Hip-hop star Kanye West claims to have reinvented the word ‘gay’
Rapper Kanye West has claimed that the word ‘gay’ should not be an insult.
Instead, the 808s and Heartbreak star said that the term will be used in future as synonymous with fashionable and stylish.
Speaking in an interview with Detail, West said:
“I like to embody titles or words that have negative connotations, and explain why that’s good.
“Take the word gay. Like, in hip-hop, that’s a negative thing, right?
“But in the past two, three years, all the gay people I’ve encountered have been, like, really, really, extremely dope.
“I haven’t gone to a gay bar, nor do I ever plan to. But where I would talk to a gay person, the conversation would be mostly around art or design, it’d be really dope.
“From a design standpoint, kids’ll say, ‘Dude, those pants are gay.’
“But if it’s good, good, good fashion-level, design-level stuff, where it’s on a higher level than the average commercial design stuff, it’s gay people that do that.
“I think that should be said as a compliment. Like, ‘Dude, that’s so good it’s almost gay.'”
West has talked about his perception of gay men as fashion icons in the past, drawing speculation over his sexuality. He said in a statement:
“Stereotypically gay people got such good [style] … they were smart enough to take a fresh-ass logo like the rainbow and say that it’s gonna be theirs.”
He also admitted in an interview with MTV that he “used to be scared to talk to a gay person,” but in a recent concert in New York, urged fans to reject homophobia.
