On Tuesday, Kanye West stopped by TMZ Livefor an interview that would leave everyone speechless and send Twitter into a frenzy.
West told the TMZ crew and viewers that 400 years of slavery was a “choice.” The rapper ranted: “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 you all?”
How Kanye West, a “proud non-reader of books,” came to this conclusion is anyone’s guess, but Black Twitter wasn’t having it and in true fashion, turned the wild moment into something hilarious with #IfSlaveryWasAChoice.
Users on Twitter weren’t the only people quick to respond to Kanye’s wild comment.
Van Lathan, host of The Red Pill Podcast, called out the rapper during TMZ Live, saying he was “disappointed” and “appalled” by West’s behavior.
“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,” Lathan said. “We have to deal with the marginalization that has come from 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.”
West later tried to clarify his comments, tweeting, “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.”
He later tweeted that he was once again “being attacked for presenting new ideas,” before sharing, “When the media masses and scholars talk about what started today. Here’s a title … the overground hell road.”
