On Friday (March 19), Benny the Butcher dropped his The Plugs I Met 2 project with Harry Fraud. The album saw features from 2 Chainz, French Montana and Jim Jones, but the appearance from Fat Joe captured fans’ attention, particularly because of a lyric that can be promoted as an anti-Asian remark.

“Threw that white up in the pot, gave ‘em pipe dreams,” Joe rapped on “Talkin Back.” “And watch it spread like the Wuhan virus.”

The lyric garnered an onslaught of negative comments, so Joe hopped on Twitter to provide some information about the controversial bar.

“I’ll address the Benny verse,” he penned in a tweet.

“I did that verse a year ago when the news was calling it the Wuhan virus, before they called it COVID [-19]. “I support and love all my Asian brothers and sisters. Never hate.”

Joe’s verse on The Plugs I Met 2 comes in the wake of the fatal spa shootings in Georgia.

As REVOLT previously reported, 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long targeted various spas in Atlanta and fatally shot eight people, including six Asian women.

The act sparked the hashtag #StopAsianHate, and many, including Rihanna and Pharell, took to social media to denounce the anti-Asian violence.

“What happened…in Atlanta was brutal, tragic & is certainly not an isolated incident by any means,” Rihanna wrote. “AAPI hate has been rampantly perpetuated & it’s disgusting! I’m heartbroken for the Asian community & my heart is with the loved ones of those we lost. The hate must stop.”

In Pharell’s message, he called the recent incident “another instance of innocent lives lost to domestic terrorism.” “We must protect our Asian brothers and sisters,” he continued. “My thoughts and prayers are with the families who lost their wives, sisters, daughters to this senseless act of hatred. Stop Asian Hate now.”