Kirsten Gillibrand removes XXXTentacion from her campaign playlist
Gillibrand’s playlist, in its current iteration, features more women-identifying artists than any of the other current presidential candidates.
Today, the New York Times published a sweeping evaluation of each 2020 presidential candidate's current campaign playlists. Of all the mixes, New York Democratic senator Kirsten Gillibrand's incorporates the most women-identifying artists, with nods to Lizzo, Carly Rae Jepsen, Dixie Chicks, and Alicia Keys. Curiously, Gillibrand's also includes "Scared Of The Dark (Remix)," Lil Wayne, Ty Dolla $ign and Ozuna's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse soundtrack contribution.
The song features a posthumous appearance from XXXTentacion, who confessed to a number of domestic violence charges prior to his death in June 2018. Now, in an update to the initial playlist, Gillibrand's campaign tells the Times that "Scared Of The Dark" was removed back in spring. Though Gillibrand herself has yet to comment on the questionable decision, she did speak with the Times about her push for Al Franken's resignation, saying "others may regret standing with women, or back down from fighting for them. I never will."