Rapper Kanye West who is being rebuked by the music world after backing President Donald Trump started a new controversy on Tuesday when he termed slavery “a choice.”
The artist who is never shy about expressing himself made the comments in during an interview he gave for promoting his two upcoming albums.
“You hear about slavery for 400 years. For 400 years? That sounds like a choice,” West toldTMZ Live, the broadcast wing of the celebrity gossip site.
West elaborated little on his statement as he appeared to be drawing a parallel to how he is expected to hold certain views as a Black artist himself.
“We’re mentally in prison. I like the word ‘prison’ because slavery is too direct to the idea of blacks. Like Holocaust is Jews, slavery is blacks,” West said.
West’s remarks immediately sparked an uproar on the social media and he was taken to task live by a TMZ employee who said he was “appalled.”