For a public figure who wears his emotions on his sleeve, like Wale, ignoring a troll can be more difficult than confronting one. On numerous occasions, when faced with someone seeking to get a rise out of him, Wale has given that person exactly what they wanted: recognition.
For fun, and in hopes that Wale gets better at dealing with these trifling provocateurs, here are five confrontations involving Wale.
When Wale headed to the Verizon Center to catch some Monday Night Raw action one evening in 2014, little did he know that he would confront an internet troll IRL.
The troll, Twitter user @Chefboymach, was seated just a few rows away from Wale. Here are his tweets:
@Chefboyrnach ight wya
— Wale (@Wale) April 1, 2014
(Below is a picture of @Chefboymach with Wale in the background.)
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It wasn't long before Wale located @Chefboymach and shoved him in the face. Cooler heads soon prevailed and Wale returned to his seat.
WWE security ran over to try & break things up! Everyone went in the hallway & now @Wale back chillin in his seat eating popcorn! #RAW
— Jawn Murray (@JawnMurray) April 1, 2014
In an interview with MTV, Wale explained his disgust for @Chefboymach and the speed with which he located him:
"It was just a dude that was like, ‘I’mma kick your ass. I better not see you here. I was like, ‘Yo, is this you?’ And one thing lead to another, and I just kind of mushed him a little bit. Honestly, if there wasn’t kids right there, it would have went a little bit differently, but I just wanted to be conscious of them. It’s not to say it was the right decision. But in the moment, you know.
“People get it misconstrued. Like, ‘Oh, you’re so butt-hurt.’ It’s not even that. I come from a place where when we was at the lunch table and niggas was jonesing on each other, I’ll respond. I’m gonna have something better, too. And now we’ve come to a place where, if you respond, you’re a bitch. Somebody could say ‘Fuck you’ 100 times, if I say ‘fuck you’ back, then I’m a bitch. And people be like, ‘You’re famous, you shouldn’t care. I care what people say because I try to be a man of the people.
“I just don’t understand, [in] society, why we champion people like that in this day and age. I remember when people used to admire real people that stand behind their words or are stand-up men. I come from that. I had to address him as such. It wasn’t nothing really serious.”
Wale has a nemesis. The nemesis goes by the name Fuck T.I.’s snitching ass, and he frequents the HNHH comment section from time to time. He has been known to comment “Wale needs to be assassinated” on any post involving Wale.
Wale took notice: "Up for no reason reading comments on HNHH," he wrote. "There's 1person who hates on every single thing I put out. I think it's comical such consistency."
Up for no reason reading comments on HNHH . There's 1person who hates on every single thing I put out.I think it's comical such consistency
— Wale (@Wale) October 30, 2015
In early 2015, Wale wrote a lengthy Instagram post in which he opened up about the pressures of fame, why he's a "weirdo," and his resolve to remain true to himself at all costs. "I find great joy in being able to be who I want to be," he wrote.
Instagram user @coolbreezedre left a response in which he criticized Wale under the artifice of "tuff love." "Stop crying you fucking pussy," he replied.
This set Wale off. "U the type of nigga I would love to fight forreal," Wale wrote. "Ur so stupid the world wouldn't miss u if I killed u. And I know its wrong but I hope something horrible happens to u today. Or I hope you pull up one day and tell me to my face. Ur the fuckiest of fuck boy. Fuckboy."
. Wale vs this Fan on Instagram is priceless . Wale said "u the type of nigga I would love to fight forreal" pic.twitter.com/x1WSreB01V
— DJ Akademiks (@IamAkademiks) October 24, 2015
Shortly after confronting a Toronto Raptors announcer who compared him unfavorably to Drake, Wale found himself embroiled in an argument with a fan in a parking lot as he left a Washington Wizards game.
"Come do something!" Wale yelled at the fan as he entered his vehicle. The fan responded that he was simply trying to take a picture with the MMG rapper. “A nigga just trying to take a picture of your bitch ass!” the man replied. “Your motherfucking boss a C.O., nigga!”
On the Internet when u defend urself ur criticized for being less of a man. There's NO honor in defending yourself,or your name.— Wale Folarin(@Wale) February 20, 2013
Somebody call u out your name . And you confront them . YOU wrong . So who u cheerin for the people who take insults in stride?Since when— Wale Folarin(@Wale) February 20, 2013
Earlier this week, Wale approached a woman as she left the Los Angeles club Bootsy Bellows. Annoyed, she turned around, asked him, "Are you really following me?" and blew smoke in his face. Wale responded by knocking her food onto the ground.
In a subsequent interview with TMZ Live (and Wale's infant), Wale explained that he had cracked a joke about bulimia and the woman seen in the video said something along the lines of, "you people are so disrespectful." Offended by the potential racial connotations of the phrase "you people," (shoutout Kirk Lazarus), Wale angrily confronted her.
"I'm not gonna hit a girl," he told TMZ. "So I just smacked her food... if you're talking like that to me and blowing smoke in my face after I didn't do nothing to you, rest in peace to your meal, sweetheart."
