Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) was relatively new on the scene when he declared that “George Bush doesn’t care about Black people” while standing next to a stunned Mike Myers during NBC’s A Concert for Hurricane Relief telethon in 2005.
Now, the moment is being relitigated almost 20 years later. Debuting this Sunday (Oct. 13), the next episode of CNN’s docuseries TV on the Edge will feature a discussion around the phrase that catapulted one of pop culture’s most polarizing figures into mainstream consciousness. Featured in the clip, exclusively given to Complex, journalists Dexter Thomas, Jen Chaney and political pundit Van Jones look back at Kanye being “right,” while also trying to comprehend the things he’s said and done in recent years.
Chaney brought up Ye’s battle with mental health and how “baffling” it was when he started wearing the infamous red MAGA hat. Both Thomas and Jones expressed frustration, but for different reasons — Thomas felt that it was both sad and necessary for Ye to speak up on that moment, while Van Jones said the Chicago rapper has “hurt and disappointed a lot of people.”
What’s gotten lost is the fact that Ye said more than just that phrase. As he stood next to a visibly nervous Myers, he started his statement with, “I hate the way they portray us in the media.” Continuing, he added that those depictions presented a stark, racial contrast; “If you see a black family, it says they’re looting. If you see a white family, it says they’re looking for food.”
He then rambled about feeling like a “hypocrite” because he went shopping instead of donating and tried to avoid the news. He then ended his statement by saying, “They’ve given them permission to go down and shoot us,” in regards to the military and the police in New Orleans during Katrina’s aftermath.
In the book Decision Points, published after his presidency, George W. Bush referred to Ye calling him racist “one of the most disgusting moments of my presidency.”
