Will.i.am. leads backlash over Kanye West's slavery remark

Rapper Will.i.am. responds to Kanye West's statements of African American 'choosing' their lifestyle

Will.i.am

Will.i.am has become the frontrunner of an inevitable backlash against Kanye West after the latter said the enslavement of African Americans over centuries may have been a "choice".

The singer said it was "one of the most ignorant statements that anybody who came from the hood could ever say about their ancestors". Kanye earlier told an international portal, "When you hear about slavery for 400 years... for 400 years? That sounds like a choice." He later tweeted to clarify, "My point is, for us to have stayed in that position even though the numbers were on our side means that we were mentally enslaved."

Asked about the comments on the show, Good Morning Britain, Will.i.am said: "That broke my heart, because I thought about my grandma, who was born in 1920, and her connection with her mom who raised her, who was born in the late 1800s. And my grandmother's grandma, who was a slave. And when you're a slave, you're owned. You don't choose if you're owned."

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