Don Lemon Schools Kanye West: Slaves Were in ‘Real Chains’

CNN host Don Lemon is not amused by Kanye West’s take on slavery.

“You hear about slavery for 400 years. For 400 years? That sounds like a choice,” the rapper said in an interview with TMZ on Tuesday. “It’s like we’re mentally in prison.”

“So, to be clear—and I can’t believe I actually need to say this—black and brown people who were enslaved for centuries had absolutely no choice,” Lemon said in response Tuesday night. “They weren’t just mentally enslaved. This wasn’t a kind of mind game. They were in real chains.”

Later in his CNN broadcast, Lemon discussed West’s “shocking” comments as well as his unexpected “love” for President Donald Trump with Hot 97’s Ebro Darden. “He’s embarrassing himself, actually, because he doesn’t know history,” Lemon said. Darden called it “a sad case of a person who isn’t listening to the people around him who are trying to tell him to just think first” before speaking.  

“He doesn’t understand the power of his platform and his words, and that what he’s saying is wrong,” Lemon said. “This isn’t about free-thinking,” he added, using the phrase that has become West’s mantra over the past week.