Kanye West stirred up controversy on Sunday when he said the constitutional amendment that banned slavery in the U.S. should be abolished, multiple outlets report. The rapper posted a series of tweets in which he was wearing one of President Donald Trump’s signature “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) hats, saying the slogan “represents good and America becoming whole again.”
“We will no longer outsource to other countries. We build factories here in America and create jobs,” he wrote. “We will provide jobs for all who are free from prisons as we abolish the 13th amendment. Message sent with love.”
this represents good and America becoming whole again. We will no longer outsource to other countries. We build factories here in America and create jobs. We will provide jobs for all who are free from prisons as we abolish the 13th amendment. Message sent with love pic.twitter.com/a15WqI8zgu
— ye (@kanyewest) September 30, 2018
He wrote in a later post that the amendment was “slavery in disguise meaning that it never ended.”
The 13th Amendment, which was ratified in 1865, states that “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States.”
West received backlash from social media users, including celebrities such as actor Chris Evans from Marvel’s Captain America, who said the rapper’s views were “retrogressive, unprecedented and absolutely terrifying.”
There’s nothing more maddening than debating someone who doesn’t know history, doesn’t read books, and frames their myopia as virtue. The level of unapologetic conjecture I’ve encountered lately isn’t just frustrating, it’s retrogressive, unprecedented and absolutely terrifying. https://t.co/4jCFwB4T5U
— Chris Evans (@ChrisEvans) September 30, 2018
The Yeezy designer later tweeted the 13th Amendment shouldn’t be abolished but amended.
not abolish but. let’s amend the 13th amendment
We apply everyone’s opinions to our platform
— ye (@kanyewest) September 30, 2018
West’s latest tweets come after his Saturday Night Live appearance Saturday during which he wore a MAGA hat and went on a pro-Trump rant.
“There’s so many times I talk to a White person and [they] say, ‘How could you like Trump, he’s racist?’ Well, if I was concerned about racism, I would’ve moved out of America a long time ago,” he said on the show.
The president praised the rapper on Twitter on Sunday.
“Word is that Kanye West, who put on a MAGA hat after the show (despite being told ‘no’), was great. He’s leading the charge!” he wrote.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1046443996074127361