Kevin Gates did a press run recently to promote his upcoming debut album, Islah. Most of the interview questions he faced, though, dealt with recent controversies he's been involved in, such as when he kicked a teenage female fan in the chest during a concert in Florida, for which he's since been charged with assault. Gates first addressed the incident on Sway in the Morning, but he mainly let his answer be released via his new single, "The Truth." In a subsequent interview with Complex, he further defended his alleged assault, and he also talked about his relationship with his $90,000 pitbull (which has also earned him some notoriety).
He explained his actions in Florida by imagining if a similar situation had happened with a female artist performing and a male fan perhaps inappropriately touching her, the opposite gender roles of the situation in which Kevin found himself.
"But I'll say this, I'll use Nicki Minaj again 'cause people tell me that women love her and people love her: If I was to go front row while she was on stage performing and stick my finger in her pussy, and she kicked me in the mouth and knocked one of my gold teeth out, I would be wrong. I would be wrong for that, and that's all I'll say. To touch someone’s genitals without their consent is a sexual battery."
You can watch footage of the brutal kick here, but, in the same interview, Gates said that his camp has attained footage of the entire situation, not just the kick, which he thinks will alter the public perception (as well as that of the judge) surrounding his actions.
Gates was then asked about another one of his controversial, albeit less violent, stunts -- when he posted an Instagram video in which he claimed to have kicked a woman out of his house because she wouldn't perform oral sex on his dog.
Gates denied that he ever kicked out said woman, who was apparently present when he made the recording, and said that he simply put up the video because she didn't want the dog in the bed and he wanted to show some respect to his pooch, who apparently cost him $90,000.
"It's a micro exotic bully. I wouldn’t give a damn if a bitch -- I wouldn't let a bitch suck my dog's dick. You know how expensive? His nut cost 10 grand. People pay me 10 grand just to mail them the semen from my dog. ’Cause I got the most exotic dog in the game. God blessed me with it."
Do you find Gates' side of the Florida story to be convincing? Gates will release Islah on December 11.