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Kanye West compared his decision to wear a “White Lives Matter” t-shirt during Paris Fashion Week to the famed figure skater Tonya Harding executing one of her sport’s most challenging moves.
After getting criticism for wearing and promoting a “White Lives Matter” shirt during a fashion show for his Yeezy line, the rapper appeared on Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight” on Thursday to defend himself.
During the two-part interview, Carlson questioned West why he decided to perform the act, to which he responded by comparing it to one of the most controversial individuals in the history of US figure skating.
“It’s like if you asked Tonya Harding how she accomplished the triple flip or triple spin; she practiced so much that when it came time for her to compete, it just occurred,” he remarked. It requires intuition, a relationship with God, and sheer genius.
“This is the situation,” he added. God is preparing us for the true conflicts.
Tonya Harding competed in the 1992 Winter Olympics in France.
AP/John Gaps
Outside of normal business hours, representatives for Harding did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
At the 1991 US Figure Skating Championships in Minnesota, Harding became the first American woman to land a triple axel in competition. After the release of the 2017 biographical film “I, Tonya,” starring Margot Robbie as the American figure skater, Tonya Harding told ABC News that she “simply executed” the stunt requiring a forward takeoff followed by three and a half rotations in the air.
“I simply did it. Nobody else did it, “She stated, Nobody assisted me in landing that triple axel at that precise moment.
Harding’s skating prowess earned her a place in the record books, but she is best known for allegedly arranging an attack on her Olympic figure skating rival Nancy Kerrigan in 1994.
Harding has consistently denied responsibility for the attack.
At Paris Fashion Week, Ye, formerly known as Kanye West.
Stephane Cardinale – Corbis / Corbis by means of Getty Images
The T-shirt prank of Kanye West was criticized by many, especially Black rights advocates.
On Monday, the mother of Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man who was killed by white guys in a Georgia neighborhood while jogging in 2020, criticized the rapper for wearing the shirt.
A lawyer for Wanda Cooper-Jones, the mother of Arbery, issued a statement to Rolling Stone on her behalf, claiming that Ye’s shirt might “directly endorse and justify extremist behavior, [similar to] the behavior that took her son’s life.”