Filed under: What. The. Heck?

There’s a whole lot of blowback over these little shirts Kanye “Ye” West and his buddy Candace Owens wore during Paris Fashion Week the other day.

Candace Owens and Kanye West sport ‘White Lives Matter’ shirts together at his fashion show in Paris. pic.twitter.com/EiVCH9DW4g

— Pop Base (@PopBase) October 3, 2022

I am guessing from the resultant hyperventilating that the sentiment expressed in the plain script is “bad,” as in so “unspeakably bad” he who speaks them must be roundly and vociferously condemned from every street corner and driven from their society.

Edward Enninful called Kanye's shirt “inappropriate” and “insensitive, given the state of the world” in NYT. Anna Wintour, who attended the show, doesn't appear to have made a statement about it. (She and Kanye were described to me as "friends.") https://t.co/gYQB5BpbPG

— Amy Odell (@amyodell) October 4, 2022

I won’t say “polite,” because I’m not seeing where civility comes into this.

.@kanyewest wore that “White Lives Matter” T-shirt in the safety, security & distance of Paris, France.

I bet you he won’t wear that shirt in
Atlanta, Detroit, Baltimore, Philly, Memphis, Houston, Compton or Queens

I dare him to go stand in any hood in America w/ that shirt on.

— Isaac Hayes III (@IsaacHayes3) October 6, 2022

A vicious demagogue named Ja’han Jones who writes for Joy Reid’s blog (there’s money in crazy hate, people, I’m tellin’ you), penned a screed for the MSNBC site, flat out calling West a “racist hate-monger.”

…Ye’s most recent controversy, involving his donning of a “White Lives Matter” shirt at a recent fashion show, has shown that in abundance. And of the countless responses to the troll attempt, I’ve found only one to be of intense interest: a quote from Wanda Cooper-Jones, the mother Ahmaud Arbery.

“As a result of [West’s] display ‘White Lives Matter’ started trending in the U.S., which would direct support and legitimize extremist behavior, [much] like the behavior that took the life of her son,” Cooper-Jones relayed through lawyer Lee Merritt, Rolling Stone reported. “That is the thing that Wanda and families like hers continue to fight against.”

That struck a chord with me because it speaks to a belief I’ll hold until the end of my days: Ye’s legacy of racist hatemongering will deservedly eclipse his legacy as an artist.

MSNBC even TWEETED IT to their 4.9M followers with that heading!!!

The artist formerly known as Kanye West seems to be seeking out a legacy as a racist hatemonger. Let him have it. (via @thereidout Blog) https://t.co/wbxaVqCXhX

— MSNBC (@MSNBC) October 7, 2022

What in the Sam Hell is wrong with these people!?! Can one sane person not stop them before hitting send? “I wouldn’t punch that button just yet, guys – not a good look.” For all the advanced degree college loans at MSNBC taxpayers will soon be footing, you’d think there be one, at least ONE.

I do have to share this, and it’s a schweet spank – not everyone is insane, nor looking for a race war.

I mean, good heavens. This is all too much projection, and over a shirt – a shirt. And when you’ve lost Will Smith’s son (The Will Smith who shamelessly attacked another man onstage at the Oscars? That Will Smith? Yub yub.), well, you haven’t a prayer for redemption.

NY Times fashion critic melts down over Kanye’s ‘White Lives Matter’ shirt, says it could ‘feed’ ‘violence’

…The fashion critic cited the Anti-Defamation League’s assessment of the slogan on the back of the shirt, telling readers it’s a “phrase that the Anti-Defamation League has called hate speech and attributed to white supremacists (including the Ku Klux Klan), who began using it in 2015 in response to the Black Lives Matter movement.”

…She cited other fashion critics dumping on West’s line because of the shirt. She quoted Gabriella Karefa-Johnson, the Vogue editor, who called the shirt “Indefensible behavior,” and later declared, “there is no excuse, there is no art here.” Friedman noted actor Will Smith’s son, “Jaden Smith, in the audience, walked out.”

Seriously, who cares if some 24-year-old walks out of anything? The overindulged sense of importance they confer on these lesser lights is also part of the problem. In many aspects, this is really turning into a bit of a hoot. Ripping the curtain back to expose the Wizard working the levers of selective elite animus. I mean, all the usual suspects and the upper crust are scrambling over each other to disavow, trash, revile, and demonize this guy over a shirt. It almost sounds like they’ve been saving this up for a special occasion, which could also be very much in play, considering West’s support for Trump and friendship with a good number of despised Republicans. Now’s our chance to nail the Trump-loving freak. If they can bankrupt him, even better!

His sponsors, also part of this Woke culture mob, are taking note of the lunatic wailing, and rethinking their arrangements with him.

Adidas placed its lucrative partnership with rapper Kanye West “under review” amid recent controversial decisions by the rapper, Adidas said Thursday, putting West’s billionaire status in jeopardy.

To be honest, I wouldn’t know a Kanye West song if you whapped me upside the head with his CD, and I know he’s had – and has been open about – his mental health struggles. But everybody’s got their thing, and, as the guy’s worth $2-7B (depending on who’s doing the addition), he’s got to be a whole boatload of peoples’ thing. So hubs and I were interested enough to give the first couple minutes of his interview on Tucker Carlson last night a listen. We thought we could always change the channel if West went south or whatever.

We stayed glued to it for the entire hour. Kanye West is fascinating to listen to.

Days ago, during fashion week in Paris, @kanyewest, accompanied by his friend @RealCandaceO, unveiled a t-shirt that read simply, “White Lives Matter.”

Here's why he did it: pic.twitter.com/tF9oQdtIwv

— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) October 7, 2022

And, oh my, I can see where he drives people nuts. He’s immensely thoughtful, and articulate, and does speak in circular thought patterns quite often. But, as Tucker points out, the creative people I know – myself included, to my husband’s eternal frustration – all chase squirrels during a conversation. He is also saturated spiritually and God is as much a part of his speaking pattern as his bluntness. Filtered he is not. It doesn’t strike me as bombast, either – granted this is all based on only an hour of watching him. We’ve all seen people that like to throw bombs, and then seen them watch for reactions. He didn’t seem like that. In fact, he quickly asked Tucker a couple of times if something he said was “alright to say” re: the venue. He had concern for what came out of his mouth in the context of the forum. As I said, really thoughtful

I believe the second half airs tonight – Friday – and might be worth your checking out at least a portion if you’ve the time. He’s pretty courageous – of course, much easier when you’re well off, granted – but they are coming at him with knives drawn, and torches lit. Everything, every loathsome epithet they’ve ever called a 30s KKK member will be applied to this black artist, and already is. They want him crawling and are going to use “White Lives Matter” to do so. Think about that.

There was one intriguing thing I learned in the article about the fashion show – it was what was on the front of the shirts. Only mention of it I’ve seen in all the shrieking.

… a photo of Pope John Paul II and the words ‘Seguiremos tu ejemplo’ (‘We will follow your example’) on the front

Hey, NYT – that’s SAINT John Paul II, you heathens.

Man. I’ll bet they hate that shirt.