Ye, then known as Kanye West, apologized to the Black community for his earlier contentious remarks and likened himself to George Floyd.
Ye expressed regret for misrepresenting Floyd, who died when a police officer put his knee to his neck, as having overdosed on fentanyl during a Friday interview with media.
He said that “it damaged the Black people.” I want to apologize for hurting them because God has now made it clear to me via Adidas’ actions and media coverage that I understand what it’s like to have a knee on my neck.
Lawyers for George Floyd’s family earlier claimed that after the rapper’s statements regarding his passing, the family had been receiving internet abuse.
Adidas recently severed relations with the rapper, joining a number of other businesses, citing his “hateful and dangerous” remarks, which included antisemitism.
The rapper said that the incident, which he earlier claimed caused him to lose $2 billion in a single day, had “humbled” him.
Ye also seemed to retract some of his earlier remarks that criticized the Black Lives Matter movement.
Although there were aspects of the Black Lives Matter movement that he disagreed with, he acknowledged to the paparazzi that the movement had first “made us feel wonderful together as a people.”
The rapper has been outspoken in his criticism of the movement, which he has referred to as a “scam,” and he recently created controversy by appearing at his Yeezy design show in Paris while sporting a shirt that said “White Lives Matter.”
The term “White Lives Matter” has racial overtones, and white supremacist organizations have adopted it as a slogan, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
Ye seemed to retract some of his contentious remarks while defending others in muddled and sometimes conflicting statements to the media.
He said that until he read a description of the word, which stated that it includes talking about “the notion of a global Jewish conspiracy or of Jews dominating the media, business, government, or other social institutions,” he had no idea that he could be antisemitic.
I had no idea that mentioning that I had a Jewish contractor, a Jewish record label, or an attorney constituted antisemitic, Ye said.
His most recent antisemitic remarks, which included the statement that he was “going death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE,” have been roundly denounced by Jewish organizations and notable individuals.
Ye said that the meaning of the word is “truly to obtain additional protection” and that he “needed that extra defense” to the paparazzi, implying that those remarks were made out of context.
According to Veteran, his remarks were intended to allude to the military phrase “Defcon 3,” which denotes “force preparedness elevated beyond normal levels.”