Demi Lovato took down her Twitter account Sunday night after receiving backlash for making light of rapper 21 Savage’s recent detainment by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcementagents in Atlanta.
“So far 21 Savage memes have been my favorite part of the Super Bowl,” Lavato tweeted.
Earlier that day, 21 Savage, whose real name is Sha Yaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, was arrested in a “target operation” by ICE for being in the U.S. illegally after the agency revealed that he is a citizen of the United Kingdom and a convicted felon.
Shortly after the news broke, Lovato and thousands of others took to social media in response, with many in disbelief that the Grammy-award winning rapper, who has claimed to be from the South, isn’t originally from Atlanta.
However, not everyone found the arrest to be a source of humor.
Rapper Wale responded to Lovato’s tweet, writing: “Why is somebody freedom funny …I don’t get the joke.”
“A lot of people were sending you love light, prayers etc. When people were making jokes about u at a rough time. A lot of people. Bless up,” he wrote, referring to the singer’s apparent drug overdose last Summer.
Other users responded to the singer on her Instagram page and mocked her history of drug abuse.
The “Confident” singer defended her tweet, saying she found humor in memes about the rapper possibly being deported.
“Sorry if I offended anyone. But it’s no excuse to laugh at someone’s addiction let alone their OD,” she wrote in a post on her Instagram story.
Other rappers, including Migos’ Offset responded to the online reaction, tweeting that the memes and reactions are not funny. He added that he is praying for Abraham-Joseph, 26, and his family as he goes through this immigration process.
Meek Mill, who served five months in prison after being sentenced in November 2017 to up to four years in prison for a probation violation stemming from a 2008 conviction on drug and firearm charges, also tweeted on Sunday: “Free 21.”
ICE spokesperson Bryan Cox said in a statement on Sunday that the rapper has been placed in “removal proceedings” before the federal immigration courts and they will await the outcome of his case “to determine future actions.”
His attorney, Dina LaPolt, said in a statement shortly after that she is working to get him released and “to clear up any misunderstandings.”