When asked why he made his controversial ‘White Lives Matter’ shirt West said it was because “they do.”
QUICK FACTS:
- Rapper Kanye West spoke to Fox News host Tucker Carlson about his controversial shirt that donned the phrase “White Lives Matter” on the back.
- The 45-year-old rapper wore the shirt to Paris fashion week and when asked why he wore it he said it is because “they do.”
- West, who recently changed his legal name to Ye, said the shirt has caused waves, but when his father reached out to ask if he thought it was funny, he said he was just “stating the obvious.”
- “I thought the shirt was a funny shirt. I thought the idea of wearing it was funny,” West said. “And I said, ‘Dad, why do you think it’s funny?’ And he said, ‘Just a black man stating the obvious.’”
- West told his interviewer that since voicing his support for former President Donald Trump he has become isolated from many of his friends and his political beliefs have even put him at risk for violent attacks.
- “My so-called friends/handlers around me told me if I said that I liked Trump, that my career would be over. That my life would be over. They said stuff like ‘People get killed for wearing a hat like that.’ They threatened my life. They basically said that I would be killed for wearing the hat,” West continued.
WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW:
RESPONSE TO WEST’S FASHION:
- West has been hotly criticized by many, including Vogue editor Gabriella Karefa-Johnson and supermodel Gigi Hadid, as well as other models who are regulars at Paris fashion week.
- “They’re looking for an explanation — as an artist, you don’t have to give an explanation, but as a leader, you do,” the “All of the Lights” West told Carlson.
- “I do certain things from a feeling. I just channel the energy, it just feels right. It’s using a gut instinct, a connection with God, and just brilliance,” he said of wearing the shirt. “So the answer to why I wrote ‘White Lives Matter’ on a shirt is they do. It’s an obvious thing.”
- When asked by Carlson why the statement was so controversial, West argued that there is “a group mob” of “liberal Nazis” in the media that pushes leftist norms: “Because the same people that have stripped us of an identity and labeled us as a color have told us what it means to be black and the vernacular you’re supposed to have.”
BACKGROUND:
- West famously ran for president during the 2020 presidential election, but eventually withdrew his name from the ballot.
- The rapper announced his presidential run on social media, saying, “We must now realize the promise of America by trusting God, unifying our vision and building our future,” in a tweet. “I am running for president of the United States! #2020VISION.”
- Following his withdrawal from the race in October of 2020, he indicated he might make another run at the office in 2024 when he tweeted, “PEOPLE TRIED TO TALK ME OUT OF RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT. NEVER LET WEAK CONTROLLING PEOPLE KILL YOUR SPIRIT.”
