Kanye West has sparked controversy in a new interview, by comparing himself to God and weighing in his thoughts on abortion.
The rapper – who now goes by Ye – discussed the topics during a new interview alongside his recent collaborator Ty Dolla $ign. Taking place shortly after their divisive headline set at Rolling Loud 2024 last Thursday (March 14), the two sat down with Big Boy TV for an 80-minute discussion.
Both Ty Dolla $ign and West covered a wide range of topics, although it was their comments on religion that was the biggest talking point in the chat.
Ye has embraced Christianity in recent years, and has shown his faith in past releases including ‘Donda’ and ‘Jesus Is King’. However, According to his new comments, it looks like he has become somewhat less devout lately, claiming that he has had some “issues with Jesus” (via Indy100).
“There’s a lot of stuff I went through that I prayed and I ain’t see Jesus show up,” he began, going on to say that he dislikes people turning to prayer rather than taking physical action.
“The main thing that really that I don’t rock with, is it’s just always like, ‘I’mma pray for you.’ [but] you can actually physically do something yourself too, more than just pray. We’re so in this mentality that that’s all that needs to happen but we ain’t praying our way out of prison.”
Kanye West says he has issues with Jesus 😔
“There’s a lot of stuff I went through that I prayed, and I ain’t see Jesus show up”
This is the worst part of the interview, I can now see why people think Ye has been cloned
Idc what Ye says, Christ is still King ✝️ pic.twitter.com/TQRMNpxSQO
— Ye Fandom (@YeFandom) March 17, 2024
Recommended
“We ain’t praying our way out the abortion clinics. We ain’t praying our way to get our land back that was always ours after gentrification, after the Harlem Renaissance and Black Wall Street was burned to the ground. Them prayers ain’t working,” he added.
Later in the discussion with the radio host, the rapper also went on to talk about the music industry as a whole, and said that he was able to keep on prevailing as he is “God”.
“[It’s] because I’m God. And anyone who wants to disagree, I’m the God of me. You can’t tell me who I am. I can’t tell y’all. I could tell y’all. It’s your job to listen,” he said. “I’m the God of me. I don’t know if I’m in heaven already.”
This is far from the first time that the rapper has been at the centre of controversy for his comments. Back in 2022, he was first accused of anti-Semitism following a series of posts on Twitter and Instagram, which saw his accounts on both social media sites suspended.
Following the initial claims of anti-Semitism, the rapper was dropped by his lawyer, talent agency and record label, while several fashion brands – including Balenciaga and Adidas – ended their partnerships with him. Celebrities and politicians around the world condemned his comments, while West said he didn’t “believe” in the term anti-Semitism in an interview with News Nation‘s Chris Cuomo.
He later issued an apology to the Jewish community.
More recently, he was faced with legal action from both Donna Summer’s estate and Ozzy Osbourne, after using samples of their music in his new album with Dolla $ign, ‘Vultures 1’.