A controversial rant by Snoop Dogg, on the same day the AFL handed down a four-match ban to Izak Rankine for a homophobic slur, has put the rapper’s grand final performance back in the spotlight.

Rankine was formally suspended on Thursday after he directed the word “f*****” at a Collingwood player during last Saturday’s clash at Adelaide Oval, with the AFL announcing he would serve a four-week ban after more than a week of deliberation.

Snoop Dogg’s presence at the premiership decider formed part of the Crows’ defence of Rankine, given the rapper’s previous use of homophobic slurs and anti-gay sentiment in lyrics.

AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon defended the 2025 headline act when he faced questions over Rankine’s ban on Thursday.

However, in a further blow to the AFL, the American artist who is being paid millions to appear has lashed out at the depiction of same-sex parents in children’s content.

“If you ask me now, they’re really taking the masculinity out of me,” he told the ‘It’s Giving’ Podcast in the United States.

“I look at the commercials, I look at everything that comes on TV, movies, TV shows, and it’s always including some form of having a black man not as strong as he could be.”

He added he was cool with “different sides and different elements of the black man,” but pointing to himself, insisting, “ this is always the lead”.

“Because without this, we can’t reproduce,” he said before doubling down by saying his 10 grandchildren exist because he is a strong, upfront man.

The 53-year-old rapper then shared an expletive-laden story about his grandson asking, “Papa Snoop, how’d she have a baby with a woman?”

“I’m like oh s***, I didn’t come in for this s***, I just came to watch the goddamn movie,” he said.

“So that’s like this, f*** me. I’m scared to go to the movies now, like y’all throwing me in the middle of s*** that I don’t have an answer for.”

“It threw me for a loop. I’m like, what part of the movie was this? These are kids that we have to show at this age.

“They’re going to ask questions, yeah. They’re going to ask, I don’t have the answer.”

Dillon said on Thursday they had hired Snoop Dogg as the man he is now, saying he had changed his image.

“We cannot vouch for every lyric, in every song, ever written or performed, by any artist who has or will appear on our stage,” Dillion said.

He assured fans Snoop Dogg’s performance would be “family friendly”, before saying the musician has “changed” since his homophobic comments.

“We have engaged Snoop Dogg in 2025 as the person he is today,” Dillon said.

“He has spoken publicly about his past, he has changed, and today he is a grandfather [and a] philanthropist, he helps rehabilitate youth, and he’s a global entertainer.”

In the hour-long podcast episode, Snoop Dogg also discussed his obsession with pimps and condoned cheating “if you don’t get caught”.

“Hello, we can’t continue to bring tribes of generations into this world when this ain’t in the front,” he said, again pointing to himself.