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Kanye West Causes Widespread Outrage with Comments About Slavery

HeadlineMay 02, 2018

In entertainment news, Kanye West has caused widespread outrage and controversy with his recent comments in a TMZ interview, in which he praised President Trump and claimed “slavery was a choice.” His interview was so incendiary and historically inaccurate that one member of the TMZ newsroom confronted Kanye West after the interview. Here is a clip of the interview, followed by the confrontation.

Kanye West: “When you hear about slavery for 400 years, for 400 years? That sounds like a choice. … Do you feel that I’m feeling—do you feel that I’m being free and I’m thinking free?”

Van Lathan: “I actually don’t think you’re thinking anything. I think what you’re doing right now is actually the absence of thought. And the reason why I feel like that is because, Kanye, you’re entitled to your opinion, you’re entitled to believe whatever you want, but there is fact and real-world, real-life consequence behind everything that you just 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. Frankly, I’m disappointed, I’m appalled, and, brother, I am unbelievably hurt by the fact that you have morphed into something, to me, that’s not real.”

That’s TMZ staffer Van Lathan confronting Kanye West.

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