Malik Yusefreturned to try and explain Kanye West’s controversial “slavery is a choice” comment that broke the internet on Wednesday. Yusef told TMZ that Kanye’s comments “hurt,” but it was merely an oversimplification with some truth to it. “The needed depth for that conversation was not the form for that,” he said, referring to the TMZ video that leaked.
He then goes on to explain that Kanye and him have frequently discussed slavery, and that he agrees that enslaved people did have options. “I know Kanye’s heart. He don’t think people just laid up and took it,” Yusef said. “But he’s saying these things...you could have laid up and fought a little bit better.
Yusef outlines the very bleak options enslaved people had: having no food, nothing for protection, not being able to read, and putting your family in danger. “Do you make that ploy into the unknown?” he asks. “That’s the decision...I think it was an oversimplification that Ye did.”
Yusef previously came to Ye's defense when he began praising Donald Trump. “What does Kanye like?” Yusef said. “Well, Kanye likes people that speak their mind. That’s what he aspires to be calling somebody that says what the fuck they want to say.”
Meanwhile, David Banner joined a large swath of the internet criticizing West’s comments and “free thought.” “I’m more disappointed in him not have the responsibility to know what not to say,” Banner told TMZ. "You can think what you want to, but there’s a connection to what you say.”
And last but not least, Jamie Foxxcriticized TMZ for its interview with Kanye that sparked this whole madness. “TMZ know they shouldn’t be doing that shit,” Foxx was caught on video saying in a Manhattan bar. “My man going through something. I ain’t going to be like everyone and jump the bandwagon and say I hate my dude.”
