Rapper Kanye West says he’s concerned with the violent crime and deaths in his hometown of Chicago than anything going on globally.
The controversial 46-year-old was at Los Angeles International Airport on Monday with his wife, Bianca Censori, when he was approached by journalists, the U.K. Daily Mail reported.
A reporter asked him for his “thoughts on the Palestinians.”
The question was presumably an attempt to get West to comment on Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas as the country’s military works to destroy the terrorist group in Gaza after the Oct. 7 massacre Hamas perpetrated in Israel.
West made international headlines beginning in 2020 when he made a series of anti-Semitic comments.
He later apologized to the Jewish community.
But on Monday, the rapper said he was not willing to comment on the conflict in Israel.
Kanye West speaks on Palestine conflict and says he’s minding his business.
“I’m from the southside of Chicago, born in Atlanta”pic.twitter.com/uzqQ4Kg5f1
— Everything Georgia (@GAFollowers) February 13, 2024
“I don’t have enough information on that,” West said in a video that went viral online. “I’m a straight up n****r from the Southside of Chicago, born in Atlanta.”
West added, “It’s love for everybody, but don’t pull me into that conversation.”
He concluded, “I got 14 kids dying every week in my city. So talk to me about that.”
The current conflict in Israel is in its fourth month after the Hamas attack that killed more than 1,000 Israelis.
The Israeli Defense Forces later moved into the Gaza Strip to root out terrorists who were responsible for that attack as well as for years of unprovoked rocket attacks on Israeli cities.
Is Kanye right?
Much of Gaza has been razed while Israel’s Arab neighbors refuse to offer Palestinians refuge from the fighting.
Meanwhile, Chicago frequently experiences dozens of shootings on weekends with many young people killed in the violence.
WBBM-TV in Chicago reported that during Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend last month, 15 people were shot in Chicago.
The victims were aged 17 to 58 and six of them died from their wounds.
Two weeks ago, two teen boys were shot to death in the city while leaving their school.
USA Today reported the boys were walking in broad daylight with a group of other kids when masked men opened fire on them.
