 "Kanye West 'White Lives Matter' Controversy: Should the rapper get a free pass due to his mental health?")
On World Mental Health Day , our timelines are flooded with seemingly unhinged tweets and random screenshots posted by a once-celebrated rapper, who is now being called out by his community for being racist. At the time of writing this story, Kanye West’s Twitter account is locked over anti-semitic tweets. Earlier, the rapper was posting screenshots of text messages he received from some of his adversaries. It is difficult to tell which one since there are so many of them at this point - ex-wife Kim Kardashian, Justin Bieber, Drake, Gigi Hadid, Hailey Bieber, rapper P Diddy and Vogue magazine, to name a few.
Welcome back to Twitter, my friend!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 8, 2022
On his return to Twitter, West complained that he had been banned from Instagram by Mark Zuckerberg . Yesterday, West posted on Twitter for the first time in two years after his failed Presidential run in 2020. West was welcomed by Tesla CEO and SpaceX founder Elon Musk who is still trying to buy Twitter - another can of worms which we’ll talk about another day. Anyone who has followed West is fully-aware that the rapper has an innate tendency to be controversial. Whether it is West’s ‘George Bush doesn’t care about Black people’ comment in 2005 or him interrupting Taylor Swift at the Video Music Awards (VMAs) while she accepted the award for Best Female Video - West has earned a bad rep for his crazy antics. Following the VMAs incident, then President of the United States Barack Obama called West a ‘jackass’. In the last decade, however, Kanye married beauty mogul and socialite Kim Kardashian and the couple made several appearances in music videos and award shows - until they split and filed for divorce in February 2021. Since then, West has threatened Kim’s new beau (now, her ex-flame) Pete Davidson multiple times. Things took a turn for worse when West in a music video, buried an animated, clay version of Pete. That was when fans online shared concerns regarding West’s well-being. The ‘Heartless’ rapper was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2016 and hospitalized for a psychiatric emergency. ‘White Lives Matter’ and fall out with Vogue In late September, the rapper struck a raw nerve with not just fans but his own community after he styled the models (some of them African-American) with ‘White Lives Matter’ t-shirts at Yeezy show in Paris Fashion Week. The t-shirts were also donned by Candace Owens, American conservative activist and author. West and Owens posed together in a now viral tweet.
— Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) October 3, 2022
In a now-deleted Instagram post, West wrote “Everyone knows that Black Lives Matter was a scam. Now it’s over. You’re welcome.” Vogue editor Gabriella Karefa-Johnson called the shirts “pure violence” and “hugely irresponsible”. West responded by ridiculing Karefa-Johnson’s outfit and saying she wasn’t a “fashion person.” After severe backlash, West deleted his post. West and Gabriella resolved their differences after a brief meeting and Vogue stood in support of long-time contributor and global fashion Editor at large.
West, however, continued his tirade as models Gigi Hadid and Hailey Bieber slammed his comments. THe also lashed out at Justin Bieber, husband of Hailey Bieber, saying ‘Get your girl before I get mad’. Drake and the Kardashians were also called out by the rapper. Soon after, Khloe Kardashian commented on Kanye’s Instagram post saying that the rapper ‘always knew where his kids were’ after he accused the Kardashians of kidnapping his daughter, Chicago. Is the media being too harsh on Kanye? As expected, West was slammed for the ‘White Lives Matter’ t-shirt by the media. In a way, the criticism directed at West for his political views was similar to the media frenzy around Britney Spears in 2007 when she shaved her head and attacked a paparazzi with an umbrella. Spears was subsequently put under a 13-year-long conservatorship until fans noticed something was wrong and started the #FreeBritney movement. Since her conservatorship ended, Spears has talked at length about how she was abused by her family, specifically her father, under the conservatorship. The tabloids like US Weekly and Dailymail were rightfully called out for berating Spears and publishing disrespectful articles against her in the ‘00s. While Britney was ridiculed for her erratic behaviour in 2007, West is being ridiculed for his political views in 2022. Is the media, particularly the Western media, making the same mistake? There is, of course, no tangible way to determine if Kanye is indeed struggling with a mental disorder unless he is diagnosed by a psychiatrist. But based on his 2016 diagnosis alone, one can ascertain that the rapper is clearly not doing well. To top that, we have plenty of social media posts and rants. Racism and bigotry cannot and should not get a free pass under the garb of mental health - but shouldn’t we be empathetic to someone who has clearly been struggling with bipolar disorder? Of course, gender does play a role here. When a woman struggles with mental illness, it is often assumed that external factors - the media, patriarchy and the system-at-large had a role to play. But when a man has a public breakdown, we are quick to hold him responsible for his declining mental health. Why the double standards? Why are we not extending the same benefit of doubt to West that we once did to Amanda Bynes or most recently, Cara Delevingne ? West, of course, must be held accountable for his actions. At the very least, the rapper owes the African-American models at the Paris Fashion Week an apology for styling them with those t-shirts. But the media scrutiny around West’s public meltdown is frankly unfair. This, in fact, might open up a door for those around West to put him under a conservatorship, an abusive one much like Spears, which would further derail his healing and recovery. Kanye West needs help and perhaps, restricted Internet access. But more than anything else, he needs our empathy and kindness - the kindness he didn’t show to people of his own community when he printed the ‘White Lives Matter’ t-shirts. More so on World Mental Health Day, it is imperative for the Western media to limit their scrutiny of the rapper and his meltdown. That is the least we can do. Deepansh Duggal is an entertainment, pop-culture and trends writer based in New Delhi. He specializes in op-eds based on the socio-political and gender issues in the world of entertainment and showbiz. He also writes explainers and occasionally reviews shows in the OTT space. He tweets at @Deepansh75. Read all the Latest News , Trending News , Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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