Tupac Shakur Files for Unemployment in Kentucky

The Lexington Herald reports Kentucky Governor, Andy Beshear, blames a resident for causing a delay in the state issuing unemployment checks because he thought they used a fake name. Turns out, he was wrong! The man's name? Tupac Shakur!

There's only one problem with Governor Beshear's public address: the Kentucky resident was legit and so was his claim for unemployment benefits. Oops! Turns out, he was dead wrong. To make matters worse, he used Mr. Shakur as an example of the states "bad apples," accused him of filling for benefits under false pretenses, and taking advantage of the system using the coronavirus pandemic. Wow!

Is that slander? Of course, anyone seeing Shakur's name on a application would've initially thought it was a fake, too. However, before going on TV Monday night, it would've made a lot of sense to investigate the legitimacy of the application. Had they done a background check on the man's social security number, address, phone number etc... he would've spared himself the embarrassment. During Kentucky's Monday night news conference, the governor said:

“We had somebody apply for unemployment for Tupac Shakur here in Kentucky,” Beshear continued, “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.”

According to reports, Mr. Shakur received a personal apology from the governor soon after he was informed that he used his legal name to file the claim. The governor also returned to TV the next day and made a public apology.