While antisemitic comments have cost Kanye "Ye" West billions of dollars at this point, the rapper continues to create controversy. Just when it seemed like things couldn't get much worse, Ye participated in a podcast interview with Alex Jones on InfoWars and literally said the phrase, "I like Hitler," arguing that there are qualities to appreciate about the Nazi leader. That same day, Ye tweeted an image of a swastika inside the Star of David, a move that had new Twitter owner Elon Musk personally suspending the account and deleting the tweet.
Ye appears to be losing many fans with each new wave of controversy that conjures up, but for actor and martial artist Michael Jai White, Ye being problematic is nothing new. The Spawn star says he was done with Ye going back to the infamous incident at the VMAs in 2009 when Ye rudely interrupted Taylor Swift's award acceptance speech. In a new interview with Vlad TV on YouTube, White explains how he knew right then that Ye would be someone to avoid. From the interview, here's what White said when asked about the latest Kanye controversy:
"You might be surprised by this answer, but, honestly, I kind of divorced myself from anything Kanye so long ago, that it's kind of like, there's no nourishment from anything Kanye to me. I just don't, I never cared about celebrity so much, it's about someone's character, and so the fact that someone's rich but behaves that way. Just when I saw the behavior of when he snatched that microphone from that young girl. I mean, I erased everything that I had of his musically because I didn't want to connect it to that kind of behavior. I just hate bully sh*t. It's almost like I have a filter."
Michael Jai White Can't Be Friendly With Kanye
West goes on to compare the consumption of Ye's publicity to junk food, saying it has no "nourishment" to offer him and it's best to stay away from it entirely. But White's feelings go a bit further than that, saying that Ye's character has been consistent for years, and White admits that it can get on his nerves if he gets caught up in it. As someone who's a celebrity himself, opportunities have come up that may have allowed for White to actually meet Ye, but fearing that such an interaction could become violent, White says he actively avoids them.
"I have friends in common. There's been engagements that I just completely avoid that would put me in a room with that guy. Because I don't want to make people feel bad, you know. To each his own. But I can't play it off like, 'Good to meet you,' when I kind of want to dump you on your head. So, you know, I just don't --- I'm not a fan of that guy."
You can watch the full segment featuring White's comments on Ye from the Vlad TV interview below.