Diddy has issued another statement, reconfirming his thoughts about Kanye West‘s controversial “White Lives Matter” shirt.
In a quick video shared to his Instagram account, Diddy made it clear that, while his general support for Ye remains unwavering, the two are clearly at odds on this issue.
“I’ve always been there and I will always support my brother Kanye as a free thinker,” he stated. “But the ‘White Lives Matter’ t-shirt? I don’t rock with it and what the press and what fashion is doing, thinking it’s a joke; when right now, all America has for us is poverty, incarceration and death.
“So before I can get to any other lives mattering,” Diddy continued, “which all lives matter… That Black Lives Matter: don’t play with it. Don’t wear the shirt. Don’t buy the shirt. Don’t play with the shirt. It’s not a joke.”
The clip comes just a day after the Bad Boy Records mogul addressed the media frenzy surrounding Ye’s inclusion of the t-shirt as part of the Yeezy showing at Paris Fashion Week on Monday (October 3).
During a sit down with The Breakfast Club, Diddy’s original comments acknowledged that move undermined the Black Lives Matter movement and slogan. However, he insisted that Kanye be allowed some grace around the situation.
“We don’t have to condemn Kanye or cancel him or have to go crazy,” he said, “but at the same time, you gotta understand your actions. The action of that, you know, I couldn’t put out the ‘Kanye Or Nothing’ t-shirt. I just couldn’t do it today, and I wanted to put out my first t-shirt tribute to Kanye, and I’m a still do it. I just need a couple of days to get over.”
Ahmaud Arbery’s mother, however, was much more direct in publicly admonishing West’s actions and his subsequent statements doubling down on the shirt’s messaging. Wanda Cooper-James — whose son was famously murdered by three white men in South Georgia while out on a run — told Rolling Stone in a statement that Ye’s actions “directly support and legitimize extremist behavior, [much] like the behavior that took the life of her son.”
“This mockery of the Black Lives Matter movement and his now denunciation of the movement as some sort of hoax flies directly in the face [of what he’s said],” the statement read. “It’s confusing for her, it’s confusing for the families to receive his support privately, but publicly to set us all back.”
Kanye previously supported Arbery following his tragic death and lent financial support to the mourning families of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd and Breonna Taylor with a $2 million donation in June 2020. Yeezy also paid for all of the legal fees for the Arbery family in their fight for justice.
Lauryn Hill's Daughter Defends Kanye West's 'White Lives Matter' Shirt
In the midst of the uproar surrounding the Yeezy fashion brand, adidas issued a statement on Wednesday declaring that their relationship with the brand and Ye himself are currently “under review.”
“The adidas Yeezy partnership is one of the most successful collaborations in our industry’s history,” the company said in a statement. “We are proud of our team that has worked tirelessly throughout our collaboration with Ye and the iconic products that were born from it.
“We also recognize that all successful partnerships are rooted in mutual respect and shared values. After repeated efforts to privately resolve the situation, we have taken the decision to place the partnership under review. We will continue to co-manage the current product during this period.”
West responded to the announcement with an Instagram post reaffirming his accusation that adidas stole his designs.
Oh now he’s standing up against it? Before it was free thinking. But now don’t play with it? Dude literally stands for nothing. You were ok with it cause your natural instinct was Kanye is someone that’s known so u had to defend his ignorance now you’re like oh crap I forgot I pretended to care about black ppl and you’re backtracking lol.
“White Dick Tastes Good.”
Kanye looking like he about to rob a bank lmao
Diddy: “all America has for us is poverty, incarceration and death.”
Millions of black people graduated and going to college. Obama President. Lots of black athletes
Big-name rappers today will say practically anything, as long as they getting something in return! Such pawns, sad af, all the good ones are gone, muted (3stacks), or just under the radar and unheard.
what is kanye trying to pull he just piss everyone off.
So many rap artists (actually all types of artists in general) will go against their own conscience, personal morals, standards and beliefs, to promote others’ agendas for financial sponsorship, support and benefits. For the love of money…
“All America has for us is poverty, incarceration, and death”. It’s awkward because Puff amassed wealth selling music that’s based on those same concepts. The only color he cares about is green
For once in many moons I must agree with Puffy usually I’m at odds with his viewpoints and especially his actions, but in this case I must agree with this Fruitcake. For some of the posters below me when he spoke of us only having poverty, prison and death, he was using a broad stroke-brush to describe the conditions of most Blacks. Of course you can pick out a handful of very successful Blacks yet the conditions for most of us are as he described. Do I have a degree? Of course I do because I come from a family where education is very important yet not everyone has that benefit. If we were not being shot down in the streets like dogs then there would be no need for BLM. In fact we are treated worse than dogs because dogs along with other animals are protected by PETA, so we are treated worse than dogs. Hmm… let that sink in, and don’t dare tell me there is no racism and that we all are treated fairly. Whites who commit mass murders are taken into custody, whereas Blacks who are unarmed are killed on the spot. Correct me when I’m wrong!
Just looking at that pic of Kanye. Nah, bro. Really?