Drake has reacted to the controversy surrounding a picture showing him with his face painted black.
The Canadian has been involved in a feud with fellow rapper Pusha-T, who earlier this week released the contentious image alongside a new song attacking Drake.
The Story Of Adidon alleges Drake has a secret son while the artwork accompanying the track shows the Views star – who is mixed race – in black face paint.
In a statement posted to his Instagram story, the Canadian rapper opened saying: “I know everyone is enjoying the circus”, before trying to clarify the image.
He revealed the picture was from 2007 when he was working as an actor on a project about black actors being stereotyped and struggling to get roles.
Drake added: “The photos represented how African Americans were once wrongfully portrayed in entertainment. Me and my best friend at the time Mazin Elsadig who is also an actor from Sudan were attempting to use our voices to bring awareness to the issues dealt with all the time as black actors at auditions.
“This was to highlight and raise out frustrations with not always getting a fair chance in the industry and to make a point that struggle for black actors had not changed much.”
The feud between Drake and Pusha-T, which started in 2016, was reignited last week with the release of the latter’s album, Daytona.
His song Infrared revisited allegations Drake used a ghost writer on some of his songs.