Members of the rap community have jumped to the defense of Michael B. Jordan and Jonathan Majors after rapper Cam'ron suggested an intimate photo shoot featuring the actors was the reason he didn't see "Creed III."
On Saturday, Cam'ron uploaded to Instagram two photos of the "Creed III" stars from a photo shoot accompanying their recent feature in The New York Times.
The first photo shows Majors hugging Jordan from behind as they both look forward into the camera. In the second image, the actors are resting their heads on each other.
"The reason I didn't go see creed," the "Hey Ma" rapper captioned his post.
While Cam'ron did not elaborate, his caption appeared to be a criticism of the intimate nature of Jordan and Majors' photo shoot.
Award-winning songwriter and rapper Skillz was among those to hit back at Cam'ron's line of thinking.
"We are our own worst enemies smh. I tell all my homies I love em…Why? Cuz I do! Sometimes it throws em off but Ion care, Ima keep saying that ish. Tomorrow aint promised. We all getting older man & death is definitley certain. Its already hard enough out here for black men as it is bro," Skillz wrote in his own Instagram post.
Skillz added: "How come men cant have healthy relationships with other men without masculinity or sexuality being questioned?"
Rapper Masta Ace commented on Skillz's post: "Well said Skillz…. !!!! I'm sharing this absolutely!"
Jarobi White, a founding member of the hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest, commented: "I think being afraid to show love to brothers because of being seen as gay is well…. Gay."
DJ Paul of Three 6 Mafia wrote: "My brother missing out cause its an Amazing movie! I've watched it five times and I'm not just saying that because we had the theme song in the trailer."
Released on March 3, "Creed III" earned $58.7 million in its opening weekend in North America and a further $41.8 million overseas, according to Vibe.
As well as starring as the movie's lead character, Adonis Creed, Jordan also directed the movie.
Speaking about his directional debut in an interview with IndieWire, Jordan said the plot of the movie was inspired by anime series like "Naruto" and "Dragon Ball Z."
"I love the thought process of anime, the internal dialog, and seeing the world through how [characters] think. They just achieve a level of action that live action just sometimes doesn't give you," he said.
