- Celebrities. Kanye West calls BLM a scam after sporting White Lives Matter attire in Paris Fashion Week
- Celebrities. Jaden Smith abandons Kanye's fashion show in protest of his 'White Lives Matter' shirt
Kanye West is undoubtedly a music, marketing and entreprenurial genius that has been able to become an icon and made him a billionaire.
The rapper rose in popularity and even got to be considered by many to be one of the most influential members of the black community in the United States, but he has constantly been under the spotlight for his comments regarding some delicate topics for African Americans.
Kanye West most recent controversy with the black community
Black celebrities have recently criticized Kanye West's outfit selection when during the Paris Fashion Week he opted to wear a "White Lives Matter" t-shirt, but Ye isn't apologizing for it.
When many thought he would back down, he took to Instagram to say that the Black Lives Matter movement was a scam and it's over, and he added: "you're welcome".
The White Lives Matter phrase was used by white supremacists responding to the Black Lives Matter social movement.
Kanye's comments come after last week, Shalomyah Bowers, leader of Black Lives Matter was charged last month with siphoning over $10 million dollars in donations from contributors of his consultancy firm.
Kanye West's past run-ins with the black community
In the past few years Kanye West has been criticized for his views on topics that are deemed very sensitive to the black community, specially in the United States.
In 2018 he had a couple of his biggest controversies, the first was when he appeared on Saturday Night Live and defended then President Donald Trump from it's critics, calling him his friend and defending him from those who called him racist, all of this while wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat, a staple of former President Trump's campaign rallies.
That same year he said that the 400 years of slavery suffered by the black community seemed like a choice to him, calling the black community of the time mentally imprisoned.
Comments he then tried to walk back after facing serious backlash from his fans and black people in general.
"To make myself clear. Of course I know that slaves did not get shackled and put on a boat by free will. My point is for us to have stayed in that position even though the numbers were on our side means that we were mentally enslaved", he explained.
Later, in 2020 he attempted to run for president and during a rally in South Carolina, he said that famous slave abolitionist Harriet Tubman, never actually freed the slaves, but she rather just had the slaves go work for other white people, and his comments didn't sit well with the audience, specially when Tubman is regarded and oftenly called "the Moses of her people".