Kanye West Responds To The ‘White Lives Matter’ Backlash By Declaring Black Lives Matter A ‘Scam’

Kanye West is over in France at the moment, getting involved in this year’s Paris Fashion Week events. He made his runway debut in Balenciaga’s show, but more notably than that, he wore a “White Lives Matter” shirt to his YZY Season 9 show (and so did Candace Owens).

Ye’s fashion choice was criticized by folks like Jaden Smith and Van Lathan, and now Ye has offered a response, one that’s far from apologetic.

In a simple Instagram Story shared today (October 4), of white text on a black background, West wrote, “Everyone knows that Black Lives Matter was a scam. Now its over. You’re welcome.”

kanye insta story
@kanyewest/Instagram

As for that aforementioned backlash, Jaden wrote, “I Had To Dip Lol,” presumably indicating he was at the show but left once he realized what West was wearing. In subsequent tweets, he added, “Black Lives Matter,” and, “We Demand A More Progressive Future.”

Lathan, meanwhile, wrote, “we don’t need a reminder of the worth of white lives. America is a shrine to the worth of white people. This message is reactionary to a message affirming Black lives, which have never been worth anything in America. In its intent, it’s a white supremacist notion, because it posits that we can’t have a conversation about the worth of Black people without having a conversation about the worth of white people, which is f*cking insane. The notion that it always has to be about white people in America is incredibly frustrating, emotionally draining, and the whole problem. But here’s Kanye, apparently centering that notion.”