Kanye West apologized for his controversial comments on the death of George Floyd by comparing the way he’s been treated by Adidas to having “a knee on my neck.” West spoke about Floyd’s death and Black Lives Matter with paparazzi on Friday.
“When I see that video as a Black person, it hurts my feelings,” West said. “And I know that police do attack [sic] and that America is generally racist. And I understand that when we got to say Black Lives Matter, the idea of it made us feel good together as a people. Now, afterwards there was some things where the money went in order to push us to the Democratic vote.”
He continued: “So when I questioned the death of George Floyd, it hurt my people. I want to apologize. Because God has showed me by what Adidas is doing, by what the media is doing, I know what it feels to have a knee on my neck right now.”
From there, West thanked God for humbling him and referenced no longer being a billionaire due to the various lost brand deals in the wake of the comments.
“So thank you God for humbling me and letting me know how it really felt,” Ye said. “Because how could the richest Black men ever be humbled other than to be made to not be a billionaire in front of everyone off a comment.”
Overall, West has lost partnerships with Gap, Foot Locker, Adidas, TJ Maxx, and many more. Forbes estimates that the loss of so many brand deals has dropped Ye’s net worth all the way down to $400 million from $2 billion.
Reacting to the backlash, West wrote on social media that he’d been “beat to a pulp,” earlier this week.
