Kendrick Lamar faces backlash over 'Eskimo' slur in GNX: "Being woke ALWAYS backfires"

Kendrick Lamar surprised fans with the release of his seventh studio album, GNX, Last Friday, November 22, and one of its tracks has sparked controversy online for allegedly including a racial slur aimed at Indigenous people.

The song Wacced Out Murals features the following lines: "Whatever, though, call me crazy, everybody questionable/ Turn me to an eskimo, I drew the lines and decimals."

Some listeners have criticized the use of "Eskimo" as a derogatory term directed at Native American communities, with many taking to X to voice their concerns, "Being woke ALWAYS backfires in the end.”

Several users have called out the Poetic Justice rapper for using what they consider "colonizer language."

"Kendrick using a slur for Inuit and Yupik people during Native American Heritage Month in the US was not on my bingo card" - wrote an X user.

"Kendrick calling people colonizers, then uses the colonizer language and puts out a song calling Inuit people eskimos is so disrespectful" - commented another user.

"Dude I don’t want to be that guy by Kendrick saying Eskimo is racist. Why is it okay for someone of that level to say slanderous names like that? Really upsetting." - replied a user.

However, some people have defended Kendrick Lamar, arguing that "Eskimo" is not considered a slur.

"30 years down and I’m learning sumn new. I thought Eskimo was an Alaskan who lives in an igloo lol. I guarantee you nobody in AMERICA thought of that as an offensive term. Canadians maybe." - posted a user.

"What? I’m native and saying Eskimo is not a slur, he just means turned cold." - commented another one.

"Eskimo is a slur??? Damn why are we now being made aware of this" - replied another.