AceShowbiz - Rapper The Game has no plans to end his friendship with Kanye West in the wake of the star's controversial statements on slavery. In an interview with TMZ earlier this week (ends May 04), West shared his belief that slavery in the U.S. was a "choice" for African-Americans, leading many of his fellow celebrities to express their outrage. But the "How We Do" hitmaker, believes the hip-hop mogul's remarks were merely an attempt to generate publicity.

"Notice that a week ago the world was silent about Kanye," he said in a statement to Billboard. "Now the entire world is in uproar over things he has said or done for the world to see. Don't think for a minute that his actions and plan weren't well thought out and set up for his goal to reach his maximum potential."

The Game, born Jayceon Terrell Taylor, went on to express his support for West, despite disagreeing with his point of view.

"Kanye will always be a friend of mine and although I might not necessarily agree with his views on certain topics, that is what separate us as individuals."

Kanye’ is a genius. People who’ve never achieved greatness are not allowed to question it.

— Black Jesus (@thegame) 2 May 2018

"Our opinions, views, care and concern is what keeps us all whole," he added. "He has gotten great at preying on the minds of people and causing commotion when he sees fit and is a big enough icon for it to have an effect of catastrophic proportion on both people and media, which at times go hand and hand."

The Game has been a frequent collaborator of the 40-year-old's, with West producing his 2005 debut album "The Documentary". The following year they teamed for the track "Wouldn't Get Far".