In an interview with The Breakfast Club, Wale claims that being gay is an asset to artists. As frustrating as this sounds at first... there's actually kind of a lot to unpack? He's responding to the question of whether gay artists can succeed in hip-hop, which on one level feels like it's totally missing the point and operating on what feels like a bit of an outdated understanding of the industry (among other things, there's a reason this season of Empire has almost totally dropped homophobia as an obstacle for Jamal). Sure, Wale calls homophobia "corny," but that's not quite the same as "bigoted and wrong." And then he says that "it's an advantage to be gay in this country right now, that's just the fact of the matter."It's really not that hard to acknowledge that there is an emerging audience for queer artists like Le1f, Frank Ocean, and Angel Haze, while also admitting that institutional obstacles still exist. Some of his examples of successful gay artists are not super talented, but others, like Frank Ocean, are god-damned kings. And while he gives examples of artists who are allegedly just as talented as more successful gay people, there's of course no reason Wale would be advocating for, say, Miguel (other than hopping on the remix of "Coffee"). Hopefully, Wale won't take after his collaborator and complain about political correctness when he is rightly criticized for these comments before driving off to the Hamptons in a Porsche and dating a teenage girl.