Don Lemon didn’t think much of Kanye West’s claim on TMZ yesterday that African slavery in America seemed like a “choice.” On his show Tuesday evening, the CNN anchor said the rapper was embarrassing himself and should read a book.
“He’s embarrassing himself because he doesn’t know history,” said Lemon “He needs to read.”
Lemon was joined on set by radio host and Kanye friend, Hot 97’s Ebro Darden. Darden was one of the first to report that the rapper had fully embraced Trump in the days before Kanye went full red pill.
“I think what we’re seeing right now is a sad case of someone who isn’t listening to people around him who are trying to tell him to just think first,” said Darden. “This is spiraling out of control.”
While Trump was fetishized by some rappers during his era as an over-the-top real estate developer, his stature in the community has fallen markedly after he became president — except for Kanye, who has stayed close with Trump and increasingly taken more conservative positions on Twitter.
On Tuesday, Kanye stunned interviewers at TMZ after he suggested slavery was a “choice.”
“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.”
For that, he was taken to task by TMZ reporter Van Lathan on set.
“There is fact and real world, real life consequence behind everything you just said,” said Lathan, who added that he was “appalled” and “disappointed” by the slavery stuff.
“I am unbelievably hurt by the fact that you have morphed into something, to me, that is not real,” he added
As outrage to his comments grew on Twitter, Kanye offered a clarification.
“The reason why I brought up the 400 years point is because we can’t be mentally imprisoned for another 400 years. We need free thought now. Even the statement was an example of free thought It was just an idea,” he said. “Once again I am being attacked for presenting new ideas.”
https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/991466506725744642?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thewrap.com%2Fkanye-west-says-slavery-sounds-like-choice-video%2F&tfw_creator=reidnakamura&tfw_site=thewrap
https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/991466590758518784?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thewrap.com%2Fkanye-west-says-slavery-sounds-like-choice-video%2F&tfw_creator=reidnakamura&tfw_site=thewrap