Kanye West's controversial statements continue to surface. During a 2019 interview with David Letterman, the former millionaire made Nazi references and accused Rihanna of her own domestic abuse.
Several audience attendees who attended the recording of the comedian's Netflix talk program "My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman" claimed West grumbled that when misbehavior charges appeared, the media always seemed to favor women over males. Following Chris Brown's 2009 assault on Rihanna, he appeared to side with him, implying that Rihanna must have done something to deserve what happened to her.
Ye added that "Chris Brown's career is basically over and you have Rihanna and everyone took her side," according to David Maldonado, who was in the auditorium for the filming. He then stated that she "must have done something to merit what happened to her."
It wasn't the only remark that was cut from the interview. West allegedly went on a rant about how an unnamed music executive friend was "MeToo-ed," and how he, too, could be "MeToo-ed." He also stated that the #MeToo movement was being driven by a Hollywood power structure, which looked to be a reference to Jewish people.
During the Letterman interview, West reiterated right-wing conspiracy theories, stating that leftists viewed anyone wearing Trump's red MAGA cap "like Nazis."
The "shocking" remarks were effectively eliminated from the final edit of the Netflix episode that aired in May 2019.
"It was shocking to see Kanye West share harmful alt-right beliefs, conspiracy theory after conspiracy theory, and misogynistic beliefs about women for the majority of the interview, only to have an edit that removed all of those items in favor of celebrity fluff content," said an attendee.
The production company behind "My Next Guest," Worldwide Pants, Inc., told TheWrap that the episode was shot for more than five hours over two days before being edited down to 55 minutes.
“Nearly four years ago, in an interview for ‘My Next Guest,’ Kanye West discussed a wide range of topics with David Letterman, including, family, fatherhood, music and creativity,” the production company stated. “Kanye also told Dave that he had just been diagnosed with bipolar disorder six months earlier, which led to a personal discussion about mental illness, its stigma and treatment, and for the first time he talked about what he experiences when he has bipolar episodes.”
The statement continued, “Mr. West subsequently began an offensive rant about the MeToo movement. He also later spoke about liberals purportedly bullying Trump supporters, and about free speech being suppressed. These points were represented in the show, the producers went to great lengths to accurately present them, and Dave challenged him on each of these.”