A former deputy mayor who got into a Twitter fight with a Philadelphia rapper over his criticism of Drake says he is glad he spoke up on behalf of one of Toronto’s most famous residents.

Coun. Norm Kelly tweeted at rapper Meek Mill on Wednesday to inform him that he was “no longer welcome in Toronto” after he posted a series of tweets suggesting that Drake doesn’t write his own lyrics.

Mill, whose real name is Robert Williams, then tweeted back at Kelly calling him a “thug.”

“Aye white man @norm what gives you the audacity to tell me I can't come somewhere over me voicing my opinion! U sound like a thug lol,” he wrote.

Kelly’s initial tweet to Mill was retweeted more than 108,000 times while Mill’s reply was retweeted more than 24,000 times.

Though most councillors don’t make a habit out of calling out famous rappers on social media, Kelly told CP24 on Thursday that he felt compelled to say something after Mill took a shot at one of Toronto’s favourite sons.

“Drake is a remarkably talented young man, he has made Torontonians proud, and the brand that he is displaying to the rest of the world is that this is a hip, if that word is still even in fashion, place to live. And then all of a sudden this guy who I have never heard of throws a grenade at Drake and I thought ‘hey, what are you thinking?,’” Kelly said. “Drake makes no bones about it; he is Toronto and I wanted to defend both Drake and Toronto against this unwarranted puzzling attack on him.”

Though Drake has yet to respond to Mill, his longtime producer Noah “40” Shebib did post a series of messages to Twitter on Wednesday rebutting his claims.

As for Kelly, the Ward 40 Coun. says he isn’t worried about having an enemy in the hip hop world.

“What I have learned about the rap world is that it has its own vocabulary. Thug could have meant anything,” he said. “I just took it as the explosion of emotion he felt at that moment.”

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