After being crowned the victor in the recent Verzuz against Omarion, it appears that Mario couldn’t just accept the feat and walk away unscathed.
The “How Could You” announced “#MarioMonday,” his new partnership with Femme It Forward which kicked off on Monday (July 11) with a Serenade Takeover. The news was celebrated briefly until he also revealed that he has a new single coming soon with Tory Lanez titled “Main One,” slated for release on Friday, July 15.
With Lanez still being investigated for the 2020 shooting involving Megan Thee Stallion, fans flooded Mario’s mentions with questions and comments including one writing, “Black cis-het men stay working with these clowns who cause harm to Black women, femmes, etc. Doing this is a slap in the face, corny, and definitely hypocritical with all that talk he was saying in Verzuz. Misogynoir and Black cis-het patriarchy keep y’all’s pockets full.” Another fan quoted Lauryn Hill by asking, “How you gon win when you ain’t right within?”
Many found it odd that Mario would collaborate with Lanez, considering how after the shooting, the singer took to Twitter with a message about protecting Black women.
“This @theestallion & @torylanez situation got me in awe. Sad AF? Knowing Tory personally this sh*t crazy to me. Black men we gotta learn how to control our ego, anger etc. at some point the switch gotta turn off! Protect black women! Heal black men. Love & respect each other!” he tweeted in August 2020.
The singer indirectly addressed the backlash during Monday’s livestream and stated, “As an independent artist doing his thing, it’s a lot of artists that don’t work as hard as he do so regardless of whatever, the music is what it is […] the music is what you love people for. If y’all f**k with the music, f**k with it. If you don’t, we’re just gonna keep creating.”
Mario will be joined by Omarion and Pleasure P for the next Femme It Forward event in Washington, D.C. on July 29.