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April 13, 2023
Kanye “Ye” West is not backing down from his provocative “White Lives Matter” costume in the face of a wave of criticism from African-American celebrities, including a walkout by Jaden Smith. In fact, the 45-year-old rapper recently reaffirmed his opposition to Black Lives Matter in a Tuesday Instagram story.
“Everyone knows that Black Lives Matter was a scam,” he declared, seemingly referencing the group’s multiple multimillion-dollar scandals. “Now its over You’re welcome.”
This isn’t the first time West has spoken out against BLM. Last year, he caused an uproar when he said on “Real Time with Bill Maher” that the movement made him “more conservative.”
Many black celebrities, including Jaden Smith, have since denounced West over his comments and fashion choice.
But it doesn’t seem like the rapper is backing down anytime soon. In fact, he seems to be leaning into his new “White Lives Matter” persona — even changing his Instagram name to “YeWhiTeLivesMatter.”
Chicago-born rapper Kanye West was recently at the center of a controversy after he wore a T-shirt with “White Lives Matter” and put on a fashion show featuring his Season 9 clothing line. This caused many people to speak out against him, as the shirt is often associated with white supremacists. Selah Marley, Lauryn Hill’s 23-year-old daughter, also walked in the show wearing one of these shirts. The Anti-Defamation League has deemed this slogan a “hate symbol.”
In an interview with radio host Charlamagne Tha God that was published on Wednesday, West said he wasn’t trying to make a political statement with the shirts and didn’t know about the white supremacist associations with the phrase.
“I looked up at the name ‘Black Lives Matter’ and it said ‘All Lives Matter,’” West told Charlamagne. “So I said, oh, that must be a Republican thing. So I took my shirt off because I was like, OK, this is obviously a scam.”
He added: “I was like, wait a second, so you want all lives to matter but y’all don’t want to make ‘White lives matter’ a trending topic on Twitter for two days? That doesn’t sit well with me.”
West also claimed that the Black Lives Matter movement is “just one big thing to take Donald Trump out.”
“I know this as a fact: the Republican party is set up to make us all look stupid,” he said.
The comments are likely to reignite criticism of West, who has been an outspoken supporter of President Trump and has made a number of controversial statements in recent months.