Kanye West Suggests ‘Slavery’ Was A Choice, Twitter Goes ‘Nope’

By: Riya |
May 2, 2018 3:56 pm

Bizarre statements are second nature to Kanye West and this week he has been making headlines thanks to his love for President Trump. In a new interview, however, Kanye took things a bit too far.

“When you hear about slavery for 400 years. For 400 years?! That sounds like a choice. Like, you were there for 400 years and it’s all of you all? You know, it’s like we’re mentally in prison. I like the word prison ’cause slavery goes too — too direct to the idea of blacks, so prison is something that unites us as one race, blacks and whites being one race. We’re the human race.”

Yes, this is what Kanye said in a TMZ newsroom. After this TMZ reporter Van Lathan shot back and fired Kanye while calling West’s comments the “absence of thought.” He was disappointed and appalled.

Here is the interview:

Kanye West stirs up the TMZ newsroom over TRUMP, SLAVERY and FREE THOUGHT. There’s A LOT more that went down … and the fireworks are exploding on @TMZLive today. Check your local listings for show times. pic.twitter.com/jwVsJCMPiq

— TMZ (@TMZ) May 1, 2018

After much backlash, Kanye tried to justify his behavior in a series of tweets:

the reason why I brought up the 400 years point is because we can’t be mentally imprisoned for another 400 years. We need free thought now. Even the statement was an example of free thought It was just an idea

— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) May 1, 2018

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

But Twitter wasn’t having it:

how to ruin your legacy in one week: a kanye west edition.

— little buddy (@__LittleBuddy) May 1, 2018

I mean, I’m still stuck on how someone was able to pay you enough money to say, “slavery was a choice.” Like, I thought you were already wealthy, god damn

— JUST RICHTOFEN (@tobiman777) May 2, 2018

Kanye West is an incredible advert for finishing college.

— Romesh Ranganathan (@RomeshRanga) May 2, 2018

‘That broke my heart’ – https://t.co/LVkFhdDQif says Kanye West’s tweetstorm will hurt people.

Read more: https://t.co/AkCwZrGmRT pic.twitter.com/8nPohcV5wZ

— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) May 2, 2018

How long do we let this go on until we just get Kanye the help he needs?

— Dr. Zebulon Miletsky (@ZebulonMiletsky) May 1, 2018

Yeah, like a slave saying “Hmm..I dont think I want to be a slave today, bye.” Was going to work. A choice?! You think people chose to be brutalized and claimed as property of others? Dang.

— Bea (@btriz_o) May 1, 2018