Malia Obama Photo: Rapper Joey Bada$$ Claims White House Tapped His Phones After Sharing Instagram Shot Of Malia

Malia Obama may have given Joey Bada$$ a big boost when she was seen wearing his rap group’s shirt, but now the president’s daughter may instead be landing the Brooklyn rapper in big trouble.

In an interview with New York radio station Hot 97 on Friday, Joey said a picture he shared of Malia ended up landing him in hot water with the White House. The rapper had shared a picture of Malia Obama wearing a shirt bearing the emblem of Pro Era, the hip hop collective that he heads up.

News outlets at the time reported that Barack and Michelle Obama were upset over the photo, as they do not want unauthorized photos of their daughters published on social media or anywhere else online. The photo is especially controversial given Pro Era’s reputation as “an Anti-Cop gangster rap group” that promotes “violence, gun play, and cop killing.”

Reports at the time indicated that the White House was investigating how Pro Era came across the photo, but it appears that nothing came of it.

Now, rapper Joey Bada$$ is opening up about the incident, saying he didn’t even realize it was Malia Obama when he first re-posted the picture.

“What’s so special about this girl in this shirt?” he said on the Ebro in the Morning show, recalling when he first saw the photo.

“I didn’t know who it was. The picture wasn’t the clearest quality.”

Joey even joked that the White House came down hard on him for the unauthorized shot of Malia.

“They got my phone lines tapped,” he said. He added the following.

“But it’s all good, my mom voted for Obama… I’m good, I’m Gucci.”

This actually isn’t the first time an unauthorized photo of Malia Obama has made waves. Last year, she was spotted at the Lollapalooza concert in Chicago, with photos of her at a Chance the Rapper show turning up on Twitter.

[Images via United Virtuoso and Bossip]