There are few figures in music, and pop culture in general, that create as much controversy and provocation as Kanye West, and in the past week, he has made sure that he will continue to wear that crown.
Following the shoutout to alt-right commentator Candace Owen, the outspoken support for Donald Trump, the signed MAGA hat, and most recently, several comments made on TMZ this past Tuesday about 400 years of slavery being “a choice,” many people justifiably have had enough.
While some fans (especially those on the venerated hip hop and Kanye West forum KanyeToThe) hold on to the hope that West’s recent actions are all part of some public performance art exhibit ahead of the release of his upcoming solo record and collaborative effort with Kid Cudi, others have decided to take action against West’s comments.
One of these groups is the hosts of a Detroit radio station called 105.1 The Bounce. Hosts Shay Shay and BiGG have announced that they will be boycotting West’s songs on their show. In a Facebook live video, they said “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.”
Specifically, West said that “When you hear about slavery for 400 years … for 400 years? That sounds like a choice,” in a TMZ interview. He continued “You were there for 400 years and it’s all of y’all. It’s like we’re mentally imprisoned.”
West clarified in a now-deleted Tweet “[T]o 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.”
These comments were what led to the hosts deciding to “#MuteKanye”. Thursday morning, Shay Shay continued to disparage West by calling him “reckless” for saying that Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcom X were “not relatable.”
In a show of solidarity, New York City radio host Ebro Darden’s station Hot 97 tweeted out “The Kanye boycott has begun.” Darden talked with CNN Tonight host Don Lemon to indicate his disapproval with West’s comments the day before.
Check out the Facebook posts below.
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