The mother of Ahmaud Arbery, the black man who was murdered by three white men in Georgia two years ago after they falsely accused him of being a thief, is taking at rapper Kanye West, accusing him of helping to “support and legitimize extremist behavior” with his “White Lives Matter” fashion stunt.
Speaking to Rolling Stone, Wanda Cooper-Jones said she feels “extreme disappointment” with the rapper, who privately supported her family in the wake of her son’s killing. Jones says West’s stunt “flies directly in the face” of what he had previously told her family.
“As a result of his display, ‘White Lives Matter’ started trending in the US, which would direct support and legitimize extremist behavior,” she said in a statement through her attorney. That behavior is much “like the behavior that took the life of her son,” the statement said.
— Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) October 3, 2022
According to West, the stunt was meant to communicate that Black Lives Matter is a scam.
“This mockery of the Black Lives Matter movement and his now denunciation of the movement as some sort of hoax flies directly in the face” of what West told Cooper-Jones. “It’s confusing for her” and “confusing for the families to receive his support privately, but publicly to set us all back,” the attorney said.
Arbery’s murderers were all convicted of federal hate crimes.
