Kanye West suffered from diarrhea of the mouth and delusions during his sworn deposition for his paparazzi-assault trial. During the deposition, posted by TMZ, West had the audacity to compare his celebrity-status struggles to the struggles people faced during the civil rights struggle.
“[Celebrities], as a group of minorities here in LA … have to band together to influence guys like this—guys trying to take the picture, guys trying to get the big win, guys trying to get the check,” West said in the deposition.
West was being interviewed by Nate Goldberg, the lawyer representing the photographer West assaulted at Los Angeles International Airport in 2013. The fight between Daniel Ramos and West was captured on video and West subsequently pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor battery charge and was sentenced to two years’ probation and community service.
West then made a comment about the sit-ins from the 1960s and was asked if he equates his own struggles with being a celebrity to those who campaigned for civil rights.
“Yes, 100 percent,” West stated. “I equate it to discrimination. I equate it to inequalities.”
So to wrap up West’s rationale, being forced to sit on the back of the bus, having segregated classrooms, getting hosed down by cops, having crosses burned on your front lawn, being beaten because you may have looked at a white woman, getting assassinated by crazed white men and being disenfranchised by the same government that was built to protect you, are the exact same things celebrities have to deal with on a daily basis.
In the words of the great Fred Sanford, portrayed by Redd Foxx:
Where’s a DeLorean when I need one, just to send West back to the 1960s so he can experience some real inequality, instead of whining about his celebrity status.
Yesha Callahan is editor of The Grapevine and a staff writer at The Root. Follow her on Twitter.
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