Kanye West has invoked the wrath of the Twitter community by appearing to defend scandal-plagued comedian Bill Cosby.
West lit up the Twittersphere on Tuesday with a tweet declaring, simply, “BILL COSBY INNOCENT !!!!!!!!!!”
The rapper didn’t elaborate further than that, but those three simple words — and a bunch of exclamation marks — were enough to draw quick disapproval.
“@kanyewest I have a better album title,” one person responded, an apparent reference to the ever-changing title of West’s upcoming album.
Other responses went heavy on the outrage.
“Seriously tho, how dare he,” one tweet huffed.
“I hope someone is literally shaking him,” another responded, later suggesting, “He’s clearly smoking a lot of pot in the studio which I will take as a valid excuse for some things but this is just no no no.”
Which elicited the response, ” Pot doesn’t turn one into a rape apologist.”
Cosby has been accused of rape or sexual assault by dozens of women, many of whom claim that he drugged them beforehand. Numerous lawsuits have been filed against the comedian. Cosby has denied the allegations, and in some cases sued his accusers for defamation.
He also faces a criminal charge of aggravated indecent assault, stemming from accusations made by former Temple University employee Andrea Constand.
BILL COSBY INNOCENT !!!!!!!!!!
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 9, 2016
@ceebrie He’s clearly smoking a lot of pot in the studio which I will take as a valid excuse for some things but this is just no no no
— Rachel McGrath (@RachelMcGrath) February 9, 2016
@kanyewest I have a better album title: https://t.co/EOzsH1kyLY
— Erik Malinowski (@erikmal) February 9, 2016
@kanyewest Kanye, what are you doing?
— Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) February 9, 2016
@kanyewest kanye no…
— Michael Rosen (@michaelrosen3) February 9, 2016
Stop Kanye. This is not a good look. @kanyewest
— roxane gay (@rgay) February 9, 2016