Akon Defends Kanye West for Praising Hitler, Nazis
Akon is defending Kanye West following his praises of Adolf Hitler and Nazis throughout his bizarre interview with Alex Jones this week. The rap-singer said Ye has the right to believe what he believes even if he disagrees with his views.
On Friday (Dec. 2), Akon appeared on Sky News' morning program and the topic of Kanye West came up. The Senegalese-born artist was asked about Ye praising of Adolf Hitler and Nazis during his interview with conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on his InfoWars program.
When Sky News anchor Anna Jones asked Akon why does he still support Ye, he replied: "I show support for opinion and I think people will always have a specific opinion and I think the moment we get to the place where we close our minds up to other people's opinion, it kind of doesn't allow us to get to better know each other better know our mindsets and more than anything better know our movements."
The "Locked Up" artist also added: "I think sometimes we should open up our minds and let things play all the way out and better understand the situation so we have a better solution for it."
Akon went on to say that he was "a backer of the right to believe what you want to believe" but added that if he and Kanye would have a conversation together, he would let the him know that he disagrees with his viewpoints because "communication is key."
When asked if Kanye West's controversial remarks bothered him, Akon replied: "Not really because those comments don't really affect me personally...and if it does affect you personally then find a way to actually respond in a way to where that conversation can be reciprocated."
"Because I think sometimes when someone is offended they just lash out in defense or lash out to make that person feel that same offense that they felt," he continued. "I think when you take negative and you applied the response negatively back, you only get negative back."
Akon concluded: "So I think it's really a matter of both understanding what it is. Don't take things too personally until you really understand the situation."
Akon defending Kanye West for being a Hitler apologist didn't sit well with some people and they expressed their outrage on Twitter.
"Akon defending Kanye by calling his antisemitic comments a matter of opinion and saying that Jews shouldn’t take his comments personally until we understand the situation. I’m horrified and speechless," tweeted entertainment reporter Olivia Marks.
Another person wrote: "What a bizarre take by Akon on Kanye’s Alex Jones hate parade, 'I think sometimes we should open up our minds and let things play all the way out and better understand the situation.'…umm @Akon what do we need to understand? Kanye made himself wildly clear."
Akon may lose a lot of fans with his defense of Kanye West.