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Kanye “Ye” West is speaking up about the shirt emblazoned with the words “White Lives Matter” that he wore for his Yeezy show Monday at Paris Fashion Week.
During an interview on Fox News‘ Tucker Carlson Tonight that aired Thursday, the rapper was asked why he wore the shirt that spurred immediate backlash in the fashion community and elsewhere, with West responding that he does “certain things from a feeling.” He went on to say, “It’s using a gut instinct, a connection with God and just brilliance.”
West said that his father texted him saying he found the shirt humorous, and the star himself agreed. “My dad is an educated ex-Black Panther, and he put a text to me today and he said, ‘White lives matter hahahaha,'” the star recalled. “And I said, ‘I thought the shirt was a funny shirt; I thought the idea of me wearing it was funny.’ And I said, ‘Dad, why did you think it was funny?’ He said, ‘Just a Black man stating the obvious.'”
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When asked why he thought the shirt was seen as controversial, West said, “Because the same people that have stripped us of our identity and labeled us as a color have told us what it means to be Black and the vernacular that we’re supposed to have.”
He went on to address his exchange with Vogue editor Gabriella Karefa-Johnson, who criticized the shirt on social media. West had then posted negative remarks about the editor, including a suggestion that Vogue head Anna Wintour would not like Karefa-Johnson’s boots, which led Gigi Hadid to call him a bully.
During his conversation with Carlson, West said that influencers have been brought in to sway his estranged wife, Kim Kardashian, who filed for divorce in February. “No one in the fashion world knows where Gabby came from,” West said. “These people were practically made in a laboratory.”
He went on to say, “This Gabby girl and Gigi and these people, they would have never said anything negative — unless they got the OK from [Vogue publisher] Condé Nast, unless they got the OK from Anna.” West added, “It was a setup.”
The publication defended Karefa-Johnson in an Instagram post Tuesday. “Vogue stands with Gabriella Karefa-Johnson, our global fashion editor at large and longtime contributor,” the message read, in part. “She was personally targeted and bullied. It is unacceptable.”
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