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N.O.R.E. is apologizing. The Drink Champs host went on a tour to say “my bad” for letting Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, run rampant with the hateful vitriol, which included questioning how George Floyd died, during his latest appearance on the popular podcast.
Everyone knew someone would give Ye access to a microphone, but no one thought that outlet would let the “Power” rapper and designer talk so recklessly. The entire Drink Champs episode, which has since been taken down (but was up over 24 hours), features Ye going heavy on the antisemitic commentary, asserting that Jews are running the music industry and not giving creatives a fair shake in business.
But another “free thought” that raised eyebrows was when Ye said George Floyd died of fentanyl and that the cop’s knee wasn’t actually on his neck. The sentiments Ye shared came from Candace Owens’ suspect documentary on BLM (and word is she finessed the guy into copping Parler from her husband), and immediately garnered all the backlash because it was loud and wrong. Not only is Derek Chauvin now in jail for Floyd’s murder, an expert determined George Floyd’s death was caused by a lack of oxygen, period.
As for N.O.R.E., on Monday (Oct. 17), he went to Hot 97’s morning show and The Breakfast Club to cop pleas. He was adamant that he disagreed with Ye’s incendiary comments which he asserts came early in the show and thus he didn’t want big boot wearer to have a “Birdman moment” and walk out, is what he told The Breakfast Club.
Over on Hot 97, N.O.R.E. admitted he was out of his league, at least initially.
“Well the logic was the same way you guys are giving me the platform,” N.O.R.E. told Peter Rosenberg and Laura Stylez. “I think you guys have love for me, you guys have respect for me, and you guys think that I should have a say. I have a relationship with Ye. When he was going through a lot of the things he was going through, he would call me and he would actually listen to me and take my advice. So I felt I could control the situation. I felt that I could control the interview, and learned early on that I didn’t.”
While even booking Ye has been almost universally considered a fail, N.O.R.E. apologized for his interview subject’s toxic rhetoric. He added, “I sincerely apologize to anybody that was hurt by Kanye’s words, by Kanye’s actions.”
By late Monday afternoon, the latest Ye Drink Champs interview was pulled from YouTube and Revolt.
