Snoop Dogg is facing backlash after publicly calling out his Uber Eats driver for failing to deliver his food after the driver waited for eight minutes and claimed he was not in a “safe place”.
Over the weekend, the rapper, 50, shared a video of the messages between him and his delivery driver, in which the Uber Eats employee can repeatedly be seen telling Snoop Dogg that he has arrived.
According to the timestamps, the delivery driver originally arrived at 10.41pm, at which point he messaged the musician to inform him that he’d arrived. At that point, Uber Eats eight-minute delivery timer began, which gives the driver eight minutes to wait before they are allowed to cancel the order, while the driver could be seen sending two more messages, with one reiterating that he had arrived and another reading: “Hello.”
The driver then asked Snoop Dogg to “plz answer” as he was not sure “where to leave your order”.
At 10.49pm, the eight-minute timer expired, at which point the driver sent another message informing Snoop Dogg that he would be leaving because he didn’t feel safe.
“This is not a safe place,” the driver wrote, according to the video, prompting Snoop Dogg to reply: “Yes it is, pull up to the gate.”
“The black gate [and] drop off the food I paid for,” the video shows the singer continued, while Snoop Dogg could be heard expressing his frustration with the driver aloud in the video and calling him a “punk motherf**ker” and claiming he “didn’t bring my f**king food”.
In the caption, the “Gin and Juice” singer wrote: “Uber Eats where my food at,” along with a series of angry emojis, before adding: “Postmates holla at me.”
While some people were upset on Snoop Dogg’s behalf, others claimed that he was in the wrong in the situation, as he had not answered the driver’s initial messages.
“Excuse me. Don’t speak to gig drivers that way, that will get you banned from using delivery services. Also, the driver doesn’t ‘have your money.’ UE has it. If you know you’re expecting a delivery, maybe pay attention to your phone in case there’s an issue,” one person wrote.
Another said: “Snoop, I know you were upset, but next time, leave a better note, leave a better tip, and monitor the app.”
Others defended the delivery driver on the basis that he was doing exactly what protocol states, and that he was free to leave after he had waited the allotted eight minutes required by the food delivery platform.
“As an Uber Eats/Postmates Driver (THEY’RE THE SAME COMPANY, SNOOP!) the driver did sh*t by the book. Sorry man, but it’s the truth. We have a timer that we wait on, after that, we’re free to go if the customer doesn’t reply with that time. Time is money in this business. There are other orders to deliver and $$ to be made!” one person wrote.
Another said: “Uber Eats driver was in the right...he did everything he was supposed to do.”
“Instead of harassing decent ppl trying to make a dollar use some of those millions to get off your a** and get your food,” someone else added.
The video also prompted backlash over the rapper’s choice to share the delivery driver’s name, as well as the model and license plate of his car, with one person writing: “You posted his car and license plate too.”
“Now he about to sue your a** cuz you shared his plate make and model car number,” someone else commented, while others shared their concern that the driver would lose their job over the incident.
On Uber’s website, it notes that drivers who cannot reach the customer can end the order after a certain number of attempts.
“If you’re unable to find the customer when delivering, you can call or message them in the app. If they don’t answer, you can tap the banner that appears to indicate that they didn’t answer. This will send them a notification,” the website reads. “If they don’t contact you quickly, you can follow the prompts to end the delivery.”
In a statement to The Independent, an Uber Eats spokesperson said: “We truly regret Snoop Dogg’s frustrating experience. We have reached out to apologise and refunded him for the order.”
