Kanye West launched a collection at Paris Fashion Week that has sparked controversy. His new YZE line featured shirts that read ‘White Lives Matter’ which prompted the backlash. Kanye’s fans aren’t new to hearing about controversial actions taken by the artist, but some have decided that this is the last straw. This conversation sparks a broader question: can you separate the art from the artist? Ye at Paris Fashion Week...
Ye: “I am Ye, and everyone knows that I am the leader.”
Kanye West is surely not a stranger to controversy, from interrupting Taylor Swift at the 2009 VMAs to sporting a MAGA hat during the 2020 election. Many other celebrities have made questionable decisions that have affected their popularity, but have still able to maintain a strong fan base. We asked USC students what exactly they thought about West’s actions and most importantly, can you really separate the art from the artist?
Jake Haviland, a sophomore majoring in international relations, said Kanye’s actions have gone too far.
Haviland: “I think given the context of it and his history and like we saw him where the MAGA hat we saw him say a bunch of homophobic things and never really apologized for that. And he’s kind of in the past couple of years been saying some really problematic things. So I think given all of that together, I there is like a really big issue with him saying and doing things and going unchecked by it. And I, I don’t think that there’s any justification of that and saying that it’s art.”
Haviland believes the art and the artist are one in the same, and instead speak to the creators true character.
Haviland: “I don’t think there’s a situation where you have to separate the art from the artist because it gets to a point where it’s just like that’s just somebody like being a bad person and intentionally, intentionally challenging and saying provocative things. And that’s not art at that point. It’s not a statement. It’s not. I think part of his character, that’s just like him just being a terrible person.”
Andre Rodrigues, a sophomore studying computer science, said that while art is up for interpretation, the racial undertones of Keynes messages are not.
Rodrigues: “I think art can and should be anything you want it to be. But for something that he has to have, like one miracle of a reason to explain it. And if he’s not going to provide a reason, then he can only expect the public to interpret it as it is, which is like explicitly racist in the contemporary context of what that phrase means and what is also meant. And so, yeah, I don’t I don’t think there’s any justification as to why he should run that. And I feel like if anyone, like, I feel like African Americans should know better than most what exactly like that phrase means. So what I saw, I was a bit like shocked.”
As critics have ramped up, West has only doubled down on defending himself online, claiming the shirts meaning is cut and dry.