A Detroit radio station, 105.1 The Bounce, has decided to no longer play Kanye West’s music or give the artist a platform after his recent comments about slavery.
“We feel like Kanye has gone too far with his latest statement declaring that ‘slavery was a choice,’” The Morning Bounce hosts wrote on Facebook. “We are over it. We don’t want to hear Kanye’s music, we don’t want to play Kanye on our show, we don’t want to talk about Kanye anymore. So we are taking a stand and we aren’t playing his music anymore; we just are refusing to give him a platform.”
The station added the hashtag #MuteKanye to its post.
On Tuesday, West caused a stir during an appearance on “TMZ Live” when he said that slavery “sounds like a choice” black people made because it went unchallenged for so long.
“When you hear about slavery for 400 years — for 400 years?! That sounds like a choice,” West said. “You was there for 400 years, and it’s all of y’all? It’s like we’re mentally in prison.”
He later took to Twitter to clarify the statement, writing, “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.”
West’s statements received pushback from TMZ reporter Van Lathan, who said he was “disappointed” and “appalled” by West’s take on slavery, which he pointed out has impacted the lives of people who do not have the privilege West’s success affords.
The hashtag #IfSlaveryWasAChoice became the top trending topic in the U.S. just hours late, with people mocking the rapper for his comments.
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