30 an hour,” he said. “Pay’ em like they risking their life.”
“And all I’m saying is, if they gon’ risk they f—ing life, pay ‘em like they f—ing risking they life!” he said. “You don’t risk your f—ing life for no nine dollars an hour, no eleven dollars an hour. No f—ing $30 an hour. Pay ‘em like they f—ing risking they life!”
Hip-hop fans praised him for bringing attention to the workers’ plight as the pandemic continues to ravage the world.