By Kanye West debuted his Yeezy Season 9 collection during a surprise Paris Fashion Week show on Monday evening, but began trending online when he was seen wearing a “White Lives Matter” t-shirt.
Along with other models on the runway, controversial conservative political commentator and talk show host Candace Owens wore one of the t-shirts too.
In response to the backlash he faced online, West simply wrote: “Everyone knows that Black Lives Matter was a scam. Now it’s over. You’re welcome.”
Jaden Smith also criticised Ye and walked out of his show; “I Had To Dip Lol. ‘I Don’t Care Who’s It Is If I Don’t Feel The Message I’m Out’. ‘Black Lives Matter’, he tweeted.
BLM called Kanye’s and Owens’ decision to wear the ‘White Lives Matter’ T-shirt a ‘performative dog whistle to millions’.
They said: “Kanye knows very well that ‘white lives’ have never been targeted for oppression. Black folks, in contrast, are at the bottom of virtually every economic, social, and political measure because of centuries of individual and institutional racism.”
“Our mission will never become a White Supremacist capitalistic commodity– a dangerous machine that consumes its own for profit. Kanye is playing into very harmful territory not only for himself but for all of us.”
“Based on this decision, it is clear that Kanye lacks vision from his vantage point. Not only is he forgetting the marginalisation of our people who on a day-to-day basis cannot check in and check out of the reality of experiences deeply rooted in racism, but his entitled actions are also charged with an absence to those who have had their lives stolen due to the very same system he is championing.” they tweeted.
The statement concludes: “Even now, this is not the moment to shun our own even when they seem to lack vision. This is the moment we educate and reinstall the momentum that is required to keep moving the needle towards true liberation for our people.”
Image: Variety
