Kanye West Calls Black Lives Matter a 'Scam' After Wearing White Lives Matter Shirt

On Tuesday morning (October 4), Kanye posted the above photo to his Instagram Story.

It reads, “everyone knows that Black Lives Matter was a scam. Now its [sic] over. Youre [sic] welcome.”

Several fashion journalists and attendees called out Kanye‘s choice of messaging.

“Here come the bullsh-t. I’m fuming,” Gabriella Karefa-Johnson wrote on her Instagram Story. It appears she was in attendance at his show, adding it was, “Indefensible behavior.”

Another fashion editor, Lynette Nylander, wrote, “It doesn’t matter what the intention was…it’s perception to the masses out of context, as well as the implication of the choir made up of children that all looked under 10. He knew what he was doing and it was harmful.”

Kanye did not seem pleased about the criticism, and he proceeded to tell his followers, “You speak on Ye Ima speak on you Ask Trevor Noah.” The Internet is currently rallying around Gabriella and showing her support.

Kanye then included a text message exchange, presumably from fashion designer Mowalola Ogunlesi. If you don’t know, Kanye hand-picked Mowalola to head up Yeezy Gap a few years ago.

Mowalola told Kanye, “I also don’t think you should insult that writer [presumably Gabriella.]” Read the messages Kanye posted, embedded below.

You can see photos of Kanye in the “White Lives Matter” shirt (and see who joined him.)

The Anti-Defamation League defines “White Lives Matter” as “a white supremacist phrase that originated in early 2015 as a racist response to the Black Lives Matter movement, which arose to protest against police brutality against African-Americans and garnered considerable publicity in 2014 for protests in Ferguson, Missouri, following the shooting death of Michael Brown at the hands of a Ferguson police officer.”