Video footage of Drake kissing and cuddling a 17-year-old female fan on stage at a 2010 gig has surfaced online.
The rapper, now 32, was performing at the Ogden Theatre in Denver, Colorado in May 2010 when he invited the teen to join him during his show.
Footage filmed by a fan and posted on Twitter on Friday shows Drake slow dancing with the young woman, rubbing her shoulders, kissing her neck and then touching her chest in a hug.
After the audience cheered, Drake said: “Y’all are going to have me getting carried away again, I get in trouble for shitt like this.”
He then asked the girl her age and she replied that she is 17.
Drake then responded by saying: “I can’t go to jail yet, man! 17? Why do you look like that? You thick (hot). Look at all this… Well look, I had fun. I don’t know if I should feel guilty or not, but I had fun.”
He then kisses the girl’s face several times again before saying goodbye to her and continuing the concert.
Despite the Twitter user who posted the footage claiming the girl was “underage”, the age of consent in Colorado is 17. And in Drake’s native Canada, the age of consent is 16.
Male musicians’ interactions with younger female fans are under the spotlight following the airing of a three-part documentary on R. Kelly focusing on allegations he has engaged in emotionally and sexually abusive relationships with young women, some of whom were allegedly underage. A few social media users compared Drake’s actions to Kelly’s, but others wrote that the incident was not as serious as the allegations against Kelly.
“If you want to call it Drake, call him out,” one Twitter user wrote in response to a call to boycott Drake’s music as activists have with Kelly. “But if you’re trying to equate this to what R Kelly has been doing for decades, you’re not paying attention and have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Drake is yet to publicly respond to the backlash over the video.
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