Kanye West appeared on TMZ Live on Tuesday morning, along with Candace Owens, the far-right activist Kanye praised in a recent tweet. During the interview he discussed his decision to wear a MAGA hat ("I felt a freedom... just doing something that everybody tells you not to do"), and his "love" of President Donald Trump. He also gave his thoughts on slavery in the United States: “When you hear about slavery for 400 years, for 400 years?! That sounds like a choice... we're mentally imprisoned.”
His comments prompted an angry response from Van, a commentator at TMZ who summed up a lot of the fears and frustrations people have been feeling over Kanye's recent alignment with the right wing. "While you are making music and being an artist and living the life that you've earned by 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 that has come from the 400 years of slavery that you said for our people was a choice.
"Frankly I am disappointed, I'm appalled, and brother, I am unbelievably hurt that you have morphed into something that is not real."
On Tuesday Kanye shared a lengthy interview with Charlamagne tha God, and a behind-the-scenes recording of his latest song "Ye vs. the People."
