Facebook.com/LilWayne(NEW YORK) -- Lil Wayne is responding to outrage over a behind-the-scenes clip that shows him stepping on the American flag, during the making of his "God Bless Amerika" music video.
"I didn't step on the flag on purpose!" Wayne says in a tweet, about a behind-the-scenes clip captured during the film shoot. "It's a scene in a video where the flag drops behind me and after it [drops] it's just there as I perform."
In a Facebook post, Wayne further explains, "It was never my intention to desecrate the flag of the United States of America... The clip that surfaced on the Internet was a camera trick clip that revealed behind the American Flag was the Hoods of America. In the final edit of the video you will see the flag fall to reveal whats behind it but will never see it on the ground," he wrote.
That footage has since been removed from the Young Money website, but the debate over Wayne's actions continue on his Facebook page. Many of the comments come from armed forces veterans, their families and friends, who say the rapper was disrespectful.
In his note, Wayne explains the message behind his song, which includes lyrics like "My country ‘tis of thee/sweet land of kill ‘em all and let ‘em die..." He writes that for many people who were raised in "the Hood," including himself, it's "the only America they know..."
Wayne adds that his talents allowed him to escape the environment that he grew up in, "and see the other beautiful places this country has to offer but most people who are born in that environment don't get that chance. That's their view of their America. That was Dwayne M Carter from Hollygrove New Orleans view of America. That's who I'm speaking for in this song," he says, referring to his given name.
The "God Bless Amerika" video was shot in Wayne's hometown neighborhood of Hollygrove, in New Orleans.
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