While he initially seemed to defend the rapper and Yeezy designer for wearing the controversial T-shirt, the Bad Boy Records founder said he doesn't 'rock' with what his friend has done.
- October 6, 2022
AceShowbiz - Sean "P. Diddy" Combs has clarified his comments about Kanye West's "White Lives Matter" T-shirt. While he initially seemed to defend the "Donda" artist, the Bad Boy Records founder said he doesn't "rock" with what Ye has done.
"I am not about to be addressing every last thing that's going on in the world on the Internet but the thing I do have to address is this 'white lives matter' T-shirt," Diddy said in an Instagram video. "I've always been there and I will always support my brother Kanye as a freethinker."
"But the 'white lives matter' T-shirt, I don't rock with it, you know what I'm saying?" the 52-year-old Harlem native continued. "I'm not with it."
Diddy went on to note, "Right now all America has planned for us is poverty, incarceration, and death." He further shared, "So before I can get to any other lives matter-which all lives matter—that Black Lives Matter, don't play with it. Don't wear the shirt. Don't buy the shirt. Don’t play with the shirt. It's not a joke."
When addressing the issue for the first time, Diddy said on "The Breakfast Club", "My boy is a super, super, super free thinker." He continued, "And a lot of times, what he means is, like, misconstrued, you know what I'm saying?"
Diddy added people "don't have to condemn Kanye or cancel him," but admitted the shirts were "very tone-deaf." He said, "I understand white lives do matter, but it's not that. ('Black Lives Matter'] was our slogan."
"That wasn't our slogan to go share with nobody else... because right now, we're the ones that are dying, that are incarcerated, that are left in poverty. You have to be unapologetically black and love your people and love your tribe first," Diddy argued. He also admitted he needs "a couple of days to get over" Kanye's design.
