In this op-ed, writer Shelton Boyd-Griffith examines how Kanye West’s recent behavior has affected his influence in fashion and beyond.
How did we go from this, “We shine because they hate us, floss ‘cause they degrade us/ We tryna buy back our 40 acres.”
And this, “I say f— the police, that’s how I treat ‘em/ We buy our way out of jail, but we can’t buy freedom.”
To this: “EVERYONE KNOWS THAT BLACK LIVES MATTER WAS A SCAM, NOW IT’S OVER, YOU’RE WELCOME.”
And then this: [questioning the cause of George Floyd’s death] “They hit him with the fentanyl. If you look, the guy’s knee wasn’t even on his neck like that.”
It’s the tale of Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, from a radical artist of the people to a mouthpiece of anti-Blackness.
When I originally started this essay, the thesis centered around Ye and his recent problematic antics within the fashion industry. I wrote that, if we’re being honest, Ye feels safe and at home in fashion because, systematically, fashion has always been a safe space for anti-Blackness, misogyny, fatphobia, and all-around bigotry. More often than not, the industry has bought into the same tropes and ideologies he believes in. Brand and corporate accountability have become especially important in recent years, a welcome sign of progress — particularly after the 2020 racial justice protests — though it doesn’t always last. In my view, the success of the demand for accountability has been hit or miss.
Things may be finally taking a turn, as storied fashion house Balenciaga has said they are severing all ties with Ye, as reported in WWD on Friday. In response to a query from WWD, the parent company Kering said, “Balenciaga has no longer any relationship nor any plans for future projects related to this artist.”
Of course, while this is big, Ye’s antics have ballooned beyond the fashion industry recently and, well, I have some thoughts about that too.
As for those shirts from Paris Fashion Week, this kind of anti-Black trolling is relatively standard for Ye. He is addicted to attention, and the folx of the internet and the fashion industry, in particular, kept fueling him up to that point. I personally believe he’s so incredibly focused on distancing himself from the notion of average Blackness that it does not matter with whom (45) or what (white supremacy) he associates himself with. He loves to exist within the “other” space. Somehow he’s convinced himself that he’s not like the rest of us [Black people] because he is supposedly somehow “enlightened.”
It’s apparent that Ye feels safe in right-wing-adjacent spaces, which is why it was unsurprising when he appeared on Fox’s Tucker Carlson Tonight, a platform known for its controversial takes on matters around race and misogynistic rhetoric. Ye likely felt comfortable that Carlson and his fan base would provide a haven for him to spiral out, spewing his harmful ideologies and soundbites. “We’ve rarely heard a man speak so honestly and so movingly about what he believes,” Carlson said as an introduction to the interview (?—if you can call it that). It’s likely that a viewer would see Ye’s appearance on the show as a green light for the anti-Blackness Carlson regularly churns out.
During that self-administered interview (because Ye basically spoke to himself), the rapper continued to double down, offering up even more stomach-turning hot takes. From continuing to let the masses know that Trump was his “boy” (even with the current legal, moral, ethical, and antidemocratic storm surrounding 45, Ye still doesn’t show any desire to distance himself), to weaponizing religion and going on a fatphobic tirade.
“The media wants to put out a perception that being overweight is the new goal,” he says, using Lizzo (yet another Black woman) as a target for his internalized self-hate. He then went on to say that being overweight was neither in fashion nor in vogue, and — here’s the kicker — that promoting body positivity is “demonic.” As a Black fat body in the fashion space, I know this conversation all too well, but him weaponizing religion in this way takes on a whole other meaning. It’s dangerous. But at this point, that’s his intent. He seems to want to use shock and awe and weaponize his ideologies, which contradict the inclusive steps the fashion, media, and culture spaces must continue to take.
Following his Tucker Carlson performance, Ye took to his platform (social media), going on a series of antisemitic rants based on historically dangerous tropes, which resulted in him being locked out of Twitter and Instagram. Shortly after, Adidas announced that its Yeezy partnership was “under review,” only to later confirm it had been terminated. JPMorgan Chase also severed its relationship with the rapper weeks before his most recent tirades, according to The Daily Beast. We need more of this. More action.
He continued his press run, this time on Revolt TV’s podcast Drink Champs, dishing out several antisemitic comments (again) and disparaging falsehoods about the death of George Floyd. After the show aired, and Ye’s disgusting comments reached the masses, the family of Floyd stated their intent to potentially pursue legal action against the rapper. N.O.R.E., the cohost of Drink Champs, has expressed “regret over allowing Kanye West to make controversial comments during the podcast,” and Revolt has removed the episode from streaming platforms. Though there are questions around why the episode even aired in the first place (and why Ye was left unchecked about his tasteless comments in real time), I want to reiterate that this should be the end result. There should be repercussions for his rhetoric.
If, after seeing those shirts and after witnessing him double down on his anti-Black, antisemitic hate speech, you still choose to support Ye, you are making a bold statement. As a former fan, I’ve gone through the full scope of trying to dissociate the art from the artist, making excuses/creating dissertations about his actions, etcetera, but to loosely paraphrase The Devil Wears Prada, Ye sold his soul to the devil when he put on his first MAGA hat. From then on, it was clear that this was a deeply troubled man with some internal issues with his identity. I believe it’s the same space in which Black right-wing extremists (like his co-conspirator Candace Owens) thrive.
It’s dangerous to associate his ideology with mental illness. He’s no messiah. He’s not a genius. He’s an insecure man plagued with internalized self-hate who has reached a certain station in life that he feels somehow excuses him from the realities of being a “typical” Black person.
It hurts to see the complete lack of regard for Mike Brown, Manuel Ellis, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Philando Castile, and the countless Black lives that systemic racism and oppression have taken from us. And what’s even more painful is that he doesn’t care. In the past, he used his platform to shine a light on the issues and injustices disproportionately affecting Black people, and now he’s willingly a mouthpiece for the very things he used to rap about. It was even announced this week that he was in talks to buy the controversial conservative platform Parler (which is quite interesting, considering Ye’s friend Candace Owens’s husband, George Farmer, is the CEO). This is who he is now. He’s all in.
I want us collectively to let him and others like him exist in their own orbit and not feel the need to engage continuously. That’s what men like him want. It’s like his life force counts on the engagement, the clicks. As we push for more inclusive, safe-affirming spaces, there’s no room for this behavior. After weeks of watching him spiral, my message is this: Let’s all agree to leave him (along with other problematic voices in the industry) to his own devices, in his own orbit, and shift our focus instead to creatives using their practices and platforms to effect change, fashion brands that represent the world we aim to see, and issues that matter.
Editor's Note: This story was updated on October 25 to state that Adidas officially terminated its partnership with Ye.
