Kanye West: Slavery ‘ sounds like a choice’
LOS ANGELES — Before the last one had a chance to simmer down, Kanye West caused another stir, calling American slavery a “choice” in an interview Tuesday.
“When you hear about slavery for 400 years, for 400 years, that sounds like choice,” West said on “TMZ Live” after questions on his pro- President Donald Trump posts and pictures that caused a dust- up lastweek. “You was there for 400 years, and it’s all of y’all?”
“Do you feel like I’m thinking free and feeling free?” West asked the TMZ employees in the room.
“I actually don’t think you’re thinking anything,” TMZ’s Van Lathan quickly cracked back at West.
Lathan said while West gets to live the elite artist’s life, “the rest of us in society have to deal with these threats in 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 our choice.”
Later, West tweeted, “to make myself clear. Of course I know that slaves did not get shackled and put on a boat by free will . . . 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.”
West also told TMZ that he became addicted to opioids that doctors prescribed after he had liposuction surgery in 2016. He was hospitalized for a week. West said the painkillers drove him to a “breakdown,” which became a “breakthrough” when he found himself again.
West also doubled down on his love of the president.
“I just love Trump,” West said, adding that most in hip- hop agreed with him before Trump became president. “Trump is one of rap’s favorite people.”