Wale is revisiting the moment that turned into one of the most talked-about clips from this year’s BET Awards, his unexpected interaction with streamer Kai Cenat. What seemed like a light exchange quickly spiraled online after Cenat admitted on camera that he didn’t recognize the Grammy-nominated rapper. The fallout, Wale says, affected him more personally than viewers assumed.
During an interview on Shannon Sharpe’s Club Shay Shay, Wale explained how the situation struck a nerve. “Kai Cenat talking about mental health. He gets it now,” he said, using the incident to highlight how easily online reactions can impact someone. He continued: “Imagine giving your life to this game, then you go to support the culture that you’ve been a part of for 13 years. Then you go online, and everybody’s like, ‘Yo, @KaiCenat, he didn’t know who you were.’”
Social media users have since debated Wale’s feelings, with some questioning why the mix-up bothered him at all. “Wait is he saying his mental was affected bc a 23 year old who listens to Michael Jackson didn’t know him?” one person wrote. Another argued that Cenat’s age and streaming environment explained everything: “Kai was too young to recognize someone who is not as relevant anymore… Like just go back under the rock you been in bruh.”
The discourse began the night of the awards, after Cenat greeted Wale and later confessed he had no idea who he had just spoken to. When Wale spoke to him afterward, he expressed frustration about how the moment looked online. “That sh*t making me look crazy now, just so you know,” he told Cenat. “That’s making me look crazy, the exchange we had in the hallway. I mean, they running with it, but we’ll talk later.”
Cenat eventually apologized publicly. “I’mma go ahead and say to Wale, I hope he didn’t take my interaction personal,” he said on livestream. “How can you blame me from being who I am? You feel me? I’m young!” He also reminded viewers that he was only nine years old when “Lotus Flower Bomb” dropped.
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