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After participating in an epic Verzuz battle with Gucci Mane on Thursday night, which ended in heartwarming solidarity, Jeezy is doing a promo run in support of his new album, The Recession 2. He did an interview with The Morning Hustle, and aside from music, the topic of his relationship with TV personality Jeannie Mai came up. Specifically, the rapper was asked if he’d caught wind of comments she made years ago on The Real where she basically said she liked the idea of settling down with white men, but had dated Black men because they were attractive. The way she said it is has always been cringe-y.
“I loved Black guys,” she said during a conversation about interracial dating in 2014. “For me, dark meat on the side; white keeps me mean and lean. You know? That’s why I married a white man. That’s what I like.”
“I really do think Black men are attractive. I’m just saying when I think about men, I like dark men. I do. I used to date Black men. I think they’re attractive. But what I decided to stick to because it kept me happiest is my man Freddy [Harteis], who happens to be white,” she clarified.
That’s what she said that was released by producers on The Real’s YouTube page. It wasn’t said in an interview or chopped up by anybody else.
That comment didn’t age well once she went public with her relationship with Jeezy. However, he stated that she cleared the air about what she said back when they were first getting to know each other romantically.
“I’m a tell you how real she is. Before we even started dating we had that conversation.” he told The Morning Hustle. “First thing, when we really talked, she sat me down. She said, ‘Listen, it was something I said and it might have gotten taken out of context and I want you to listen to it in its entirety.’ I did.”
“I think you guys do journalism. People can take what they want,” he added. “I know her people. I know her family. I ain’t never felt no sense of racism. She comes from the Bay. That’s Black culture. She knows E-40 better than me! I just think sometimes, people look for things in people, but you gotta know, I’m a good judge of character. I’m not going to do nothin’ that’s going to jeopardize my integrity. She’s so solid, that’s one of the first conversations we had. I was like, ‘Wow. You different.'”
Jeezy went on to tell a story about his first interaction with Mai’s mother, “Mama Mai,” as she’s affectionately referred to.
“I went to a birthday party, and her mom met me before she introduced us,” he said. “She said, ‘Who are you?’ You know her mom a G. She looked me up and down, she looked at me and said, ‘Who you here to see?’ I said I’m here with [points towards Jeannie Mai]. She looked at me and said, ‘…I don’t know.'”
“Then we went to the after-party, I threw her an after-party for her birthday and had everybody come through,” he added. “I had food catered. I went over to her and brought her to the bar and was like, ‘You want some food, mama? You good?’ She looked and she said, ‘You know what? You handsome in the dark!’ We joke about that all the time. I’m handsome in the light, too.”
Jeezy and Mai first started dating in 2018. They announced their engagement in April of this year. She was previously married to Freddy Harteis for 10 years before their divorce was settled in 2019.
