Kanye West appeared on the latest episode of TMZ Live with TMZ founder Harvey Levin on Tuesday.
Kanye hinted at the interview on Twitter earlier in the day; it was teased that conservative commentator and YouTube personality Candace Owens was part of the proceedings.
Now the talk, or parts of it, is here:
This clip is a real doozy. In the short three minutes, Kanye implied that slavery was a "choice," called Trump his "boy," and seriously angered a TMZ employee.
When Kanye was questioned on the message he intends to send by wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat and supporting Trump, he responded, "I just love Trump. That's my boy."
He added: "So many rappers [used to] love Trump, but then he get into office, and now they don't love him. Trump is one of rap's favorite people."
At one point, he began to talk about his opinion on slavery. "When you hear about slavery for 400 years — for 400 years? That sounds like a choice," he said. "Like, you were there for 400 years and it’s all of y’all? It's like we're mentally imprisoned. I like the word 'imprisoned' because slavery goes too directly to the idea of blacks ... so prison is something that unites us as one race. Blacks and whites being one race. That we're the human race."
I actually don't think you're thinking anything. I think what you're doing right now is actually the absence of thought and the reason why I feel like that is because Kanye, you're entitled to your 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. 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. We have to deal with the marginalization that has come from the 400 years of slavery that you said for our people was a choice. Frankly, I'm disappointed, I'm appalled, and brother, I'm unbelievably hurt by the fact that you have morphed into something to me is not real.
His comments visibly upset TMZ employee Van Lathan, who called out Kanye for his damaging words. Kanye appeared to ask those in the studio if it appears that he is "thinking free." Lathan responded:
Kanye responded by approaching him and saying, "I'm sorry I hurt you."
Days before the TMZ appearance, Kanye and Owens met up at a Southern California Institute of Architecture show in Los Angeles and were joined by conservative activist Charlie Kirk. The meeting was low-key, and one can speculate that they may have been preparing for the TMZ interview.
Kanye recently showed his support for Owens via Twitter. On April 21, he tweeted, "I love the way Candace Owens thinks."
Back in September, Owens tweeted, "Kanye West is the reason I think and believe the things I do today. You cannot support Trump and dislike Kanye West, comprehensively."
