Charleston White has become a sounding board for pop culture moments—whether people like it or not. Hours after the news broke that Florida rapper Julio Foolio—or simply, Foolio—had been fatally shot at Holiday Inn in Tampa, White hopped on Instagram to weigh in on the incident and, par for the course, some of his comments have proven to be controversial.
For starters, White said nobody should mourn Foolio’s death because of the way the rapper carried himself and how “hard” he tried to die, a reference to the multiple times he’d already been shot.
“I knew they was going to get him ‘cause the boy worked hard to die,” White said. “That boy worked hard to get shot on. Man, he shot his foot off last year givin’ his partner [inaudible]. N#### got his foot shot off, he’s not supposed to be bouncing around on his birthday. Man, get somewhere and sit down and rest that foot and work your hips, n#### […] Then I’m thinking, ‘At the Holiday Inn?’ What the f###?
“There ain’t no protection on a n#### at a Holiday Inn. They ain’t even got valet parking! Man, that n#### worked hard to die. S###, he earned it. Should nobody be sad. The way the n#### lived and talked gangsta, should nobody be sad for what happened to Julio Foolio. One thing we know about him, he didn’t go to heaven.”
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Foolio—an alleged member of the Bully Gang—was caught up in the ongoing gang wars in his hometown of Jacksonville, Florida. Over the last few years, Jacksonville has received a lot of media attention nationwide from Foolio’s beef with Yungeen Ace, a member of the ATK.
Last year, Foolio and other members of Bully Gang went to a cemetery to film a video for Bully Gang rapper Jake Jhitt and posed for photos in front of the burial site of Royale De’Von Smith Jr. Smith—or “23” as he was known.
Smith was in a car with Yungeen Ace and two other teens celebrating Smith’s birthday at a restaurant at the St. Johns Town Center in June 2018, when their car was riddled with bullets. Smith and two other men—including Ace’s brother—were killed.
White referred to the incident at one point in the video, saying, “He had all the time in the world to apologize to them people. He was going to the graveyard, rapping at the graveyard and making mamas cry. So some people are relieved.”
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Foolio was shot on Sunday (June 23) after being ambushed in the hotel parking lot. Despite first responders’ best efforts to save him, Foolio succumbed to his injuries. His attorney, Lewis Fusco, confirmed the tragic news, saying, “Yes, I have been his attorney for many years. He was shot and killed in Tampa. I cannot make any statements at this time other than confirming he was killed outside of a Holiday Inn hotel while celebrating his birthday in Tampa this weekend.”
Fusco explained Foolio had been in Tampa all weekend to celebrate his birthday, where he initially stayed at an Airbnb but was asked to vacate the property due to the number of people at the residence. He then booked a room at a local Holiday Inn, where he was evidently ambushed in the parking lot.
“All of this information has been released by law enforcement,” Fusco added. “However, I am unable to comment on anything else at this time until it becomes public record.”
