‘I’m being humbled’: Kanye West compares himself to George Floyd as he brands family ‘greedy’ over lawsuit
Kanye West has compared himself to George Floyd after questioning the nature of his death at the hands of a Minnesota police officer.
The 45-year-old rapper made a number of claims about Floyd’s death in an appearance on the Drink Champs podcast earlier this month, alleging that “they hit him with the fentanyl, if you look the guys knee wasn’t even on his neck like that”.
His remarks sparked widespread outrage and a lawsuit from Floyd’s family.
In a video that was reportedly shot in Los Angeles over the weekend, West, who legally changed his name to Ye, stopped and answered some fan questions.
When asked about his recent antisemitic comments and his opinion about Floyd’s death, the Donda rapper reportedly said that he “had experiences where I felt like I was being teamed up on”.
“And I didn’t realise that term would be antisemitic,” he said, per Complex. “So I had a mediation with Adidas today and I think Adidas felt like cause everyone else was ganging up on me that they had the right to take my designs.”
Adidas announced it was terminating its partnership with West last week over a series of antisemitic remarks by the rapper, causing him to lose his billionaire status overnight, according to Forbes.
“I feel like this is God humbling me right now,” West continued. “Cause there’s two things that are happening. A lot of times when I would say ‘I am the richest Black man,’ it would be a defense that I would use for the mental health conversation.”
Ye also claimed that he feels he’s “being humbled” right now.
Speaking of Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement, Ye apparently said: “When the idea of Black Lives Matter came out, it made us come together as a people.
“So when said that and I questioned the death of George Floyd, it hurt my people. It hurt the Black people. So, I want to apologise… because God has shown me by what Adidas is doing and by what the media is doing, I know how it feels to have a knee on my neck now.
“So thank you God for humbling me and letting me know how it really felt. Because how could the richest Black man ever be humbled other than to be made to not be a billionaire in front of everyone off one comment.”
Ye is currently being sued for $250m by the mother of Floyd’s daughter.
In the lawsuit filed by Roxie Washington, the mother of Gianna Floyd, lawyers said West made “false statements about George Floyd’s death to promote his brands, and increase marketing value and revenue for himself, his business partners, and associates.”
The lawyers also stated that West had used “malicious falsehoods” about Floyd in order to profit from his death and the Floyd family’s trauma.
“The interests of the child are priority,” Attorney Nuru Witherspoon, partner at The Witherspoon Law Group, said.
“George Floyd’s daughter is being traumatised by Kanye West’s comments and he’s creating an unsafe and unhealthy environment for her.”
“Kanye’s comments are a repugnant attempt to discount George Floyd’s life and to profit from his inhumane death,” added attorney Pat D Dixon III.
After the lawsuit was filed, Ye lashed out against Washington on social media in a now-deleted post, writing: “Now for Roxie Washington and Roxie Washington ALONE.
