Violent J, who formed ICP with Shaggy 2 Dope, told HuffPost in a series of texts that he found Wood’s description to be inaccurate. “I can’t believe TheAtlantic.com would hire a writer, presumably for his expertise in journalism who’s that off the mark, as well as an editor for his or her fact checking abilities who obviously lives within a reality separate from our own when it comes to defining who Juggalos truly are and what they’re about,” he wrote.
Unlike Trump, ICP also showed leadership in the fight against the coronavirus. The group canceled its yearly Gathering of the Juggalos the same month the president was downplaying the virus.
“The bottom line is that we REFUSE to risk even ONE Juggalo life by hosting a Gathering during these troubling times,” ICP tweeted last April.
Daniel Dale, a reporter for CNN, tweeted that covering the 2017 Juggalo protest “was the most pleasant reporting experience I’ve had in Washington. The Juggalos were unfailingly, sometimes comically friendly.”
That description is a far cry from the pro-Trump protest on Jan. 6 that eventually devolved into an insurrection that left five people dead, including a police officer.
In a follow-up text on Tuesday, Violent J said he was hurt to see Wood’s mischaracterization of the Juggalo community.
“The truth is it fuckin’ hurts and [it’s] scary seeing professional adults acting like savage bullies,” he said, noting that ICP fans make “easy targets because they’re so misunderstood.”
He added: “sad little bullshit like this makes me question the media in general and [lose] a little faith in just about [everything] I fuckin read!”