He was denied COVID-19 financial assistance because of his name

Tupac Shakur, a 46-year-old man from Kentucky applied for financial assistance due to the fact that he lost his job as a cook when the restaurant he worked out closed in order to help slow the spread of thecoronavirus pandemic.

His application was held up

Shakur, who goes by his middle name Malik, because of the obvious connection to the famous deceased rapper, received a monetary determination letter from the unemployment office but has since been waiting for his funds to arrive.

In an interview with the Lexington Herald Leader, Malik stated:

I’ve been struggling for like the last month trying to figure out how to pay the bills.

While he was wondering what was going on with his application and whether assistance would ever arrive, he ended up receiving more information on his request while watching a press conference being given by Kentucky Governor Andy Bashear, who stated:

We had somebody apply for unemployment for Tupac Shakur here in Kentucky. And that person may have thought they were being funny, they probably did. Except for the fact that because of them, we had to go through so many other claims.

The Governor apologized

Tupac was initially a little hurt by the comments, as he along with so many others, is in dire need of financial assistance during this time. The Governor called Shakur personally the next day to offer an apology.

Governor Bashear also made a public apology during a press conference you can see in the video above.