During a conversation with my friend’s grandmother Tuesday night, we spoke about Kanye West and his slavery comments. For the record, the only thing she knows about Kanye is that he’s married to a Kardashian, the one she calls the “mermaid-looking one.” She’s 85 and watches a lot of reality TV; give her a break. During our convo, I mentioned Kanye’s most recent comments about slavery, and how he felt slaves had a choice back then. And like the wise old sage she is, she said, “That Negro’s off his damn rocker.”
And those were basically Don Lemon’s sentiments during a Tuesday-night segment on CNN. To those not really up on their slave history, Lemon explained that yes, there were slaves ... you know ... ones actually in chains ... being enslaved.
“Then there’s Kanye West, doubling down on his support for his new BFF and making what may be his most shocking claim of all,” Lemon said.
“So, to be clear, and I can’t believe I actually need to say this, black and brown people who were enslaved for centuries had absolutely no choice,” Lemon said. “They weren’t just mentally enslaved; this wasn’t some kind of mind game. They were in real chains.”
Lemon was joined by radio host Ebro Darden, who said that Kanye was “embarrassing a lot of people” in hip-hop. But no, Lemon wasn’t letting him get away with that.
“He’s embarrassing himself, actually,” Lemon reacted. “Because he doesn’t know history. He should—he should read!”
Lemon also called bullshit on Kanye’s new “free-thinking” process, because when you’re trying to dispute facts and history, it’s anything but thinking.
“People know what happened in the past and what effects that continues to have on people even in the present now,” Lemon said.
Take a look at the video above.