The Internet is a ruthless and unforgiving place. We hear people decry cancel culture every day, as celebrities and public figures get jumped on for the slightest slip-up. Tory Lanez knows the way the game works but he will not let himself go down like that. 

On Wednesday (Feb. 5), he shared a photo on Instagram of himself sitting on a couch beside his son. While at first glance this appears to just be a harmless, even heartwarming, “like father like son” moment, if you give the pic a closer inspection, you might detect that Tory’s got a blunt tucked between his fingers. The Toronto rapper foresaw that there would be a faction of people ripping him apart for smoking in front of his young child, so he shut them down before they got the chance. “Minus the tobacco (which is not lit) for u shade room Ass n****s,” he pointed out in the caption. 

Did Tory just defuse a potential bomb? It’s not hard to imagine a hip hop blog headline along the lines of “Tory Lanez Gets Dragged For Smoking In Front Of His Young Son.” In an alternate universe, I could have even been writing that article at this very moment. Instead, I’m just informing you that Tory came prepared.