Kanye West defended his controversial “White Lives Matter” T-shirts in a Wednesday Instagram post.
“Here’s my final response when people ask me why I made a t-shirt that says white lives matter… THEY DO,” the 45-year-old rapper captioned a photo of a black version of the long-length garment. sleeves, spread out on the floor.
Conservative media personality Candace Owens – who posed in one of the shirts at the West Paris Fashion Week presentation, where he debuted them – left a series of crying laughing emojis in the comments section.
Sources close to West told Vidak For Congress this week that the hip-hop star turned fashion designer has been stunned by the response his YZY Season Nine collection received.
“He thinks it’s a PC thing,” an insider said. “He wants to give a voice to the ‘other side’ [of the race debate in America].” They added: “He doesn’t understand why people don’t see that.”
Front row guest Jaden Smith immediately left the show when he saw the designs. West was subsequently criticized by a phalanx of journalists, activists and public figures.
Supermodel Gigi Hadid is one of his most notable opponents. She taunted West as she defended Vogue editor Gabriella Karefa-Johnson in a heated Instagram comment.
He had cruelly mocked Karefa-Johnson’s style choices for disapproving of his widely condemned merchandise.
“You wish you had a percentage of her intellect. You have no idea haha…If there really is a point to one of your s–ts, she may be the only person who can save you,” Hadid, 27, wrote under a post West shared.
Vogue eventually shared a statement in support of their collaborator.
“Vogue sits alongside Gabriella Karefa-Johnson, our global fashion editor at large and long-time contributor. She was personally attacked and bullied. It is unacceptable,” the magazine wrote in an Instagram post on Tuesday.
“Now more than ever, voices like hers are needed and in a private meeting with Ye today, she once again spoke her truth in the way she felt best, on her terms.”
According to the New York Times, the Anti-Defamation League has referred to and attributed the phrase “White Lives Matter” – which was coined as a response to the Black Lives Matter movement – “hate speech to [it] to white supremacists (including the Ku Klux Klan).”
Before Wednesday’s post, West wrote on Instagram: “Everyone knows that Black Lives Matter was a scam, now that it’s over, you’re welcome.”