Is what Kanye has been saying recently really such a big deal?
“…if I was concerned about racism I would have moved out of America a long time ago,” said Kanye West during an impromptu speech on Saturday Night Live on Saturday, September 29th.
Discussions of race and support for President Donald Trump Despite wasn’t anything new coming from Kanye. He has outwardly supported the president before: In December of 2016, he and Trump had a meeting about violence in Chicago. More recently in April, he went on the Hot 97 radio show and discussed his admiration for Trump.
Even though Kanye is being very clear in his support for Trump, some think he doesn’t mean what he is saying and is using it as an attention tactic.
“I feel like he’s just trying to catch people’s attention by being controversial,” says senior Rachel Bernstein remarks.
Senior Aiah Radwan similarly says, “Kanye is confused and wants attention.”
Grace Yepez-Connors thinks there’s more behind it. “It’s disappointing that a leader in pop culture that has a great influence on young people would be spreading ignorance.”
What people say has an effect, especially when you are a global figure like he is. It turns the conversation surrounding Kanye from “oh it is just his opinion” to “how could what this one man is saying negatively impact others and maybe even the future political climate?”
Even if this may just be an attention tactic and Kanye is not serious about what he is talking about, he still has a huge platform to spread his beliefs. People talk about and think about what he says and he probably knows this too.
This brings up the question: do celebrities owe something to the public or should they be given the same amount of societal privilege to voice their own opinion as everyone else?
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