While on the whole, we’re all set on Kanye West, we understand that his return to religion has compelled yet another passionate round of revelations about the world, morality, and politics—and hey, even a broken clock is right twice a day. But as Ye has been making the rounds promoting his new gospel album, Jesus Is King, some of his more cogent points have been overshadowed by what appears to be some genuine confusion. This was recently demonstrated in a seeming conflation of contraception and reproductive rights during an interview with veteran radio personality Big Boy, which aired last Friday (at approximately 10:20 in the video below).
“We’re brainwashed out here, bro,” said West. “Come on, man. This is a free man talking. Democrats had us voting [for] Democrats with food stamps for years. What are you talking about? Guns in the 80s, taking the fathers out the home, Plan B, lowering our votes, making us abort our children…Thou shall not kill.”
Some of these things are true...but let’s circle back to the apparent false equivalency between Plan B and abortion, shall we? While West also managed to include voter suppression in the mix (a real issue, to be sure), Foundation Consumer Healthcare (FCH) wanted to make the distinction between its Plan B One-Step contraceptive and abortion abundantly clear, reaching out to Big Boy Radio to clarify that the former is simply a backup option for unprotected sex or failed contraceptives, and should in no way be confused with the abortion pill, since it won’t end or damage an existing pregnancy.
As Vice notes, West’s rant provided MAGAts—many of whom gleefully promoted the clip—further intellectually dishonest fodder in their fight against reproductive rights.
There’s a nonzero chance that West thinks Plan B (aka the morning-after pill) causes abortions since the next thing he mentions is “lowering our votes,” referring to fewer Black people voting, then talking about abortion again. Conflating Plan B with abortion is an anti-abortion talking point that medical groups are continuously working to debunk.
Additionally, West’s choice to exclusively align Democrats with these issues is equally inaccurate and disingenuous. The debate over women’s reproductive rights aside, voter suppression as we currently know it is largely a right-wing tactic, as was the infiltration of guns into our communities in the ‘80s—a decade overseen by not one, but two Republican presidents, and a primarily Republican-controlled Senate.
So, what we really want to know is, does Kanye have a Plan B for his political punditry? Because while Sunday Service might be his (current) calling, civics and American history clearly ain’t his jam.
Updated: Wednesday, Oct. 30, at 5:30 p.m, ET: Trevor Noah broke down this buffoonery better than we ever could. Enjoy...and please vote.