Rapper Kanye West slammed companies that hire Black Lives Matter “managers” in an interview this week, and he took specific aim at Nike.
West made the remarks during a wide-ranging interview Friday night with Fox News host Tucker Carlson after arriving back in the U.S. from France where he attended the Paris Fashion Week.
“One idea that was in my head about three minutes ago that I really want to say is that’s really interesting about the — when companies get the BLM managers,” West said. “Black Lives Matter office manager, it’s basically you get a semi-influential black person to become the face of a white company.”
“So that means, like, in the design world, in the art world, they actually would pick artists that were less talented than other artists based on their influence, not based on their actual work, because everyone is vying for influence and an opinion. Everyone is afraid of losing their opinion,” Kanye continued. “So, with Nike, right? Nike is as famous as — you would say Nike is more famous than PayPal, right?”
West said that Apple was the most famous company in the world followed by companies like McDonalds, PayPal, and others.
“So, what number company do you think Nike is, the Nike? Number 321,” West said. “It’s not there to be as big a financial company as it can be. It’s there as an influencer because black people love Nike. So, Nike is like a company that is redlining and gerrymandering black people.”
“So, the reason why Gap wanted me to go to Gap, it wasn’t based on, ‘oh we need to get our stocks up.’ You know, it’s like these companies, when they’ve been around for a long time, Gap’s not like — they’re like, we’re in the rag trade. We’re never going to be Apple,” he continued. “And everyone, all these American companies somehow took this deal where they start putting in these really awkward, weird number kind of CEOs. Like, Nike’s got one, The Gap had one. It didn’t work out. And there’s all of these weird operators inside of companies, even in Balenciaga, you know.”
WATCH:
TRANSCRIPT:
KANYE WEST, MUSICIAN: One idea that was in my head about three minutes ago that I really want to say is that’s really interesting about the — when companies get the BLM managers.
TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS HOST: What’s a BLM manager?
WEST: Black Lives Matter office manager. It’s basically you get a semi-influential black person to become the face of a white company.
CARLSON: Yes.
WEST: Right?
So that means, like, in the design world, in the art world, they actually would pick artists that were less talented than other artists based on their influence, not based on their actual work, because everyone is vying for influence and an opinion. Everyone is afraid of losing their opinion.
So, with Nike, right? Nike is as famous as — you would say Nike is more famous than PayPal, right?
CARLSON: Yes.
WEST: Right?
What number company you think PayPal is?
CARLSON: I don’t know.
WEST: Number four.
CARLSON: Overall?
WEST: Overall, yes. Well, you know who the number one is, right? It’s Apple.
CARLSON: Yes.
WEST: I’m forgetting number two, but number three is McDonald’s. Then SpaceX is maybe sixth or seventh.
It’s really interesting that, as lit as Elon is, his previous company is actually still worth more than SpaceX.
So, what number company do you think Nike is, the Nike? Number 321. It’s not there to be as big a financial company as it can be. It’s there as an influencer because, black people love Nike. So, Nike is like a company that is redlining and gerrymandering black people.
So, the reason why Gap wanted me to go to Gap, it wasn’t based on, oh we need to get our stocks up. You know, it’s like these companies, when they’ve been around for a long time, Gap’s not like — they’re like, we’re in the rag trade. We’re never going to be Apple.
And everyone, all these American companies somehow took this deal where they start putting in these really awkward, weird number kind of CEOs. Like, Nike’s got one, The Gap had one. It didn’t work out. And there’s all of these weird operators inside of companies, even in Balenciaga, you know.
The — and they’re just there for control. Steve Jobs talked about it. It’s the most important thing you can have is control. Look at me, all the money, all the influence, and I have to act a complete ass to have any say-so of anything that my children are doing, because that — a group of people have control and say-so over all the children inside of the clan.
So, that’s what these companies are set up for. That’s the type of CEOs they’re hiring, especially when the founders are out of there. They kind of just give the companies up to a bunch of people, and they’re all in cahoots.
Like, anyone that ever worked with me, they just look at, oh, who’s Ye farming for talent that we can hire to be our new BLM office manager?
Like — kind of like Obama.
CARLSON: What do you — you think — you think of Obama as a BLM office manager?
WEST: That’s whenever.
CARLSON: Yes.
WEST: That’s whenever.
And, you know, I think Obama, just like Virgil, these people were truly black to their core and truly brilliant to their core, but they went into situations thinking that they could do it the white way as a black man.
And we saw what color Obama’s hair was when he went in and we saw what color it was when he — when he went out. You know, Virgil lost all his hair and eventually passed away. So, when I have techniques that are revolutionary, if I raise my voice, if I express myself on Instagram, it’s a colonic.
And people can say, oh, that — this — what you’re doing is toxic. If what I’m saying is toxic, I got to do everything to get it out of my body. And there’ll be times where I see a level of like oppression, Parisian, proper, like next level, you know, France owns 80 percent of African banks level colonization oppression, and I will be like, I’m not going to let you guys kill me.
But one thing that has to really happen, say, if Trump ran, right? We’re not just going to be black influence. We’re going to be vision and creativity.
We’ve got to rethink who we are as a species. Right now, we practice killing ourselves every day. Like, murder is legal in America, you know?
CARLSON: In abortion?
WEST: Yes. So, whoever gets the position needs to listen to the vision. I didn’t know it was going to rhyme when I first started.
(LAUGHTER)
WEST: They need to have Elon. They need to have me. They — you should start with those two, and then we’ll get to the rest of them. They could pull in a Jony Ive, and we will pull in all our living super brilliant people.
And we need to analyze and not just sell out for the cash. Like, these Fortune 500 companies, they’re just selling out for the cash. And put God first, and the best representation of God is the children. The children is an extension of family. Put the families first.
There’s so many things, suburbs, the train tracks being ripped up by GM just for capitalism. All these ideas that we have, right, we’re now living in a place where we’re the orphans is capitalism, and we just have to take a pause and rethink how we can have the most beautiful existence possible for our children, for the kids. And we’re all kids.
CARLSON: Yes.
WEST: We’re all God’s kids. We’re all sons of Abraham.
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