Questlove sports 'Kanye West Doesn't Care About Black People' t-shirt at concert
Questo parodied Kanye merch with his own tee
Rapper Kanye West is making headlines again, this time thanks to his vocal support for President Donald Trump. And while Yeezy's soft spot for Trump has caused a divide in current pop culture, one Philly-born musician took the news particularly hard.
The Roots' Questlove was spotted last week in Alabama wearing a t-shirt that read, "Kanye West Doesn't Care About Black People," and "This is an Alt-Right Dream." Questlove rocked the shirt, which is a parody of West's The Life of Pablo merchandise, at the Concert for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama last Friday.
The shirt was designed by California-based designer Thornhill DeWitt, fashion blog High Snobiety reports. It takes its main phrase from West's Sept. 2005 appearance on NBC in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in which the rapper said "George Bush doesn't care about black people."
Questlove previously weighed in on 'Ye's support for Trump last week, telling Buzzfeed's AM to DM series that West's tweets on the subject almost made him quit Twitter.
"Him embracing the President that embraces white supremacy? I don't know," Questlove said. "Twitter is losing their mind. For the first time yesterday, I just, I thought I was done. I went to sleep before midnight. I don't like what I'm seeing."
Yeezy last week issued a message of support for Trump, writing on Twitter that "you don't have to agree with Trump but the mod can't make me not love him." because "he is my brother." West later tweeted a photo of himself wearing a "Make America Great Again" cap, and another image showing the cap was signed by Trump. Trump responded to West's tweets on Twitter, writing "Thank you Kanye, very cool!"
Several of West's peers reached out to the rapper following his statements online, including University of Pennsylvania grad John Legend, who texted West about the incident. In his message, Legend wrote that West is "the greatest artist of our generation," and his fans are offended at his support for Trump because "they know the harm that Trump's policies cause, especially to people of color." West told him that "bringing up my fans or my legacy is a tactic based on fear used to manipulate my free thought."
West also recently appeared in a behind-the-scenes video posted to his YouTube account in which he explains his support for Trump to rapper T.I.
"Me putting the hat on forces an evolution," he said. "If I had not done what I felt, and I just thought, then it would have never happened. And when I wear that hat, it's like a fight for equality. Like, 'Oh, I can wear this hat too.'"