Nardwuar knows things about people that no one else would know. He certainly would be an asset to the RCMP but instead, he upholds his duties as a journalist to dive deeper into an artist’s history. Many times, he brings gifts along with him but it appears that one member of Insane Clown Posse hoped that he’d be able to keep them.


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During a recent interview on Steve-O’s newly launched podcast, Violent J of Insane Clown Posse detailed his experience being interviewed by Nardwuar. Though he sounded largely appreciative of the level of research that went into the interview, he did express a sense of disappointment that he wasn’t able to keep some of the gifts Nardwuar pulled up with. “I don’t want to say nothing bad about Nardwuar but I gotta tell you something,” Violent J said. “I remember he gave us a Smiley album whose a local Detroit rapper that we used to be fans of when we were kids. And he had some Smiley vinyl. We were like, ‘Oh my God!’ He gave it to us, we were like ‘Hell yeah.’ After the interview, he takes it back, man.”

Nardwuar fired back at Violent J whose comments could be construed as somewhat harmful to the journalist’s credibility. If you’ve watched Nardwuar’s interviews, there have been a few occasions when artists confused memorabilia for the interview as gifts, though Nardwuar has always made it clear what is and isn’t available to take home.

“I’ve explained when I give a gift, I say it’s a gift. I don’t take my gifts back and when I show a record, I say, ‘This is a record, could you comment on it? Tell me about it.’ I don’t give it as a gift unless I say it’s a gift,” Nardwuar said in response. In the 40-minute clip posted to his YouTube channel, he even provided examples from previous interviews to explain his point. Check the full video below.