Kanye claims 400 years of slavery a choice, sparks outrage
4 May 2018 1:07 AM IST
Los Angeles: Rapper Kanye West, who has been dominating headlines with his controversial tweets in support of President Donald Trump, has landed in fresh controversy by suggesting that 400 years of slavery was "a choice". West was invited by TMZ to talk about his recent tweets, free thought and Trump when he made the controversial comments, which have received massive backlash.
"When you hear about slavery for 400 years. For 400 years? That sounds like a choice. You was there for 400 years and it's all of y'all. It's like we're mentally in prison. I like the word prison because slavery goes too direct to the idea of blacks."
"Slavery is to blacks as the Holocaust is to Jews. Prison is something that unites as one race, blacks and whites, that we're the human race," said West. In the footage released by TMZ, West is then shown addressing the newsroom: "Do you feel that I'm being free and I'm thinking free?"
TMZ reporter Van Lathan, visibly angry, confronted the rapper, saying, "I actually don't think you're thinking anything. I think what you're doing right now is actually the absence of thought." Lathan told West that he was "unbelievably" hurt by his comments even though the rapper was entitled to his 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."
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