Rashida Jones reflects on Tupac Shakur feud: “I was so mad”
Actor Rashida Jones has looked back at her feud with legendary rapper Tupac Shakur after he made offensive comments about her father, producer Quincy Jones.
At the time of Shakur’s comments in 1993, Rashida was only a teenager, but wasn’t prepared to stay silent after her father had been needlessly attacked by Tupac. During an interview with The Source, the rapper said that Quincy’s only contribution to culture was to “stick his dick in white bitches and make fucked up kids.”
Rashida was yet to make a name for herself and was unknown at this stage, but wrote an open letter in The Source defending her father, who famously produced Michael Jackson’s biggest hits.
She wrote in 1993: “Because I am the youngest of Quincy Jones’ six daughters, I cannot view this article or this man without bias, but I do think that anyone who reads this article would be shocked by his ignorance and lack of respect for his people.” She went on to write that Shakur’s demeaning of Quincy was disrespectful to Black people, and that he helped pave the way for artists like Shakur to express themselves.”
Not only did her statement lead to Shakur apologising for his language, but he also started dating Rashida’s older sister following the incident, and became close to the Jones family.
Over thirty years on from the open letter, Rashida told The New Yorker in a new interview, “I was so mad. It was a new perspective to me. I kind of understand the nuance more now that I’m older. It just felt like a completely unwarranted attack. My dad doesn’t work for the government. He’s a music producer. How he chooses to live his life and who he loves is just his own business, and I’ve always felt that way.”
The actor, who stars in the new Apple TV+ series Sunny, continued: “And then my sister was out somewhere in New York, and Tupac came up to apologise to her, because he thought it was me. It resolved itself really nicely, because when I met him, he immediately apologised to me, immediately apologised to my dad.”
Jones concluded: “We sat down and had a really good conversation about it, and then he was family.”
Meanwhile, Duane ‘Keefe D’ Davis was arrested and charged with murdering Tupac Shakur last year. He is currently on trial in the United States, and has pleaded not guilty. Davis is the uncle of Orlando Anderson, who was previously suspected of causing the death but was never charged and denied involvement.