Kanye West has addressed the backlash to the “White Lives Matter” shirt he wore during his Yeezy Season 9 fashion show in Paris, France.
The Chicago rap icon sparked outrage on Monday (October 3) when he sported a long-sleeve tee adorned with the controversial slogan while unveiling his latest Yeezy collection during Paris Fashion Week.
Adding more fuel to the fire, Kanye posed for a photo next to Candace Owens — the rightwing political pundit he’s aligned himself with in recent years — in matching “White Lives Matter” shirts, which featured an image of Pope John Paul II on the front.
Various models, including Lauryn Hill’s 18-year-old daughter Selah Marley, also wore the shirt on the runway during the exclusive event.
Considered a “hate slogan” by the Anti-Defamation League, “White Lives Matter” has been used by white supremacists in response to the Black Lives Matter movement, which built steam following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police in 2020.
Yet none of that seemed to bother Kanye, who issued an unapologetic response to the controversy on his Instagram Stories early Tuesday (October 4).
“Everyone knows that Black Lives Matter was a scam,” he wrote, referencing the multi-million dollar financial scandals that have plagued the organization. “Now its over[.] You’re welcome.”
Kanye faced sharp criticism from various artists and celebrities over his “White Lives Matter” shirt, including Jaden Smith, Boosie Badazz and Marc Lamont Hill.
“I Had To Dip Lol,” tweeted Smith after leaving the Yeezy Season 9 show in protest. “True Leaders Lead. I Don’t Care Who’s It Is If I Don’t Feel The Message I’m Out. Black Lives Matter. We Demand A More Progressive Future.”
“@kanyewest AFTER ALL WE BEEN THROUGH AS A RACE YOU PUT THIS DISRESPECTFUL SHIT ON!!” Boosie fumed on Twitter. “U GIVES NO FUCKS ABOUT HOW BLACKS HAVE DIED N SUFFERED TO THE HANDS OF THE WHITE MAN N U SAY BUSH DON’T LIKE BLACK PEOPLE…REALLY N-GGA.”
Hill wrote: “Kanye West decision to wear a ‘White Lives Matter’ shirt is disgusting, dangerous, and irresponsible. Some of y’all will rush to defend him. You should ask yourselves why.”
Kanye West Slavery Was A 'Choice' Comment Was 'Fucking Crazy & Disrespectful' Van Lathan Says
Hollywood Unlocked founder-CEO Jason Lee, who was appointed West’s head of media and partnerships in March, announced he no longer works with the billionaire rapper.
“Very humble and thankful to Ye for the opportunity to work with him but that part of our relationship has come to an end,” he wrote next to the aforementioned photo of Kanye and Candace Owens on his Instagram Stories. “And I don’t support this.”
Kanye West has come under fire numerous times for his comments about race in recent years. During an eventful appearance on TMZ Live in 2018, the rap mogul suggested that slavery was a “choice,” weeks after posting a photo of himself wearing a Make America Great Again hat in support of President Donald Trump.
“When you hear about slavery for 400 years… for 400 years? That sound like a choice,” he said. “Like, you was there for 400 years and it’s all of y’all? We’re mentally imprisoned.”
His comments provoked an angry response from Black TMZ employee, Van Lathan, who lectured Kanye over his ignorance and insensitivity.
“You’re entitled to believe whatever you want, but there is fact and real-world, real-life consequence behind everything that you just said,” he said as Ye stood stroking his chin.
“We have to deal with the marginalisation that has come from the 400 years of slavery that you said for our people was a choice. Frankly, I’m disappointed, I’m appalled, and brother, I am unbelievably hurt by the fact that you have morphed into something to me that’s not real.”
Kanye the real life Clayton Bigsby
no lies detected lol
the clowns who “dipped” from the fashion show planned that. as far as I’m concerned Jaden smith torched his rap career with this move. gonna have to put that real work in at this point. learn to engineer. gonna be a different world back home for you once the smoke clears
Ever since Kanye stopped listening to you BLACK racists he became a billionaire muhahahahahaahhah suckers!!!
nah that’s not the flex – you were crying about the Lary Hoover show three months ago now you want to act like you are personally giving Ye orders. Ye does what he wants nothing to do with Karl’s prediclections
unfortunately more than one thing can be true at once. Ye is taking the chance of going against doctrine because he has seen the destruction in his community continue for years. he has been rich for at least 20 years been around bilionaires who were richer than him who gave to all the “right” causes and nothing happened things got worse. so he’s talken stands tahat make it seem that he’s on the “wrong” side. How many years are you supposed to be rich, donate to causes and accept nothing changes just gets worse?
Chapstick
first black female judge in the supreme court in the news i was like fuck about time i mean don’t these things ever occur to the presidents of 60s 70s 80s are they like no we have to wait until 2022 i can’t do it.
He ain’t lying. BLM was and is a scam. Who exactly have they helped? I don’t see any communities benefiting from the money they raised. As a community we really need to stop crying about everything. It makes us look weak.
Get your life together and raise your game. Worrying about what someone is wearing gtfoh.
Police Reform
Removal of Racist Relics (statues etc.)
Changes to Education in regards to race equity
Entertainment and Pop Culture in regards bringing forth racial issues and how the entertainment industries treat black people.
The list goes on. You may not notice the changes, but change in real life is subtle. It’s not like putting on a new game. It takes time and the systems in place have to catch up and adjust.
Yeah. Everything you listed is horseshit. All of that has made the US more divided and racist. Most importantly if all, it out more black people in prison.
Woke liberal bullshit, you have gsy teachers and satanic pedophiles teaching kids how to have gay sex at pre school… you have no idea what you’re talking about
Black people bitch and then don’t really do much. They just expect white people to change it. That’s why their communities are trash. They complain they are being ignored while not really doing anything.
True. Chicago is a prime example.
Yes it’s true black people are like little babies who demand and demand and cry for more.. Segregation would be a great idea. I bet after like a year segregation the blacks would demand to end it because they would have fucked things up so badly and couldn’t fix it.
I’ve deleted all his music. He’s a clown and needs mental health counselling
Now you deleted all his music? How many years he’s been doing cringe shit and you still supported his ass?
‘We demand a more progressive future’ says the damn near billionaire rich black kid who lives better than 99% of the WORLD lol celebs just parrot things now to look good
I’ve never seen someone be so simple minded and dumb. BLM IS a scam..as in the organization. They grifted ppl. There’s grifters in it like Shaun Hill and Tamika Mallory and many others. But that’s not relevant to BLM. Such a moron.
He’s a dust head. It’s not much more complicated than that. Look at his face. It always looks ‘wet’. Dude is dusted and disgusted. A multi-millionaire drug addict is always a whirlwind of chaos and drama. I also have always felt that he has suppressed homosexuality issues that make him lash out. He’s a cancer to society. He purposely tries to be a bad influence, out of spite. He’s mad at society for ‘forcing him’ to be in the closet as a gay man. That’s where all that religious bs comes from too.
BLM was an organization was a scam. And BLM as a slogan was racist. ALL LIVES MATTER and no race gets to own the word “MATTER”. Any race can use it to support themselves. This is getting to be as bad as another word blacks use to describe the male gender, but if whites use the same word in the same context they get accused of saying a slur. Once again, no race gets to own the use of a word exclusively. If black lives matter, then white lives matter too. And all lives matter. Deal with it. Nobody is going to bow down to these double standards.
Man what are you talking about other than white privilege and entitlement. Black Lives Matter is a slogan because it seemed for a good while that Certain law enforcement officials didn’t act as though they did. Putting knees on a man’s neck while having your hands in your pocket as though it were “no big deal”; that’s who and what that “slogan” was for. Being a good human being, you should want to respect people’s sensibilities. White privilege and entitlement is all you seem to be about. You can say the N word around a group of “aggressive-looking” black people anytime you feel like it. But that’s not what people like you want; you want black people to let their guard down and not feel like beating the piss out of you as soon as you say it. Grow up, you can’t do or have anything you want. BLM has bad leadership and the statement “Black Lives Matter” is a reminder to people who don’t believe they do. Of course all lives matter bro but at a point in time, we were getting slayed in public, on cameras with little to no legal ramifications.
You sound like youre the one crying. Crying over how non-black people use a word if it doesnt suit your agenda. The word “MATTER” has no color. The N word had a color 20-30 years ago until rappers bleached it to sell records to suburban white kids. Let me ask you something…if you were a rapper, DOES WHITE MONEY MATTER ? I dont see yall having any problems taking the white mans money when they buy an album. And white privlidge is a myth. Privlidge doesnt have a color. Are Michael Jordans kids not privileged ? How about Diddy’s son ? Not privlidged ? Master P’s son Romeo ? Not privileged ? Obama’s daughters ? Not privileged ? And lets not forget Kanye’s kids. The bottom line is nothing is off limits when it comes to getting rich. And rich peoples kids are privlidged because their parents have influence. It has noting to do with color. Its 2022 and its time to stop playing the victim. Slavery been over since 1865. Jim crow been over since 1968. Go find your hustle and get your bag. Yes George Floyd shouldn’t have been killed. Im glad Derick Chavin is in jail for life. But lets keep it 100, if George Floyd hadnt given the lady a counterfeit 20 dollar bill, the whole situation wouldnt have happened. Im not condoning those cops actions. But they dont represents the majority of cops. So yes BLUE LIVES MATTER TOO. Cops have a split second to decide whether to kill or be killed with a potential bad guy. Put your hands up in the air means exactly that. Not reach in your pocket or run away. Thats just facts. No cop wants to go through a year of trials and go into hiding for life just to kill a man. The belief that cops are slaughtering minorities on purpose is insane.
You talk a lot of nonsense and make veiled racist comments but you spot on regarding this topic
I’m surprised you’re not spewing your usual semi racist bs. Today you on point
I’m surprised Real Talk is not spewing his usual semi-racist nonsense. He’s on point today. BLM and WLM are both garbage. All Lives Matter period
Get em! Everything you said is true. Best comment in the whole section.
Way to spam. You’re dead wrong, some of us don’t sell our integrity for anybody’s money
KaNyE iS aBsOlUtElY rIGhT! BLM iS a ScAm! All lives matter!! The Phrase “Black Lives Matter is a huge insult to us black people. Can’t you all see that? Smh..
You sound half retard.ed. Go back to bed.
READING THROUGH THE COMMENTS SECTION, ITS PLAIN TO SEE HOW BLIND EVERYONE IS TO THE FACTS. KANYE OBVIOUSLY STILL KISSING UP TO WHITES AND STILL BEGGING TO GET ACCEPTED IN THE FASHION WORLD. ESPECIALLY AFTER THE ADIDAS FALLOUT. YOU BUMS CAN’T SEE THIS AGENDA REVOLVES AROUND HIM AND HIM ONLY?
You’re a moron if you think it’s about white people. Rumors have been going around that he’s been in The studio with different artist. He ALWAYS does some outlandish shit for every album rollout. And this will be one of them.
NO ONE IS TALKING ABOUT ALBUMS OR ARTISTS. SOUNDS LIKE YOU PURPOSELY MISINTERPRETTED ME BC YOU DIDN’T LIKE WHAT I HAD TO SAY.
And yup… found the dumbest comment
IF ANYTHING YOU’RE CLEAR LACK OF INTELLECT PROVES THAT YOU ARE DENSE.
The guy is obviously looking for attention. And he is getting it
I can’t believe people think Kanye is one of the greatest. His last couple of albums have been complete trash. He’s not that great. Always begging for attention. It’s so funny that he’s running for president. We don’t need a guy in office who is clearly bi polar!!!!!
I agree but Donda was good tho
FALSE
Donna was trash. One of his worst albums.
I see why Kim got on, he is crazy!!!!
Bozo is just putting on a show for the majority of his customer base. He doesn’t care about being a sellout. People worship material things and false idols now and he’s capitalizing off it to the fullest. He knows he can make money off of emotions just like his orange haired homie does.
How dare he ? We all know white lives don’t matter.
This is trolling on another level. No matter how you feel about it. Kanye wins this one. Everyone is talking about him. This is like Andy Kaufmann x 1,000,000,000
Reading through the comments section shows me how racist people are on here.
Yeah. Having an opinion different than the narrative is racist. Got it. To say one group’s life matters isn’t racist at all towards every other group? Do native lives matter? How about Mexican lives? Do convicta? How about trans people. Nah. Just black. That’s not racist?
If you understood racism, you’re response wouldn’t be so ignorant. Race is a European concept that was created to rank individuals that also determines their privileges. A classification. A hierarchy. Black people are at the absolute bottom of that totem pole. We have no privileges. No laws at the countries inception was created with us in mind. As equals. We were less than animals. How could we be racist when the entire concept was created to keep us in bondage? Every other minority is listed before Black people. We can discriminate. We can show prejudice. We can stereotype. However, we can’t be racist.
You have officially gone full moron with this bullshit you typed out.
Look up racism. Look up the definition and what it actually means. Race is a classification of power. Before race was invented white food argued and fought over religion until they decided to put their foot on the necks of Black people to keep us oppressed. The constitution was originally written with us described as less than animals. Yet you feel we can be racist? You’re stupid.
Point of irony… 70% of slaves from west Africa were trades by African traders/marchat…You can imagine my great great grandfather selling yours or maybe the entire family for ‘straight ballin’ slave free life back in Africa…lol
That’s why I understand today’s reason why the so called “African Americans” can’t stand “African Immigrate”… lol
Ignorant. Nowhere near 70%. But I’ll do you this solid, even if so, that’s a learned behavior. Who taught them that? Assimilation is real. That’s proof of it, and so are you.
Black pay attention stop wearing his clothes and shoe I’ll bet you he will see how much white life matters, West is a dumb ass how many time different ppl have to say it and he shows iy
Yet you write out a horrible run on sentence full of spelling mistakes with no punctuation. The “dumbass” is worth 2B and has 20 plus Grammys. Meanwhile you can’t speak Englsih correctly.
This is one of the few things I agree with Kanye on lol I mean most white people never took BLM seriously anyways. We all knew it was a joke. Everybody wants something to fight for yet there simply isn’t anything there. Most bl.ack people exaggerate the “racism” they go through “every day”. Nobody’s buying that bs over here. Sorry.
It’s funny that Boosie, a convicted murderer of own people, cares so hard. He’s proof that some BL’s don’t M.
He was NOT convicted……. Bitch!
White lives matter baby. Let’s goooooo! About to get some protests going and start some riots. Maybe even break into some stores and steal stuff then set it on fire. White lives matter baby! Let’s gooooo! Kanye’s got our back.
Nah that’s a black thing, looting and burning up everything. Whitey too civilized for that.
You’re an idiot for saying that stupid shit!
He got your lips on his dick
Even though I support the message, BLM is indeed a scam. Funded by Soros, it’s fake and the leaders ran off with the money from charity anyways. As far as WLM, Kanye is just a shit-stirrer who does this for attention.
Yes blm but blacks always killing blacks but its never the time to address that but ye speaking the truth the ones who are outraged are the ones who always call someone racist when a argument dosent go there way.
Sorry Boosie that reply was intended for
ss3walkman…not sure how to change that