Earlier today (Dec. 22), we reported on rapper Playboi Carti introducing his new Whole Lotta Red merch line, which featured definite metal imagery with upside-down crosses and evil looking images. But one of the items definitely caught the eye of Falling in Reverse frontman Ronnie Radke, who called out the rapper for using “Falling in Reverse” in the imagery of one of the T-shirts.
Radke initially reached out on social media using Instagram stories from his Instagram account to accuse the musician of stealing without gaining permission for usage of the name. “@playboicarti cease and desist mr rapper boi stop stealing,” wrote Radke in one posting, while a second posti suggested, “@playboicarti I’m gonna steal this back from you and sell it to my fans.”
As you might expect, a number of Playboi Carti fans then tried supporting the rapper online with Ronnie Radke weighing in on some of the comments. While some questioned who Radke was, he informed them of his chart-topping rock track “Popular Monster.”
When another person asked if he owned the name, Radke responded, “Yes. My band we sold millions of albums. lmfao. You don’t gotta know who we are but this dude for sure does.”
Playboi Carti also received some backlash on the line even prior to the dispute over the Falling in Reverse name. When Loudwire’s partner site, the hip-hop-focused XXL, shared images of the new Playboi Carti merch on Twitter, many commenters were aghast.
One remarked that Carti, whose real name is Jordan Terrell Carter, was “sellin one way tickets to hell” with the metal-inspired merchandise. “Never going to heaven if I wear this,” another said. Some other users reacted with memes communicating shock at the clothing’s imagery.
Carti’s new album, Whole Lotta Red, is due Dec. 25. The merch line can be seen here.