Despite the condemnation from black celebrities, including a walkout by Jaden Smith, Kanye West has refused to apologize over his controversial “White Lives Matter” clothes shown at Paris Fashion Week in France.
Kanye West’s Controversial “White Lives Matter” Shirt Causes A Stir Among Black Folks
Kanye West claims he wore a “White Lives Matter” shirt because he views the Black Lives Matter movement as nothing more than a moneymaking scam. The 45-year-old musician expressed his heightened disapproval of the Black Lives Matter movement in an Instagram story on Tuesday. He exclaimed, a possible reference to the band’s string of multimillion-dollar controversies, “EVERYONE KNOWS THAT BLACK LIVES MATTER WAS A SCAM. NOW IT’S OVER. YOU’RE WELCOME.”
Kanye West Tells White Lives Matter Critics That Black Lives Matter Is A Scam
The Chicago-bred rapper responded to his backlash for wearing a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt to a surprise Yeezy fashion show. His apparel collection for Season 9 was spotlighted on the show. Several models, including Lauryn Hill’s 23-year-old daughter Selah Marley, wore the slogan created in reaction to the Black Lives Matter campaign. It was later labeled a “hate slogan” by the Anti-Defamation League.
Several famous people of color, such Marc Lamont Hill (a professor at Temple University) and Jaden Smith (the son of Will Smith), spoke out against the offensive outfit. In response to Kanye West’s fashion display, Jaden tweeted, “I Had To Dip Lol.” He maintained his critical tone in a string of subsequent tweets, in which he: “True Leaders Lead. I Don’t Care Who’s It Is If I Don’t Feel The Message I’m Out.
Black Lives Matter. We Demand A More Progressive Future.” As Marc Lamont Hill put it on Twitter, “Kanye West’s decision to wear a ‘White Lives Matter’ shirt is disgusting, dangerous and irresponsible,” “Some of y’all will rush to defend him. You should ask yourselves why.”
Kanye West Goes After His Critics
The rapper also went after a Vogue contributing editor named Gabriella Karefa-Johnson for her criticism of his political statement/fashion choice. She had deemed KW’s shirt “dangerous” and “irresponsible” in an article she wrote for Vogue. His remark was more straightforward and, frankly, juvenile: he made fun of her clothing.
He captioned the photo, “I KNOOOOOOW ANNA [Wintour] HAAATES THESE BOOTS.” Finally, Kanye said, “This is not a fashion person. You speak on Ye. Ima speak on you. Ask Trevor Noah.” Even though many other blue checkmarks have criticized Ye for his action, Gabriella has yet to respond to his insults. For the rest of the day, Kanye was trending because of it, with many people thinking back to his prior controversial statements, such as his claim on TMZ Live that slavery was a choice.
People also remembered all the MAGA stuff from the past few years. West escalated his anti-BLM rhetoric and actions in response to the backlash. He also posed for a photo with conservative commentator Candace Owens, wearing a shirt that read “WLM” and featured an image of Pope Francis. Both stars have been outspoken in their criticism of Black Lives Matter, facing backlash after charges that its leaders have used group funds to finance lavish personal lifestyles.
BLM’s leader, Shalomyah Bowers, was recently accused of “siphoning” over $10 million in donations to fund his consultancy firm. After that, Black Lives Matter issued a statement that denied any wrongdoing. “BLMGNF has created a path of responsibility under Shalomyah Bowers’ leadership and the work of Bowers Consulting,” the release read. Melina Abdullah and BLM Grassroots claim the polar opposite in their frivolous lawsuit.
