ANTI-BLACKNESS PLAYED A ROLE IN KANYE'S CANCELLATION
If there was ever a thin line between genius and insanity, Ye has finally erased it. The man who once captured our attention with his music and brilliant mind now has all eyes on him because Ye, The Insane, has fully engulfed Kanye, The Genius.
Ye, the man who gave Kim Kardashian "The Culture," is now the same man who JP Morgan told to take his money elsewhere, the same man with who Balenciaga severed ties, the same man who Anna Wintour/Vogue cut ties with, the same man whose talent agency, CAA, dumped him, the same man who is losing Yeezy Gap, the same man who lost his Adidas deal, and the same man who had what he valued the most snatched from him - BILLIONAIRE STATUS.
Even though I still believe Ye needs mental health assistance, I also believe he deserves consequences for his actions; the consequences just happen to be coming first.
This brings me to my gripe with the discussion surrounding Kanye's cancellation. Like when it came to the LGBTQ+ community check'n DaBaby after his Rolling Loud antics, there are again pockets of Black folks complaining about Kanye getting canceled by a non-Black group. I hear people saying, "Why wasn't Ye canceled for his anti-Blackness?" To that, I say, look in the mirror if you feel anti-Blackness played no role in his cancellation.
Now, let's be honest...
Kanye's cancellation did not start with his remarks against the Jewish community; it began after his "White Lives Matter" fashion show and that disgusting attack on Global Vogue fashion editor Gabriella Karefa-Johnson. The backlash he received was LOUD & CLEAR and garnered tons of headlines. I believe that is
why Anna Wintour/Vogue decided to distance themselves from Kanye, and once Anna shuns you, a lot of other people follow.
Kanye did not expect to get that big of a reaction for disrespecting the most disrespected person in America - The Black Woman.
His misguided attempt to distract from those headlines had him blabbing about Jewish people. So Ye, who cannot admit when he makes no sense, doubled down and thought he could garner support considering there is a sector of Hip Hop that dabbles in anti-semitic rhetoric.
The anti-semitic remarks did not get Ye canceled; it only sped up the process. He was not going to survive the backlash from the "WLM" fashion show and the attack on Johnson. Black people should focus on that instead of giving all the credit for this cancellation to the Jewish community. We and others showed and showed out for a Black woman; we should be LOUD about that, not pouting about Jewish people's power in this country.
But I wonder if it was because we showed out for a Black woman that some are choosing to erase Gabriella Karefa-Johnson and downplay the role anti-Blackness played in Kanye's cancellation?
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