![Kanye West Believes Slavery Was a Choice](https://townsquare.media/site/812/files/2018/05/kanye-slavery.jpg?w=980&q=75)
Kanye West Believes Slavery Was a Choice
Kanye West has been spewing controversial statements all week and evidently he doesn't plan on slowing down any time soon. He stopped by TMZ Live this afternoon (May 1) to speak with their hosts, and at one point, claimed that he considers slavery to be a choice.
"When you hear about slavery for 400 years, for 400 years?! That sounds like a choice," Kanye said. "Like, you was there for 400 years and it was all of y'all?" Kanye also went on to continue his support of President Trump, calling Trump his "boy."
Understandably, his statements had a lot of viewers riled up, including Van Lathan of TMZ, who voiced his criticisms directly to Kanye's face in the newsroom.
"Kanye—you're entitled to your opinion and you're entitled to believe whatever you want," he began. "But there is fact and real-life, real world consequence behind everything you just said. While you are making music and being an artist and living a life that you've earned 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 of the 400 years of slavery that you said, for our people, was a choice. Frankly, I'm disappointed, I'm appalled, and brother, I am unbelievably hurt at the fact that you have morphed into something, to me, that is not real."
Over the last week, Kanye has repeatedly angered his fans and followers by wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat, spending time with right-wing conservative figures like Candace Owens and Charlie Kirk, and telling Charlamagne Tha God that racism "isn't a deal-breaker" for him.
His latest comments take his often controversial opinions to a new height.
Watch Kanye on TMZ Live below.
See Photos of Kanye West's Different Looks Over the Years
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