During a TMZ conversation, Kanye West stated slavery “sounds like a choice.”
In addition to that faux pas, he added “When you hear about slavery for 400 years … like, you was there for 400 years and it’s all of y’all?! It’s like we’re mentally in prison.”
After Kanye’s comment, TMZ’s Reporter Van Lathan responded. “I think what you’re doing right now is actually the absence of thought,” Lathan said. “And while you are making music and being an artist and living the life that you’ve earned by being a genius, the rest of us in society have to deal with these threats to our lives. We have to deal with the marginalization that has come from the 400 years of slavery that you said for our people was a choice.”
Following his Free Speech Tour at TMZ, Kanye took to Twitter:
to make myself clear. Of course I know that slaves did not get shackled and put on a boat by free will
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) May 1, 2018
My point is for us to have stayed in that position even though the numbers were on our side means that we were mentally enslaved
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) May 1, 2018
TWITTER REACTS:
This whole "slavery was/wasn't a choice" conversation isn't just problematic because it's inaccurate. It's also extremely reductive. There's more options than "remain a slave" or "die."
— Marc Lamont Hill (@marclamonthill) May 2, 2018
"This Kanye West conversation is not about partisan politics. It's not about Republican, Democrat. It's about that Kanye has allowed himself to be used as a tool for people who aligned themselves with hate groups and white supremacy in this country." – @oldmanebro pic.twitter.com/93D6ZTjp5y
— CNN Tonight (@CNNTonight) May 2, 2018
R.I.P. Kanye West June 8, 1977 – May 1, 2018 #Dead2Us
Kanye West whom was once a friend of mine has become a shadow of his former self… pic.twitter.com/HIhpRiaCsh
— Farrah Gray (@FarrahGray_) May 2, 2018
I don’t have the energy for nonsense but Kanye saying slavery was a choice reiterates my previous statements about how dangerous his trite, shallow ramblings are. He is not a free thinker. He is a free moron who doesn’t read. Do not @ me.
— roxane gay (@rgay) May 1, 2018
THA CRIP GOD @dazdillinger STOP ? BY THE COP FOR KANYE RANT THANKS tmz_tv… https://t.co/PKMNRiV8zk
— DAZ DILLINGER (@DAZDILLINGER) May 1, 2018
What in the Andy Kaufman is going on here? https://t.co/uvpJ37opyR
— T'Questlove (@questlove) May 1, 2018
