In between parading the phrase “White Lives Matter” and making anti-Semitic tweets, Kanye West also spread misinformation about George Floyd when he was invited on was to appear on the podcast Drink Champs on Oct. 15.
The rapper spoke about the conspiracy documentary The Greatest Lie Ever Sold: George Floyd And The Rise of BLM, which perpetuates the theory that Floyd died as a result of drug use and not at the hands of the police. “They hit him with the fentanyl,” West said. “If you look, the guy’s knee wasn’t even on his neck like that.” Multiple autopsies have confirmed that Floyd died from a heart attack caused by asphyxia, the inability to breathe.
A press release from the Witherspoon Law Group and Dixon & Dixon Attorneys at Law stated that Roxie Washington, acting on behalf of her minor child, the sole beneficiary of Floyd’s estate, filed a suit against Kanye West, seeking $250 million in damages. It argues that Kanye’s comments on Drink Champs constituted “harassment, misappropriation, defamation, and infliction of emotional distress.” It also names West’s “business partners and associates,” according to the press release.
NORE, the podcast host, has since apologized, saying, “I felt like I could control the interview. And I learned early on that I [couldn’t]. As a Black man, I feel like I failed. As a human, I feel like I failed.”