While most people are outraged by Kanye West's recent comments appraising Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, some are more forgiving. Akon recently appeared on Sky News' morning show and expressed some support for Ye's freedom of speech. While he did not explicitly say that he shares his views, his message was one of understanding others and open-mindedness.
Moreover, Sky News anchor Anna Jones asked Akon why he still supports the Yeezy designer. Readers may recall his comments from his appearance on conspiracy theorist Alex Jones's InfoWars show. The Chicago rapper said he likes Hitler and Nazis and sees good things about what they did. Even people on the far-right political spectrum are denouncing Ye. The conservative media platform Parler, for example, rejected his purchase offer. With this in mind, Akon had some words to say about Ye's right to express his opinion.
"I show support for opinion and I think people will always have a specific opinion and I think the moment we get to the place where we close our minds up to other people's opinion, it kind of doesn't allow us to get to better know each other better know our mindsets and more than anything better know our movements."
He continued, "I think sometimes we should open up our minds and let things play all the way out and better understand the situation so we have a better solution for it."
The Senegalese-born singer also said he believes in "the right to believe what you want to believe." However, he clarified that he would tell Ye in a conversation that he doesn't agree with his views. Seemingly, many frequent collaborators and supporters of Kanye had to make this clarification. Twitter recently suspended his account, a company now led by fellow rich provocateur Elon Musk. "Communication is key," he said, and later elaborated on how the comments have affected him.
"Those comments don't really affect me personally...and if it does affect you personally then find a way to actually respond in a way to where that conversation can be reciprocated.
"Because I think sometimes when someone is offended they just lash out in defense or lash out to make that person feel that same offense that they felt," he went on. "I think when you take negative and you applied the response negatively back, you only get negative back."
Finally, Akon stated that "it's really a matter of both understanding what it is. Don't take things too personally until you really understand the situation."
What do you think of Akon's remarks? Let us know in the comments down below and stay tuned to HNHH for the latest on this dangerous saga.
