Controversial rapper Kanye West on Sunday spoke out in support of music by R&B singer R. Kelly and pop icon Michael Jackson—who have both faced allegations of sexual abuse—arguing that we can listen to their tunes “all we want,” Yahoo News reports. “They just gonna pull up full documentaries on him,” West reportedly said during a Sunday service event live-streamed by Kris Jenner. West added that “Then they gonna come with the Michael [Jackson] documentary [...] We can all enjoy all their music all we want. I thought I wasn’t going to go there today. If we’re gonna tear down artists, let’s go ahead and take [Leonardo] da Vinci out the Louvre. Let’s take down all the art.” West’s comments likely reference both Surviving R. Kelly, the groundbreaking Lifetime docuseries that exposed grotesque details of R. Kelly’s alleged sexual abuse, and Leaving Neverland, a not-yet released documentary that will reportedly tell the stories of two boys who were allegedly sexually abused by Jackson while they were minors.
His words contrast sharply with those of other artists, Yahoo notes—most notably, those of his friend John Legend, who reportedly called Kelly “a serial child rapist.” After the comments sparked outrage online, Kim Kardashian tweeted in defense of her husband. “I’m going to nip this in the bud right now. Kanye was speaking about his own experience of everyone quick to say they are cancelling him because of differences in opinion & not being perfect,” Kardashian claimed. “The analogies were in context to his own experiences, not defending anyone else.”
Read it at Yahoo! News
