Any good hashtag, much like art, imitates life—both the good and horrible parts. Recently, Kanye West turned up at the TMZ office to try to show the world what free thought looks like, but instead added more fuel to the fire by sharing his thoughts about one of the worst parts of human history. "When you hear about slavery for 400 years. For 400 years," he said, flanked by TMZ founder Harvey Levin and co-host Charles Latibeaudiere. "That sound like a choice."
Naturally, the short clip went viral, as did the poignant rebuttal from TMZ senior producer Van Lathan expressing his hurt and disappointment at West's recent comments. The notion that slaves had a choice in the matter of their capture and transport is, of course, ridiculous and damaging. West came back to Twitter to further explain what he meant, but by then it was too late. By the evening, the hashtag #IfSlaveryWereAChoice already had thousands of quips, GIFs, and video clips to highlight how absurd that line of thinking really is. Like with most awful things, Black Twitter did what it does best and found the bleak humor in something heartbreaking.
Here are some of the best ones below.
