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Charlamagne tha God slammed Kanye West on Thursday night for continuing to wear Balenciaga boots amid the fashion house's ad campaign controversy.
Last week, the luxury fashion brand was under scrutiny after releasing a holiday ad campaign that showcased children holding BDSM-clad teddy bear handbags. The campaign has since been removed from all platforms, and a number of public figures spoke out against the images, including Kim Kardashian, who is a Balenciaga brand ambassador.
Balenciaga apologized for the campaign, which has been criticized as "child porn."
Charlamagne tha God, host of Comedy Central's Hell of A Week with Charlamagne Tha God, spoke about the Balenciaga scandal on his show Thursday night.
"Nobody is taking responsibility for this ad campaign. Not Balenciaga, not the photographer, not the production company...in fact, Balenciaga is blaming everybody except for Balenci- and -Yaga," Charlamagne said.
"And since the backlash, moral heavyweight Kanye West has called the brand out but no more than five minutes later, Kanye was pictured in a pair of Balenciaga 'Ahoy Matey 3000s,'" he added, joking about a pair of boots.
West—who legally changed his name to Ye—tweeted a statement on Thursday defending Balenciaga shortly before his Twitter account was suspended once again for posting an image of a swastika over the Star of David.
"I stand by Balenciaga and denounce all witch hunts and I cancel cancel culture. Jesus is King. Ending trafficking doesn't start or end with a fashion campaign for Christ Sake," the rapper wrote in archived tweets seen by Newsweek.
Besides his statement on Balenciaga, Ye has been under scrutiny this week for a lot of other things.
Earlier this week, Ye said in an interview with Tim Pool on the podcast Timcast IRL that he compared himself to Martin Luther King Jr.
"As I'm getting hosed down every day by the press and financially, I'm just standing there. When I found out they were trying to put me in jail, it was like a dog was biting my arm and I almost shed a tear. Almost. But I still walked in stride through it," Ye said.
Charlamagne told his audience on Thursday night, "I really, really want him to experience all of that. I would really like for him to get bit by a German Shepherd, okay, and I want him to get hosed down. He's already got the rain boots on, and now I know why he wears them all the time; so he can properly walk through all the s*** he's full of."
Newsweek reached out to a representative for Ye and Charlamagne for additional comment.
About the writer
Emma Mayer is a Newsweek Culture Writer based in Wyoming. Her focus is reporting on celebrities, books, movies, and music. ... Read more