'I'm not playing no more of these political games': Ice Cube clarifies why he's working with Trump

Rapper Ice Cube is clarifying his comments about working with President Donald Trump on a plan geared toward helping Black Americans after he landed in hot water on social media.

"I didn't run to go work with any campaign. Both campaigns contacted me," he told Chris Cuomo on Friday. "Both campaigns wanted to talk to me about the Contract with Black America. One campaign said, 'We love what you have, but let's really dig into it after the election,' and one campaign said 'We love what you have, do you mind talking to us about it?' And that's what I did, so I didn't run to nobody."

Ice Cube has long been critical of Trump, having even released a 2018 song titled "Arrest the President." So it came as a shock to many who learned the N.W.A. rapper and Trump have been working together.

The "Boyz n the Hood" star said he's open to working with both Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden's team and Trump's team, but only the latter invited him to have a conversation about it now.

"I'm not playing no more of these political games ... I'm going to whoever's in power and I'm going to speak to them about our problems," Ice Cube said. "I'm not going in there talking about minorities, I'm not going in there talking about people of color or diversity or none of that stuff. I'm going there for Black Americans, the ones who are descendants of slaves."

The rapper added that he doesn't "trust" Biden nor Trump and he's not an anybody's "team," but he'll work with "whoever is in power."

The backlash erupted Tuesday when Trump's senior adviser, Katrina Pierson, tweeted out her appreciation for Jackson and "his willingness to step up and work with @realDonaldTrump Administration to help develop the #PlatinumPlan."

The West Coast rapper confirmed his participation in the Platinum Plan in a tweet Wednesday that revealed both Democrats and Republicans approached him about his Contract With Black America, a 22-page blueprint to achieve racial economic justice that Ice Cube spearheaded.

"Dems said we’ll address the CWBA after the election. Trump campaign made some adjustments to their plan after talking to us about the CWBA," he wrote.

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Many criticized Ice Cube for "working with the dark side."

"The wild thing is that Eazy E went to a fundraiser at the George HW Bush White House in 1991 and got criticized about *for the rest of his life.* Ice Cube apparently forgot about that when he decided to collaborate with an infinitely worse administration," tweeted Jelani Cobb about Jackson's N.W.A. bandmate.

"This so called plan is nothing but puffery. Another grave insult to the intelligence of the collective Black American population," user @w_bmarie wrote. "We are not sheep and Ice Cube certainly is not our shepherd."

Some had supportive reactions.

"You’ll never know unless you give him a chance," user @finn_tabulous tweeted. "The black community has been listening to Democrat promises for decades, with no results to show for it. As @realDonaldTrump said in 2016, 'What have you got to lose?' "

User @nolimitinc wrote, "my man! Love to hear it! This is another Big Step folks! I knew there was hope! I had a feeling CUBE could actually get some things done!! TO the REST of the critics, TALK IS CHEAP! Thank you Cube for setting examples & backing UP Ur words! TODAY WAS A GOOD DAY!!"

The rapper responded to some of the critics noting that "every side is the Darkside for us here in America" adding that both Democrats and Republicans are two sides of the same coin. He said that in creating the Contract With Black America, it was evident that both sides would be involved.

"They all lie and they all cheat but we can’t afford not to negotiate with whoever is in power or our condition in this country will never change," Ice Cube tweeted. "Our justice is bipartisan."

On Thursday, the rapper continued to defend working with Trump, tweeting: "I will advise anybody on the planet who has the power to help Black Americans close the enormous wealth gap."

Though Jackson is helping Trump, he said he still doesn't endorse any presidential candidate. In a video shared to his Twitter account Sunday, the "Barbershop" star addressed people who were upset with him for not publicly supporting presidential candidate Joe Biden and his running mate Sen. Kamala Harris.

"I don't trust none of them. No president has done right by us so I don't trust none of them. So putting our hopes and dreams behind any of them just don't work, we got to make them do what we want them to do and there's only a few ways to do that," Jackson said.

Contributing: Sara Moniuszko

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ice Cube clarifies working with Trump, says he's not on anybody's 'team'