Rap artist Kanye West said celebrities have it tough dodging paparazzi — almost as tough as blacks had it while struggling for civil rights in the 1960s.
“I mean, in the ’60s, people used to hold up ’Die [N-word] signs when my parents were in sit-ins also,” Mr. West said during his deposition for a lawsuit in which he was accused of beating a photographer, TMZ reported.
Mr. West is then asked if he equates struggles that celebrities face today with photographers to those that blacks faced in the past.
“Yes, 100 [percent] … I equate it to discrimination,” Mr. West reportedly said. “I equate it to inequalities. … We as a group of minorities here in L.A., as celebrities have to ban together to influence guys like this — guys trying to take the picture, guys trying to get the big win, guys trying to get the check.”
Mr. West told the photographer’s lawyer during the deposition his job is to “make dope [expletive],” while the lawyer’s job is to represent “scums” and to try “to make as much money as long as there’s this lapse in the law,” according to TMZ.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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