Some of the shirts and tote bags Kanye West is selling bear the Confederate flag, long a controversial racially charged symbol. When asked about the flag merchandise on Los Angeles' 97.1 AMP Radio on Monday, West had a novel answer.
"You know the Confederate flag represented slavery in a way," he said. "So I made the song 'New Slaves' (on his new album, 'Yeezus'). I took the Confederate flag and made it my flag. It's my flag now. Now what you going to do?"
West's merchandise is available at concerts as well as at a temporary West Hollywood shop located next door to Dash, the boutique owned by his fiancee, Kim Kardashian, and her sisters. "(The merchandise) is super, like, 'hood and super white-boy approved at the same time," West said on the air.
West also spoke about his infamous 2009 MTV Video Music Awards incident, where he grabbed Taylor Swift's trophy for best female video and proclaimed it should've gone to Beyonce instead.
"The moment that people hate me the most for, you know, at the awards show," he said. "That (hatred) was inaccurate. ... We still haven't seen a video as good as (Beyonce's 'Single Ladies') video, like five years later!"
When asked about his elaborate proposal to Kardashian at San Francisco baseball stadium AT&T Park, West had a simple explanation.
"It seemed like, so all-American," he said. "I love being American."