Stephen A. Smith is the latest celebrity to give their opinion on Kanye West saying 400 years of slavery in the U.S. was "a choice" for African-Americans.
"That is the most ignorant thing that I have ever heard come out of the mouth of an African-American. It is disgraceful, it is abhorrent, it is repulsive, it’s an insult to our ancestors what this man said," said Smith on ESPN's First Take. "To imply, to state matter of factually that ancestors who were raped, maimed, murdered, that that was by choice is one of, if not, the greatest insult to black people I have ever heard come out of the mouth of a black person. I’m ashamed of Kanye West and what he said."
Smith later went on to praise TMZ's Van Lathan, who passionately confronted 'Ye when the rapper visited the gossip site's office. "It forced Kanye West to go over to him and apologize," said Smith.
The ESPN analyst continued: "I don’t know what has happened to Kanye West. I don’t know what is wrong with this brother. But, what he said was so incredibly, incredibly insulting to African-Americans and black people the world over that the ultimate emotion that rakes through my soul is sadness. Sadness that this brother would feel the need to say what he said."
Smith is one of several celebs to talk about Ye's latest antics. Method Man, Michael Blackson, Eve, Snoop Dogg, Jim Jones, Trevor Noah, and more have criticized him while Erykah Badu and Justin Bieber showed love to the Chicagoan.
