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Kanye West Reportedly Blamed Rihanna for Domestic Abuse During Letterman Interview
More controversial comments from Kanye West are coming to light.
According to a report from TheWrap, the former billionaire referenced Nazis and blamed Rihanna for her own domestic abuse during a 2019 interview with David Letterman.
Multiple audience members who attended the taping of the comedian’s Netflix talk show “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman” said West complained that the media always seemed to support women over men when misconduct allegations surfaced. He appeared to side with Chris Brown following his 2009 assault of Rihanna, suggesting that Rihanna must have done something to deserve what happened to her.
According to David Maldonado, who was in the theater for the taping, Ye stated that “Chris Brown’s career is basically over and you have Rihanna and everyone took her side.”
He went on to claim that she “must have done something to merit what happened to her.”
That wasn’t the only comment edited out of the interview. West apparently went on a rant about how an unnamed music executive friend got “MeToo-ed” and how West himself could be “MeToo-ed.” He also suggested that a Hollywood power structure was behind the #MeToo movement, which appeared to be a reference to Jewish people.
West repeated right-wing conspiracy theories during the Letterman interview, claiming that liberals treated anyone wearing Trump’s red MAGA hat “like they were Nazis.”
The “shocking” comments were largely removed from the final edit of the May 2019 episode that streamed on Netflix.
“It was shocking to see that Kanye West could share harmful alt-right beliefs, conspiracy theory after conspiracy and misogynistic beliefs about women for the majority of the interview and end up with an edit that removed all those items in favor of celebrity fluff content,” said audience member Noah Reich.
Worldwide Pants, Inc., the production company behind “My Next Guest,” told TheWrap that the episode was shot for more than five hours over two days before being edited down to 55 minutes.
“Nearly four years ago, in an interview for ‘My Next Guest,’ Kanye West discussed a wide range of topics with David Letterman, including, family, fatherhood, music and creativity,” the production company stated. “Kanye also told Dave that he had just been diagnosed with bipolar disorder six months earlier, which led to a personal discussion about mental illness, its stigma and treatment, and for the first time he talked about what he experiences when he has bipolar episodes.”
The statement continued, “Mr. West subsequently began an offensive rant about the MeToo movement. He also later spoke about liberals purportedly bullying Trump supporters, and about free speech being suppressed. These points were represented in the show, the producers went to great lengths to accurately present them, and Dave challenged him on each of these.”
This comes as West continues to face backlash for his anti-Semitic outbursts. Former TMZ staffer Van Lathan revealed that the Yeezy designer professed his love for Hitler and the Nazis during the same 2018 interview where he said slavery “sounds like a choice.” Adidas and Balenciaga are among the companies that have cut ties with him in the wake of the controversy.
