Activist Shaun King Says Kanye West Has Retraumatized Breonna Taylor's Mom

Civil rights activist Shaun King has never met Kanye West. But he has met many people who've been affected by West's actions, and he says that they have had their lives upended because of him.

"I know a lot of the people that he's attacking, and it bothers me," King told Newsweek, where he is also a contributing editor, on Friday, the morning after West (who legally changed his name to Ye) gave a bombshell interview to Fox News' Tucker Carlson and four days after he presented "White Lives Matter" T-shirts as part of his Paris Fashion Week runway show. "For the past year, when I've seen him attack people online that I know, it rubs me the wrong way....Either he lacks self-awareness...or...he's incredibly self-aware and just that disturbing."

King says that after West's fashion show and interview—in which he said, among other things, that he "thought it was a funny shirt"—"He upset multiple families that I worked with. I work with the family of Breonna Taylor. I work with the family of Ahmaud Arbery. And both of those mothers, Tamika Palmer, Breonna's mother, Wanda Cooper Jones, Ahmaud's mother, both felt compelled to speak out because Kanye had said one thing or another that had really bothered them. I just want to see those women left alone and unbothered."

Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man fatally shot by white vigilantes in February 2020, and Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman fatally shot by police in March 2020, have both been crucial cases in the Black Lives Matter movement, which inspired West's "White Lives Matter" T-shirts. Arbery's family has been vocally critical of West's recent actions, telling Rolling Stone that the shirts "legitimize extremist behavior."

West had previously reportedly donated $2 million to the families of Arbery, Taylor and George Floyd, a Black man who was murdered by a police officer in May 2020.

King seconded the idea that West's recent behavior is dangerous. "When he promotes White Lives Matter, it affects people; when he says something abusive or ignorant online or if he does a conversation with Tucker Carlson, it impacts the way people see the world, and I see a problem with that."

He added that he knows people who have felt physically in danger due to West's targeting of them online. "I know this man and when he posts this stuff, s**tstorms of hate come that person's way. People end up having to hire security, people end up basically becoming hermits because he's put them in his crosshairs. And so I just find him incredibly irresponsible."

King, who said that once upon a time he was a fan of West's music, added that he knows people who worked for the Kardashians—Kanye was married to Kim Kardashian, with whom he has four children, and has publicly criticized and slut-shamed her recently—who have feared for their safety. "Random people that worked for them, makeup artists, others all had to hire security. So now he's doing it with Gigi Hadid. I know her. And I can only imagine that over the past 24 hours since he's done that, she has probably had an astronomical spike in violent, sexist, vulgar death threats. This is what happens."

Model Hadid entered the fray when she came to the defense of Vogue editor Gabriella Karefa-Johnson, who was present at West's Paris show and publicly criticized the collection—once she did, West denigrated her on social media.

King also called on social media companies to exercise responsibility when it comes to West. "I think that social media companies and corporations have a social responsibility to protect people from the targeted harassment and abuse that he causes. For a lot of those people, it's not funny, it's a very serious matter. I'm just curious why he is getting a pass and constantly targeting and harassing people on social media; why hasn't anything happened to intervene and stop it?"

Newsweek has reached out to West for comment.