Rapper Kanye West, also known as Ye, has seemingly reacted to all the backlash that he’s received regarding the music video for his song Eazy featuring The Game.
The black and white video, released on social media by Ye and The Game this past week, features a cartoonish-like depiction of Ye kidnapping Kim Kardashian’s boyfriend Pete Davidson, then taking him to a deserted location to bury him alive in the dirt.
It’s all done in claymation, but the message appears clear to many people who feel Ye is targeting Kim K’s boyfriend visually in a song that already includes a line from Ye about beating “Pete Davidson’s a**.”
However, Ye’s response appears to be defending the music video as part of his right to express himself as an artist.
Kanye West shares ‘art’ post following Eazy video backlash
Amid his divorce situation with Kim Kardashian, Kanye West has been expressing his thoughts about being a father, the divorce proceedings, and of course, Pete Davidson.
He made numerous Instagram posts referring to “Skete,” his nickname for Davidson, to the point he eventually had to ask his followers and fans not to harm the Saturday Night Live star, saying he’d handle things himself.
Last week, a music video for Eazy arrived, and many people felt it painted a dark and violent picture about Kanye’s feelings towards Kim Kardashian’s boyfriend. That included the claymation kidnapping and burial of Davidson’s character up to its head in the dirt, as well as a message at the end of the video.
“Everyone Lived Happily Ever After…Except Skete You Know Who,” text on the screen said with Skete scratched out, before “JK He’s Fine” hit the screen at the end.
On Sunday, Ye shared a screenshot from the music video on Instagram, featuring a house on fire with a cross on top of it. Along with the image, he posted a message about art.
“Art is therapy just like this view. Art is protected as freedom of speech. Art inspires and simplifies the world. Art is not a proxy for any ill or harm. Any suggestion otherwise about my art is false and mal intended,” he wrote in the caption.
As of this writing, the post above was one of just two on Ye’s Instagram page, with the other offering some poetic thoughts about divorce.
Ye made other references to SNL, Davidson, and Kim K in music
Ahead of the music video’s release, Kanye West hosted a major Donda 2 listening event in Miami, Florida, which featured guest appearances from The Game, Pusha T, Jack Harlow, Fivio Foreign, Migos, Alicia Keys, and more.
During the event, he performed Eazy alongside The Game, which includes references to his divorce from Kim Kardashian and the infamous line about Pete Davidson.
Along with that, he performed City of Gods with Fivio Foreign and Alicia Keys. In the Fivio Foreign song, Ye mentions “a hundred goons pullin’ up to SNL.” He’s made it no secret on his Instagram that he’s displeased with SNL’s Lorne Michaels and Davidson’s Weekend Update bit about him on the show.
A Kim Kardashian SNL monologue sample popped up in the intro to a new Donda 2 song called Sci Fi, which debuted at the Miami listening party. The sample features Kim speaking about great things about Kanye but leaves out her punchline about her decision to divorce him.
Another song that seems to be part of Donda 2 is called Security and references an incident where Ye tried to visit his kids at Kim’s house but had issues with security at the gate. Based on Ye’s comments in an interview, this was due to Pete Davidson being in the home at the time.
“Never take the family picture off the fridge / Never stand between a man and his kids / Y’all ain’t got enough security for this,” Ye raps in part of his Donda 2 song, Security.
As far as Davidson’s reaction to Kanye West’s Eazy music video, a source recently said the SNL star found it “hysterical” and is “almost flattered” by Ye’s decision to put a representation of him in the video.
Meanwhile, another source indicated Kim Kardashian is “furious” about what Ye’s recently done, adding that Kim’s main priority is to protect her kids from seeing or hearing about his beef with Davidson.