Kanye West said he worried Kim Kardashian was “thinking about leaving” him after he said that 400 years of slavery sounded “like a choice” during a TMZ Live show.
“There was a moment where I felt like after TMZ, maybe a week after that, I felt like the energy levels were low,” the 41-year-old rapper explained in a New York Times article Monday. The comment came as he was opening up about the inspiration for “Wouldn’t Leave,” the latest song on his “Ye” album.
TV personality Kim Kardashian and rapper Kanye West arrive at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Gala 2015 celebrating the opening of “China: Through the Looking Glass,” in Manhattan, New York May 4, 2015. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
“I called different family members and was asking, you know, ‘Was Kim [Kardashian] thinking about leaving me after TMZ?'” West shared. “So that was a real conversation.”
He explained the song was not just a message to his 37-year-old reality star wife thanking her for standing by him but also for the fans who stood by him after the slavery comment and after he showed support for President Donald Trump.
“Half that audience that was there last night, half the people that are listening to the album are supposed to not listen to the album right now,” the rapper explained. “I’m canceled. I’m canceled because I didn’t cancel Trump.”
On a call earlier in the day with Khloé [Kardashian], he acknowledged the challenge: “I set the video game on the hardest setting possible, the most hate possible.”