Kanye West joined Tucker Carlson on Thursday for an exclusive interview where he discussed his “White Lives Matter” T-shirt, supporting Donald Trump, and why he is pro-life.
Earlier this week, West and Candace Owens were seen wearing matching “White Lives Matter” shirts at Paris Fashion Week.
West, who goes by Ye, debuted his Season 9 collection on Monday.
Following the uproar the shirts caused on social media, West took to Instagram to say “Everyone knows that Black Lives Matter was a scam, now it’s over, you’re welcome.”
During the interview with Carlson, West defended his decision to wear the shirt. “I do certain things from a feeling,” he said.
“I just channel the energy, it just feels right. It’s using a gut instinct, a connection with God and just brilliance,” he explained.
He also recalled his father reaching out about the shirt. “I thought the shirt was a funny shirt. I thought the idea of wearing it was funny. And I said, ‘Dad, why do you think it’s funny?’ And he said, ‘Just a black man stating the obvious.'”
“They’re looking for an explanation — as an artist, you don’t have to give an explanation, but as a leader, you do,” West told Carlson.
“So the answer to why I wrote ‘White Lives Matter’ on a shirt is they do. It’s an obvious thing,” he added.
West also told Carlson that he was privately warned that people wearing the shirt would be “greenlit,” or assaulted, like some who wear red hats with “Make America Great Again” on them.
Carlson asked West about the lanyard around his neck, which featured a photograph of a baby’s ultrasound, and what it meant.
“It just represents life and pro-life,” West responded before being asked what people’s response to it is.
“I don’t care about people’s responses. I care about the fact that there’s more Black babies being aborted than born in New York City at this point, that 50% of Black Death in America is abortion. So I really don’t care about people’s response,” the rapper said.
West said he began thinking more about expressing his beliefs during Trump’s 2016 campaign when his friends and others warned him about it.
“My so-called friends/ handlers around me told me said that if I like Trump my career would be over. That my life would be over,” he recalled.
“They said stuff like people get killed for wearing a hat like that. They threatened my life. They basically said that I would be killed for wearing the hat,” West added.
During the interview, West also appeared to address his issue with Josh and Jared Kushner. “They love to look at me or look at Trump like we are so crazy and they are the businessmen,” he said.
“When I think about all of these things that Jared doesn’t get enough credit for with his work – his work in Israel, what is this, you know what he made peace treaties, you know the facts on this right here?” he said while laughing. “I think it was to make money.”
West continued, saying he didn’t think they had the ” ability to make anything on their own,” adding that “they were born into money.”
“After talking to them and really sitting with Jared and sitting with Josh and finding out other pieces of information, I was like, wow, these guys might have really been holding Trump back, being very much a handler,” he said.
West said he did not think they were serving Trump they best they could have, noting “Trump wanted nothing but the best for this country.”
“Moses stuttered. God isn’t always going to bring the most perfect personality,” he said, explaining that Kushner was not truthful with the former president.
“A lot of times the most fake people, their job is talking and making people feel comfortable,” he explained, “And the real people are going to make you feel uncomfortable at first.”