If Kanye West's patient and introspective interview with Charlamagne Tha God was the last thing we heard from him until the album dropped, then maybe the discourse around his recent behavior would have softened somewhat. Instead, Kanye decided to pay a visit to the TMZ offices, where he proceeded to bring himself even more trouble by letting everyone know his opinion on slavery.
"When you hear about slavery for 400 years. For 400 years," said Kanye at the TMZ offices. "That sounds like a choice."
Kanye's off-the-wall comments instantly went viral, and has inspired a hilarious new hashtag that explores the question of what life would have been like for slaves in America if their bondage was actually a choice.
The #IfSlaveryWereAChoice hashtag, which has exploded in popularity among Black Twitter since last night, is equal parts hilarious and heartbreaking. The jokes about slaves acting like employees in a modern company are great, but the context that Kanye, who was, and still is, a hero to a lot of people, is pushing this type of rhetoric can be upsetting. As a rule, tragedy is usually followed by comedy, and Kanye's controversial statements are ripe for roasting.
The TMZ stunt inevitably led to Kanye returning to Twitter in order to explain the real meaning behind his opinions. In his eyes, the slavery he was speaking about was "mental slavery," and not the physical kind that the slaves obviously had no choice in. His explanations have done little to stop the flood of jokes at his expense.
Check out some great #IfSlaveryWereAChoice tweets below:
